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The influence of industrial vocational education is having its effect upon practices and methods of commercial education. The practice of industrial education of analyzing a curriculum of subjects containing values of vocational work, related vocational, and non-vocational subjects is causing the examination of commercial education with a view to a more careful practice with respect to like items. This evolution of commercial education has resulted in a new and better conception of proper procedure and an attempt to meet the needs of children who attend high school and desire instruction in commercial subjects. This bulletin covers the following related topics: (1) Development of commercial education in public schools; (2) Federal Board for Vocational Education; (3) Provision for commercial education; (4) Report of the Committee on Business Education: Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education; and (5) School Surveys and Commercial Education. (Contains 1 footnote.) [Best copy available has been provided.]

This bulletin is a report of one of those side issues, or by-products, of a piece of scientific work which often proves to be more important than the main issue. When, in 1916, the psychological laboratory of the Vocation Bureau of Cincinnati (Ohio) was given an official position in the public-school system, the first task assigned it was that of diagnosing defective children, and transferring them to classes for defectives. The laboratory was quite aware that it would be performing its most important service in this respect by selecting the children for the special classes as young as they could be definitely diagnosed, and while there was still time to train them. A 1918 study of all of the children who had left school after being enrolled in these classes for defectives showed that over 80 percent of them were 12 years or more of age when they were first assigned to special classes. The average length of stay in the special class was only a year and a half, quite too short a time to give the special school an opportunity for training. Meanwhile, repeated failures and unnecessary conflicts with authority had made the children much harder to train than they would otherwise have been. Realizing this state of affairs, even before the statistical proof of it was available, the laboratory began its policy of urging teachers to recommend for examination children in the first and second grades whose academic failure was bad enough to lend any color to the suspicion of mental defect. The contents of this bulletin will be a somewhat detailed report of an observation class of 16 children and the history of each child down to the summer of 1921, together with the general conclusions which can be drawn from the four years of effort and continued observation. Topics covered in this bulletin include: (1) Conditions of the experiment; (2) Scientific methods and standards; (3) Analysis of the group; (4) Methods of teaching; (5) Case reports (children suffering primarily from neglect, defective children, sufferers from special defects, and a psychopathic child); and (6) Discussion of results. An index is also included. (Contains 12 footnotes.) [This bulletin was prepared under the auspices of the Helen S. Trounstine Foundation and constitutes No. 8 in the Foundation's Series of Social Studies. Best copy available has been provided.]

With the publication of "Education in Honduras," the Office of Education is continuing the series of basic studies on education in the American republics which was initiated in 1943. The Office of Education is indebted to Professor M. Weldon Thompson of Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, Virginia, for the original study which led to the preparation of the present bulletin. Dr. Marjorie C. Johnston of the Office of Education staff in comparative education edited the manuscript and added the programs of study which appear in the 13 tables at the end of this bulletin. Appreciation is also due the Education Division of the Pan American Union and the Embassy of Honduras for careful readings of the manuscript and valuable suggestions. The map of Honduras is included through the courtesy of the Pan American Union, and the photographs of schools were provided by the Secretariat of Public Education in Honduras and the Foreign Operations Administration. Part I of this bulletin presents background information on the country of Honduras, its historical and political development, geographical factors, economic factors, and sociological factors in Honduran development. Part II is concerned with the topic of education as it pertains to the overall school system, elementary education, secondary education, higher education, vocational education, and other educational provisions. The final section of this report contains 13 tables detailing various programs of study. A bibliography is also included. (Contains 13 tables and 7 footnotes.) [This bulletin was edited by Marjorie C. Johnston. Best copy available has been provided.]