SHED 479 & 579

1. SHED 479 & 579 HISTORY and PRINCIPLES of CAREER and TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION

2. Dr. Charles A. Prosser • Dr. Prosser helped to shape polices and procedures that led to progressive vocational programs better known as Career & Technology (C&T) today. • Born in New Albany, Indiana in September 1872. • Graduated from high school and went on to receive his B.S. degree in 1897 – a rare occasion at that time. • He received his Doctorate in 1925.

3. Dr. Prosser’s Accomplishments • 1912 – He became secretary of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education through which he helped legislation be passed to promote a national vocational education program. • 1917 – Appointed the director on the Federal Board for Vocational Education which distributed money to the states to bolster vocational education nation–wide. • 1945 – The “Prosser Resolution” helped to create a study by the U.S. Commissioner of Education of the educational needs of students who were not planning to enter an institution of higher learning.

4. Dr. Prosser’s Accomplishments • As a direct result of his efforts vocational education/C&T became an important part of the American education system.

5. PROSSER’S SIXTEEN THEOREMS • 1. Career & Technology (C&T) education will be efficient in proportion as the environment in which the learner is trained is a replica of the environment in which he must subsequently work. • 2. Effective C&T training can only be given where the training jobs are carried on in the same way, with the same operations, the same tools, and the same machines as in the occupation itself. • 3. C&T will be effective in proportion as it trains the individual directly and specifically in the thinking habits and the manipulative habits required in the occupation itself.

6. PROSSER’S SIXTEEN THEOREMS • 4. C&T education will be effective in proportion as it enables each individual to capitalize his interests, aptitudes, and intrinsic intelligence to the highest degree. • 5. Effective C&T education for any profession, trade, occupation, or job can only be given to the selected group of individuals who need it, want it, and are able to profit by it. • 6. C&T training will be effective in proportion as the specific training experiences for forming right habits of doing and thinking are repeated to the point that these habits become fixed to the degree necessary for gainful employment.

7. PROSSER’S SIXTEEN THEOREMS • 7. C&T education will be effective in proportion as the instructor has had successful experiences in the application of skills and knowledge to the operations and processes he undertakes to teach. • 8. For every occupation there is a minimum of productive ability which an individual must possess in order to secure or retain employment in that occupation. • 9. C&T education must recognize conditions as they are and must train individuals to meet the demands of the “market” even though it may be true that more efficient ways for conducting the occupation may be known and better working conditions are highly desirable.

8. PROSSER’S SIXTEEN THEOREMS • 10. The effective establishment of process habits in any learner will be secured in proportion as the training is given on actual jobs and not on exercises or pseudo jobs. • 11. The only reliable source of content for specific training in an occupation is in the experiences of masters of that occupation. • 12. For every occupation there is a body of content which is peculiar to that occupation and which practically has no functioning value in any other occupation.

9. PROSSER’S SIXTEEN THEOREMS • 13. C&T education will render efficient social services in proportion as it meets the specific training needs of any group at the time that they need it and in such a way that they can most effectively profit by the instruction. • 14. C&T education will be socially efficient in proportion as in its methods of instruction and its personal relations with learners it takes into consideration the particular characteristics of any particular group which it serves.

10. PROSSER’S SIXTEEN THEOREMS • 15. The administration of C&T education will be efficient in proportion as it is elastic and fluid rather than rigid and standardized. • 16. While every reasonable effort should be made to reduce per capita cost, there is a minimum level below which effective C&T education cannot be given, and if the course does not permit this minimum of per capita cost, C&T education should not be attempted.

11. M.D. Mobley • Mr. Mobley also had great influence on Vocational Education. • Born in May, 1900 in rural Georgia. • 1919 - Graduated from high school. • 1923 – Graduated from college with B.S. in Agriculture and went on to teach vocational agriculture at the high school level. • 1924 – Made Associate Professor of Agricultural Education at the University of Georgia. • 1926 – Named Assistant State Supervisor of Agricultural Education • 1930 – Received his Masters Degree. • 1934 - Became Assistant State Director of Vocational Education • 1936 – Named State Director.

12. M.D. Mobley • Was known as a humanitarian with a great desire to help people achieve an improved economic stature in a changing social structure. • He believed that C&T students should have the right to a well-rounded education and a chance to absorb teachings that would help them form basic values. • He was a master at public relations and believed in always telling the truth.

13. M.D. Mobley • He believed that C&T education programs could not flourish without the support of the community in general. • He felt that C&T education would expand and improve in direct proportion to the job we were doing in keeping people informed about what we were doing. • He was involved in the activities that surrounded the preparation and passage of every piece of C&T education legislation for 30 years.

14. M.D. Mobley Philosophy • C& T education must be a part of the total education program. • C&T education must be available to all people. • C&T education must be everyone’s concern. • Professionalization of C&T must continue. • Student organizations must be considered part of the total C&T program.

15. In Summary • There were many great people who influenced the advancement of C&T education. Dr. Prosser and M.D. Mobley were two. • These men wanted to make a difference and did. • C&T education has been strengthened and a countless number of people have been able to live and work with dignity because of these two men.