December 15, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



829 



teacher and student. The residence in- 

 structor is frequently not well adapted to 

 this work. I fully agree, however, with 

 the head of the German department, whose 

 views I have quoted, that the work for 

 credit must be under the careful super- 

 vision of the residence departments, since 

 they are responsible to the university for 

 the maintenance of a standard. The work 

 of applicants for degrees, non-resident or 

 resident, must, of course, conform equally 

 to this standard. 



Department supervision is, in general, 

 not necessary for the vocational courses, 

 and is not as a rule desirable. There is 

 danger that the influence of the old aca- 

 demic spirit may operate to make voca- 

 tional correspondence study as applied to 

 industrial workers ineffective and prac- 

 tically valueless. Professional men, in- 

 cluding lawyers, physicians, elergjonen, 

 teachers and the like, will, naturally, select 

 courses of study that are closely related to 

 the resident work. But a different treat- 

 ment is required for students of the indus- 

 trial class who, thoiagh mature in years, are 

 immature in mental processes. Many of 

 these have no fixed habits of study, or are 

 unaccustomed to confinement out of work- 

 ing hours, and frequently realize only im- 

 perfectly the benefits to be derived from a 

 course of study applied to their vocation. 

 They are often burdened by home cares. 

 The fact that the fee, however small, would 

 help to lighten the home burdens will often 

 affect their judgment, and the present is 

 more significant to them than the future. 

 These students need constant encourage- 

 ment with close personal contact. They 

 must be shown in the class room, in the 

 shop, or the local laboratory the applica- 

 tion of their instruction to the industry in 

 which they are employed. An occasional 

 meeting in the class room under the direc- 

 tion of an instructor, where notes and ex- 



periences in the work can be compared, 

 acts as a helpful stimulus. 



The method of instruction which com- 

 bines correspondence study with class 

 work, applied under the conditions of such 

 district organization as has been described, 

 has been successfully applied. In mining 

 districts classes of industrial workers en- 

 gage under local direction in courses of 

 study .designed to improve their proficiency 

 in mining engineering; in manufacturing 

 districts, shop mathematics, machine con- 

 struction and other subjects fundamental 

 to mechanical processes are studied; in 

 commercial centers, business courses; in 

 rural districts, agricultural subjects; in 

 fact, university extension effectively ad- 

 ministered through district organization 

 should offer vocational training in every 

 part of the state directly applicable to the 

 prevalent conditions. 



An interesting and valuable phase of 

 extension work has to do with choice of 

 occupation. The Vocational Bureau in 

 Massachusetts has demonstrated that a 

 large field of usefulness is open to the 

 instrumentality that has for its object 

 guidance of the individual, whether young 

 or old, toward the selection of an occupa- 

 tion adapted to his abilities and tastes. 

 Many a man is a failure because he is in 

 the wrong place. The bootblack who is 

 shown the way to fit himself for more 

 remunerative and agreeable work, the clerk 

 who is helped to achieve the broader use- 

 fulness for which he has ambition and 

 capacity, in a word, every misfit who is 

 assisted to discover and develop his pe- 

 culiar abilities becomes a more valuable 

 unit to himself and his community. It is 

 evident that district organization may be a 

 useful agent in bringing the needed oppor- 

 tunity to persons whose latent possibilities 

 are worthy of recognition and development. 



Other activities of the district force will 



