Herbert M. Kliebard (1999). Schooled To Work: Vocationalism and the American Curriculum, 1876-1946. Reviewed by William Blank, University of South Florida

Herbert M. Kliebard (1999). Schooled To Work: Vocationalism and the American Curriculum, 1876-1946. New York, N.Y.: Teachers College Press, Columbia University. 292 + x pp. $22.95 (Paper)           ISBN 0-8077-3866-2 $56.00 (Cloth)          ISBN 0-8077-3867-0 Reviewed by William Blank University of South Florida             Observers of the contemporary debate between those who espouse a traditional, liberal, academic education for all students and those who champion an education embracing future economic self-sufficiency—particularly for that large majority of students not destined to achieve a college degree—will find Herbert Kliebard's Schooled To Work: Vocationalism and the American Curriculum, 1876-1946, uncannily familiar. The reader is immediately struck by how similar the current debate regarding what the appropriate purpose of education should be with a similar debate during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Herbert Kliebard's well crafted offering, which is a "sweeping reinterpretation of the rise of vocational education" observes William J. Reese in the book's foreword, provides a riveting account of how America's educational system became "vocationalized" over a period of 75 years.             Kliebard does a masterful job of chronicling the gradual transformation of vocational education through its various phases of metamorphosis. He describes the early "manual training" movement and how it was catapulted from a curious Russian exhibit at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876 into an educational reform that swept the country. He helps us see how this educational reform was inextricably linked to the revolution that was unfolding in the workplace as the country transitioned from an agrarian to an industrial economy.             The author describes compelling commentary from those opposed to the introduction of manual training in our schools. Many felt that manual training would predestine too many children for a life of manual drudgery. Critics argued that the purpose of education was to open up the "window to the soul" (p. 11) and that the vehicle for doing this was the study of the traditional academic disciplines. Many educational policy makers today apparently still agree. If not, how could we justify requiring all students to take, for example, a full year of Algebra when the data clearly shows such skills are used in a tiny fraction of America's workplaces and research documents the lack of evidence of the transferability of such skills to other settings?             Kliebard goes on to describe the transition of manual training into employment-focused vocational education in the early decades of the 20th Century as a response to the decline of the apprenticeship system and the demand for skilled labor. Finally, he documents the gradual "vocationalization" of our school curriculum in which preparation for employment, the author suggests, became the dominant mission of schooling. Kliebard defines vocationalism as embodying "a vision of what education is for" (p. 120). His view of how vocationalism, which focused on occupational competency, was tied to the dogma of "social efficiency" which attempted to apply Taylorist principles of factory efficiency to adults' competency in the various roles of adulthood is insightful.             Author Kliebard does a masterful job of analyzing the influences, competition, tensions and sometimes antipathy among various interest groups seeking to put their unique mark on the education landscape—some fighting desperately to maintain its academic purity, others battling to make it more socially efficient. These factions included business, organized labor, progressive educators, professional educators, reformers, New Dealers, and governmental officials. Of particular note is how the author points out the often overlooked influence of philanthropic initiatives in spurring educational reform.             Kliebard, no doubt, will tug on the consciences of vocational educators as he very ably documents the devastating results the "vocationalists" and their programs had on special groups. For example, while industrial education was targeted at boys, domestic science (and later home economics) was aimed at girls. Such programs did little to address marketable skills because, after all, girls would soon become wives and mothers and run households. Separate boys' and girls' vocational schools became common; in the latter, the choices were very limited and focused on "women's occupations." This did not go unchallenged. For example, Ella Young, superintendent of schools in Chicago objected vigorously to the fact that "Girls are taught to sew but not to earn a living as a tailor" (p.128). Occupationally oriented training programs for African Americans were scarce and, when available, often focused on preparation for manual, low paying jobs. This has resulted in suspicions that, unfortunately, even today hamper the recruitment of minorities into modern workforce education programs. Kliebard holds no punches in pointing out the shortcomings of the vocationalists' victories.             Vocational education also takes its lumps from Kliebard for its prominent role in separating the academic from the applied disciplines beginning with the passage of several Federal laws supporting (but segregating) vocational from academic education. The author marks the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, which provided set aside funds for vocational education, as "the point when vocationalism began to gain ascendancy over rival educational ideals" (p. 132). Kliebard chronicles the establishment of two separate educational systems in this country, which the author describes as "not just a bifurcated curriculum but a bifurcated school system" (p. 126). This separation of academic and vocational education, unfortunately, persists today and is being addressed (in some places quite successfully) by school reform initiatives such as Tech Prep and School-To-Work.             The author concludes his book with a well written chapter in which he attempts to proffer what John Dewey would most likely have said about this ongoing debate based on his writings in which he touched on the subject here and there. This "Deweyan critique" is generally critical of vocational education practices but supportive of Dewey's vision of a school curriculum tied closely to the real life experiences of students in all facets of life—not just the workplace. Such a need, in many educational reformers' view, is even more desperately needed today.             It is indeed intriguing how history repeats itself. The recent Fordham Foundation report entitled New Directions: Federal Education Policy in the Twenty-First Century, criticizes the School-To-Work movement as dumbing down the curriculum and taking time away from academics. This is eerily reminiscent of debate between advocates for manual training and advocates for a classical education in the late 1800's and, later during the 30's, between the New Dealers and the Vocationalists described by Kliebard. It is interesting how such a fundamental question being asked in the 1920's by national education leaders is still being asked today: "...whether...the college entrance function ought to continue to dominate the secondary school curriculum" (p. 159).             While Kliebard attempts to present a balanced view, his apparent anti-vocationalism seems to comes through periodically. It surfaces early: in the book's Preface; he laments current polls indicating that the public's overwhelming sentiment today is that the primary purpose of education is economic self-sufficiency and the result, he asserts, is that "The effects on the education of young people have been devastating" (p. xiii). He cites the often cited horrors of high school and college students not knowing even the most basic of facts such as who their two state senators are. In rebuttal, some would suggest that the more likely culprit is the abstract, theoretical, non-contextual approach we still hang onto for delivering a curriculum that many contemporary youth seem to only have contempt for because of its disconnectedness from reality. Also, he refers to early advocates of vocational education as "warriors", and observes that manual training "opened a breach in the academic fortress through which the assembled armies of vocational education could charge" (p. 27).             If any message in the book is overstated, perhaps, it is that vocationalism dominates the school curriculum even today. Many observers would take issue with such a claim. One only has to look at high school graduation requirements or to look at a typical high school graduation ceremony program to note the high level of prestige still associated with college admission. No doubt, you will not see a list of the companies for which students who transitioned directly from school into the workplace found employment listed alongside the colleges which students plan to attend. As the effects of A Nation At Risk and subsequent reports continue to be seen in increasing traditional academic requirements and continually declining enrollments in workforce education programs, one can argue with Kliebard that the vocationalists won the battle.             Schooled To Work: Vocationalism and the American Curriculum is a provocative, well researched, skillfully written book that is highly recommended for those in the academic and the vocational education community. Reference Kanstoroom, M., & Finn, Jr., C. E., (Eds.) (1999). New directions: Federal education policy in the twenty-first century. Washington, D.C.: Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. Accessed September 16, 1999, from the Internet: http://www.edexcellence.net/library/newdrlk.html About the Reviewer William Blank             William Blank is a professor in the Department of Leadership Development at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Recent publications include Promising Practices for Connecting Schools With The Real World (U.S. Department of Education, 1997) and "Future Perspectives in Vocational Education," in Workplace Education—Issues for the New Century (Prakken Publications, 1999).