suing commercial courses, and it is certain that the actual needs of only a few of these boys and girls are being met, owing to the rather limited scope of the traditional commercial course.

Two occupations, bookkeeping and stenography, have for a long time dominated the field of commercial education to the entire neglect of the many other commercial occupations for which training is necessary.

Important changes in the administration and conduct of education for business are necessary if the requirements of commerce are to be met and the best interests of our boys and girls are to be conserved.

The States are confronted with many problems connected with the reorganization of commercial courses in both public and private schools and the extension of facilities for giving the right kind of training for commercial occupations to the various types of young people who desire it. While no funds were appropriated by the Vocational education act to stimulate commercial education, definite provision was made for aiding the States in the solution of these very important problems relating to better training for the occupations. commonly classified as "commercial."

In section 6 of the act the Federal Board for Vocational Education is required "to make, or cause to have made, studies, investigations, and reports, with particular reference to their use in aiding the States in the establishment of vocational schools and classes and in giving instruction in . . . commerce and commercial pursuits Such studies, investigations, and reports shall include . . . commerce and commercial pursuits and requirements upon commercial workers . . . and problems of administration of vocational schools and of courses of study and instruction in vocational subjects."

In the fulfillment of its duty the Federal Board for Vocational Education has appointed an assistant director for commercial education and is making very thorough studies in the various phases of commercial education, to the end that the States may be aided in giving instruction in this great field of vocational training.

The following problems of commercial education are recognized as among those requiring immediate attention and the help of the Federal Board in their solution:

NECESSITY FOR PROVIDING COMPETENT STATE SUPERVISION.

In only one State is a specialist in this field employed by the State department of public instruction. Since one-fourth of all the students enrolled in the high schools of the country are taking commercial courses, it is very important that better supervision of this

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kind of training be made available in all the States. The Federal Board for Vocational Education plans to bring about this result by showing conclusively through its published bulletins and field work that such supervision and direction are necessary to safeguard the interests of the hundreds of thousands of young people interested in this kind of vocational training.

ESTABLISHMENT OF MORE AND BETTER COMMERCIAL TEACHER-TRAINING FACILITIES.

Only seven States provide for the training of commercial teachers in institutions conducted under State control. Even in some of these State schools where commercial teachers are trained the courses fall far short of what is required to prepare teachers competent to handle. the newer courses in commercial education as distinguished from those organized in conformity with the earlier and narrower conceptions of this type of training. The Federal Board for Vocational Education is planning to point the way for the establishment of better commercial teacher-training courses by field work and through its publications, and there is every indication that the States will welcome help in this field.

ESTABLISHMENT OF A BETTER TYPE OF ELEMENTARY COMMERCIAL

EDUCATION.

In a large number of newly organized junior high schools there is being offered a type of commercial training which is unsound not only from the viewpoint of the general educator but also from that of the vocational educator. In the great majority of such schools the elementary commercial course is identical, so far as it goes, with the earlier years of the commercial course of the upper high school. In fact, the senior high school commercial course has been brought down into the lower school, without regard to whether or not it meets the needs of the boys or girls who are permitted to take it. This practice results in giving immature pupils in such schools training for vocations that can not be entered successfully by such young people. The Federal Board for Vocational Education is actively promoting a plan for providing boys and girls of any given age who want vocational commercial education only the kind of training that will fit them for positions to which they may aspire with reasonable hope of success. A bulletin dealing with this phase of business training is in preparation and will soon be issued. Evidence is plentiful that the Board's lead in this matter will be followed by ose who have to do with the organization of such courses.

DIFFERENTIATED HIGH SCHOOL COMMERCIAL COURSES.

In the high schools generally throughout the country commercial courses have not been organized with definite vocational purposes in mind. Such courses have often represented merely the grouping of more or less vaguely related academic and commercial studies, without in any degree securing that unity necessary in any effective system of education. The Federal Board for Vocational Education believes that a full four-year curriculum of commercial training can be organized in such a way as to safeguard the needs of all students who enter the high schools, regardless of whether they have a long or short period in which to secure their training for business, and at the same time encourage the largest possible number to continue their education at least to the end of the four-year high-school course. A bulletin dealing with the organization of such a course is in preparation and will clearly show just how these two desirable results can be accomplished by the organization of a course of study that is properly graded from the first year to the last.

PART-TIME COMMERCIAL EDUCATION.

It is just as important in commercial education as it is in any other type of vocational training that the pupil shall have contact with the occupation for which he is preparing during the period of preparation. Notwithstanding this fact, practically all commercial courses have been organized without regard for this need. The Federal Board for Vocational Education is pointing the way toward a better type of cooperative and part-time commercial education, not only for those who are enrolled as students in high school commercial courses, but also for those who already have entered employment in the lower positions in business offices without first having secured the necessary education to enable them to advance to the higher places. Such part-time courses will be outlined for those who are engaged in retail selling, clerical, typewriting, bookkeeping, and other commercial occupations.

PROMOTION OF RETAIL SELLING AND MERCHANDISE COURSES.

Since there are more people engaged in the retail industry than are to be found in office positions, it is quite important that training for the retail business should be given in well-organized commercial departments in the larger cities. To direct attention to this need the Federal Board for Vocational Education has published a bulletin dealing with retail-selling education. This bulletin outlines courses of study for high schools, for department stores, for evening school extension courses, for part-time continuation courses, and for teacher

training schools. Complete information is given as to how such courses can be organized, as to what these courses should cover, and as to what material is available for use in giving instruction in the art of retail selling. About 25 cities are already interested in this phase of commercial education, and many of them have organized classes in their public high schools. The Federal board is cooperating with these and other cities in their efforts to make this new type of training worth while. It is the Board's intention to follow up this bulletin with such field work as is necessary to insure the right kind of a start in the rapid development of education for retail selling and general store service.

OTHER ADVANCED COMMERCIAL COURSES.

Courses in outside selling, advertising, business organization, and management are also among the newer types of commercial courses that should be added to the commercial curricula of the four-year type. In other words, differentiated commercial courses, based upon vocational needs and suited to the ages and abilities of different pupils, must be provided if the full vocational possibilities of this phase of education are to be realized. Interest can be stimulated in these newer phases of commercial training by propaganda in the form of bulletins and circulars and by field work through competent representatives of the Federal Board.

EDUCATION FOR FOREIGN TRADE.

The great world-war has brought about a new condition in the matter of foreign trade. American manufacturers and merchants not only are alive to the possibilities of such trade, but also fully intend to enter the foreign field immediately at the close of the war. Their foreign trade development is already creating a demand for young men who have been trained in foreign trade for service both at home and abroad. Up to the present time no effective means has been found to interest young men in training that will fit them for service in the foreign trade department of American business houses. The Board has appointed a special agent in foreign trade as one of the assistants in the commercial education department, and much progress has been made in the development of better training for this kind of service. Working relations have been established between the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce of the Department of Commerce, the United States Shipping Board, the Manufacturers' Association, and various other business organizations interested in this field of education. A bulletin dealing with this subject and outlining courses has been prepared by the Board. A reading

course in foreign trade and a course in foreign trade documents have been prepared through the joint efforts of the Federal Board for Vocational Education and the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. Other instruction material is in course of preparation and will shortly be available for the schools desiring to give instruction to young men who are interested in foreign trade positions. The Federal Board has already taken steps to organize in a few of the principal foreign trade centers of the United States classes on a part-time basis for young men and women who are already employed by houses engaged in trade with foreign countries. When complete courses have been worked out in these few centers it is certain that other cities interested in this field will take up the work and help to make it as extensive as the conditions of such trade will justify. A special working arrangement has been entered into by the Federal Board and the United States Shipping Board whereby the former's specialist in foreign trade education will cooperate with the latter in the preparation of courses which are required for giving instruction in the shore end of the shipping business. These courses are to be published by the Federal Board as soon as they are completed. Field work will follow their publication, and part-time courses will be established in existing or newly organized schools.

STANDARDIZATION OF TECHNICAL COMMERCIAL SUBJECTS.

Since there has been no State or Federal supervision of high-school commercial departments it is only natural that the commercial subjects have not been standardized to a point where they command the same recognition as is accorded academic subjects of similar importance. The Federal Board is gathering all the information it can regarding the essential content of the various commercial subjects, with a view to standardizing courses in these subjects so that inexperienced teachers may be less at the mercy of the textbook writers with widely differing ideas regarding textbook requirements.

MODIFICATION OF RELATED ACADEMIC SUBJECTS.

High-school pupils who are preparing for business should receive in addition to instruction in the technical commercial subjects some general education, including science, history, and modern language. It has been difficult to get such a modification of content and teaching method in presenting these subjects to commercial groups as would not only arouse and hold the pupil's interest, but also give to them a functional value in their business vocation. The requirements of the colleges in these matters have controlled in the great majority of high schools, and since the college preparatory student