CHAPTER IV

FEDERAL AND STATE RELATIONSHIPS OF THE FEDERAL OFFICE

The Federal office charged with the responsibility of administering the program of vocational education must necessarily maintain many working relationships with other agencies. These relationships may be broadly described under two categories: (1) Those involving other agencies of the Federal Government, and (2) those involving the States. Attention is given in this chapter to these two areas with which working relationships are involved.

Other Federal Agencies

The Smith-Hughes Act, in setting up the Federal Board for Vocational Education, gives evidence of an intent to provide a method of obtaining coordination between the program of vocational education and related services in other governmental agencies. With the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor placed in a position to make their influence felt in the Federal program of vocational education, it would seem that, in theory at least, ample provision was made for effecting necessary coordination. The change in the status of the Federal Board which occurred in 1933 places the matter of coordination on an advisory basis rather than on a basis of direct control.

Agriculture.-One area in which an important necessity for coordination is evidenced is the relationship with the Cooperative Agricultural Extension Service maintained by the Department of Agriculture through the land-grant colleges. To a certain extent it is fair to say that the program of vocational education in the secondary schools and the Cooperative Agricultural Extension Service are rivalsrivals for Federal appropriations and rivals for attention and prestige at the level both of the State and of the local com

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munity. Both programs are concerned with the ultimate objective of improving agricultural processes and the conditions in the farm home. Both programs work to some extent with the same age groups in the population. Both carry on so-called "club work," through organizations admitting boys of high school age. It should be clear that need for cooperation is peculiarly indicated in this area, and any kind of rivalry or antagonism tends to defeat the basic purposes of the enterprises.

Some attempts have been made to coordinate the program of vocational education in agriculture and in home economics with the Cooperative Agricultural Extension Service, but much remains to be done to bring these two services into complete cooperation. It is generally agreed by those who know the situation and who are able to consider it from a disinterested point of view, that some comprehensive plan of coordinating vocational education in agriculture and home economics with the Cooperative Agricultural Extension Service should be formulated for all levels-national, State, and local. In these services there appears to be the most cooperation at the bottom and the least at the top, and yet strangely the agents and teachers at the operating level report the problem as being much more serious than the State and Federal officials representing each service at the controlling level.

In 1928 a Memorandum of Understanding was agreed upon by the Federal services representing vocational education in agriculture and agricultural extension. This was a commendable effort, but it is now apparently more or less disregarded by both services. The Memorandum of Understanding attempted to define the field of each service so that neither would encroach upon the territory of the other. It did not indicate how each might supplement the other and in what areas they might cooperate effectively.

It may be suggested that coordination cannot be brought about solely by a memorandum of understanding, although such a device might be helpful if it stressed in a positive way the means of cooperation as well as the means of avoiding conflict and duplication. It is reported that in many States

where such agreements have been duly signed there is more strife than in States that do not have them. Whether or not this be true, it is certain that the solution of the problem of coordination lies elsewhere, and is not so easily attained.

The character of the personnel is a large factor in bringing about real coordination. If those in charge of each program are selfish and jealous, no plan, even though it be a very good one, will work. On the other hand, if those in charge are cooperative and more interested in seeing a good job done than in obtaining the credit for doing it, almost any plan will work. That plan of coordination is best which will make it more profitable for each group to work with than to work against the other.

The objectives of the vocational program in agriculture and the Cooperative Agricultural Extension Service are so important that any lack of cooperation should not be tolerated. It must be recognized by all concerned that the funds and the personnel now available are inadequate for the great task that should be accomplished. Any staff member who allows departmental or personal ambition to frustrate the attainment of the aims and objectives of these important services ceases to be useful and should be replaced.

Labor.-A second area in which cooperation with governmental agencies is necessary relates particularly to the field of training for trades and industries. The Department of Labor has as much interest in the maintenance of suitable labor standards and working conditions in local programs of vocational education as in any phase of commerce and industry. A program looking toward the encouragement of apprenticeship is being promoted under the Department of Labor and this impinges on the program of vocational education at many points. Other aspects of vocational education also have a definite relationship to labor problems.

The operation of the program of vocational education in trades and industries will inevitably affect the thinking of the group of future working people, and in this and other ways will ultimately have a bearing on the labor movement itself. The one group in the American democracy most vitally concerned with what goes on in the program of vocational education in trades and industries is the labor group. The

policies, content, methods, and quality of administration of this program have or can have a tremendous influence on the future of the wage-earning group. The whole broad field of policies in vocational education needs the critical review of that agency in the Government, the Department of Labor, which is specifically set up to consider problems related to the place and service of the labor group in a modern democracy.

In spite of the fact that the program of vocational education vitally affects the interests of organized labor, there has been a failure in many instances to take such interests into consideration in the Federal program. Relations between the officials in vocational education and the Department of Labor have not been close.

So-called vocational education, together with general education, spells out America's concept of educational opportunity as it relates to economic opportunity for present and future wage earners. The need for the closest kind of cooperation between Federal and State agencies for vocational education and governmental agencies familiar with labor problems and policy in a democracy cannot be overstated.

Much of the apparent cooperation between the administrators of vocational education and organized labor must be interpreted in the light of labor's characteristic respect for and reliance on the professional contribution of educators to the future of the Nation's wage-earning group. Educators have a heavy responsibility to see to it that this confidence does not result in eventual betrayal of labor's interest in the preservation and improvement of democratic ideals.

An important aspect of certain types of vocational education is concerned with the enforcement of suitable labor standards. This is a function that clearly lies outside the field of competence of educational authorities. For that reason the proper discharge of this function seems to demand not merely cooperation but actual assignment of authority to some other agency. The responsibility for the enforcement of labor standards most appropriately belongs to the Department of Labor, which has the organization already set up to deal with such problems. Such an arrangement would provide the essential knowledge of industry, of sound

labor practices, and of the specialized techniques of modern labor relationships which are now lacking in the administration of vocational education. The analogous responsibility of the Department of Labor in connection with all Federal contracts under the Walsh-Healey Act seems a sufficient precedent for this assignment in the case of vocational education.

It is recognized that there may be some difficulties in separating the control over labor relations from the remainder of the program of vocational education, and in assigning such functions to an office in a different department of the Federal Government. It is believed, however, that a cooperative working relationship could be established for this purpose. The important principle to be followed is that of assigning control over labor relations to an agency that is competent to deal with the problem and that enjoys the confidence of those whose interests are most involved.

Other areas in which working relationships may be involved.The chief areas in which the necessity has appeared for satisfactory cooperative working relationships between vocational education and other Federal agencies are the concern of the Departments of Agriculture and of Labor. It is conceivable, however, that in the future other areas in which such relationships are needed may become important in the program of vocational education. There is, for example, a rather large area of contact between the Department of Commerce and the services of vocational education. This Department is the normal channel through which industry would expect to make its will effective in the program, just as labor may approach the problem through the Department of Labor. The National Resources Committee and the Social Security Board are examples of possible other points of contact between Federal agencies and the program of vocational education.

Since 1933 certain new Federal agencies have been set up which have in part objectives related to vocational education. Most important of these are the Civilian Conservation Corps, the educational program of the Works Progress Administration, and the National Youth Administration. While cer