Home > Major Acts of Congress > Vocational Education Act of 1917

Pamela L. Gray

Excerpt from the Vocational Education Act

An Act to provide for the promotion of vocational education; to provide for cooperation with the states in the promotion of such education in agriculture and the trades and industries; to provide for cooperation with the states in the preparation of teachers of vocational subjects; and to appropriate money and regulate its expenditures.

The Vocational Education Act of 1917 (P.L. 65-347), also known as the Smith-Hughes Act, was designed to provide federal assistance to states to promote vocational education. The act marked the first time that state and local public institutions formed a partnership to provide vocational training in the areas of agriculture, home economics, and trade and industrial education. Legislators and business leaders, recognizing the need for a technically trained workforce (as well as efficiently run households), felt that federal assistance was needed to help the states achieve this goal.

The act required the states to establish a board to develop and administer vocational programs. Some states used existing boards of education, whereas others created separate entities. A major interpretation of the Smith-Hughes Act, which became known as the 50-25-25 Rule, required 50 percent of students' time in school to be spent in shop work, 25 percent in classes related to vocational study, and 25 percent in academic courses.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Before the Industrial Revolution in the mid-nineteenth century, workers became skilled at various tasks by means of apprenticeships. After the 1880s, elementary schools used a program of manual training to prepare future factory workers. The first public vocational high school, with a comprehensive training program in agriculture, was established at the University of Minnesota in 1888.

Also in the late nineteenth century, many educators believed that home management was an important skill that could be taught through scientific principles. The development of home economics began with experimental stations and courses established in the 1870s. Annie Dewey, Maria Daniell (a specialist in institutional management), and Ellen Swallow Richards were pioneers in the profession and training of students in what was called domestic sciences. This group organized meetings in Lake Placid, New York, from 1899 through 1909, developing training standards and an overall agenda for the field.

PUSHING FOR PASSAGE OF THE ACT

The Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890, the first federal legislation in the vocational area, required state proceeds from federally donated land to be utilized for creation and maintenance of at least one college dedicated to instruction in agriculture and mechanical arts. The Morrill Acts were precursors to the Vocational Act of 1917. Several legislators were highly influential in the passage of the 1917 act. Dudley M. Hughes, Democratic congressman from Georgia, was a longtime advocate of agricultural clubs and secondary school agricultural education. Carroll Page, Republican senator from Vermont, upheld the Vermont tradition begun by former Senator Justin Morrill (for whom the Morrill Acts were named). Other important figures were Dr. Charles Prosser, an educator and first executive secretary and lobbyist for the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education (NSPIE), and Hoke Smith, former governor of Georgia and Democratic senator, who wrote several important pieces of legislation and helped to create the political coalition that would secure passage of the 1917 act.

Page and Prosser formed an alliance in 1911 to advance the goals of vocational study. President Woodrow Wilson, an advocate for vocational education, appointed Dudley M. Hughes to the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education in 1914. The passage of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 established the Cooperative Extension Service (programs of practical applications of research knowledge including public instruction and demonstration), and Smith, Page, Hughes, and Prosser were appointed as members. World War I also helped to focus national attention on the need for a technically trained workforce for the war effort.

However, political maneuvering, personality differences, and the health problems and deaths of key supporters delayed the passage of a comprehensive vocational education act until 1917. The major topics of debate were the division of funds among the areas of study and the degree of federal involvement in education. Legislators recognized that the Constitution left the matter of education to the states and local governments. Ultimately, a coalition of political parties, industry, education leaders, and lobbyists brought about passage of the act.

LATER LEGISLATION

Later legislation extended the Smith-Hughes Act by expanding federal assistance in specific areas, including teacher education and new building construction. The most significant changes to the act came with the adoption of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act of 1984 (P.L. 98-524), which was expanded in 1990 and again in 1997. The Smith-Hughes/Vocational Education Act of 1917 was officially repealed by the Carl D. Perkins Act of 1997 (also known as Perkins III). The new direction of vocational education then shifted to encourage integration of academic and vocational content.

See also: MORRILL LAND GRANT ACT OF 1862.