Bill Tracking Worksheet, Essay Example

Bill number: Public No. 347

Title of bill: Vocational Education Act

Electronic link address (Electronic copy of the bill): http://federaleducationpolicy.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/1917-vocational-education-act-or-smith-hughes-act/.

Sponsors (Last names of the legislator(s) who proposed the bill): Smith Cosponsors (Last names of the legislators who support the bill as cosponsors): Hughes

Bill indexed under the following subjects/keywords: Vocation, Family, vocational education

Code citation (specific letters and number of laws and codes): 64^th Congress Session II Chapter 114 (1917)

Synopsis

The field of agricultural industries in the United States is one of its well-founded systems that independent families often use to support themselves especially in the southern territories of the country. However, there are times when some families need the assistance to be able o get started with the process. This is the reason why the creation and the implementation of the Smith-Hughes Act has been imposed in the US Congress. The said act is also known as the vocational act which allowed household members to become more involved in the proper process of farming. This particular act pursued the practical provision of education on farming and agriculture to high school students particularly in regions in the South such as that of the Woodland High School located in Woodland, Virginia. Under this program, young individuals who have the inclination in completing their education and pursuing agricultural pursuits are able to gain the right skills they need hence making them self-sustainable later on in their lives right after they have graduated from High School education.

It is the aim of this act to specifically equip families with the right skills they need to be able to sustain themselves and also strengthen the agricultural industries of the country. Relatively, this process is expected to strengthen the country’s economy within a two-fold approach that aims to maintain stability especially when it comes to making specific amendments to how families intend to sustain themselves. It has been observed that the more students are graduating from courses in college that are directed towards getting office-based positions, the more are ending up unemployed or under employed at most hence are not even given the chance to realize the full potential of the skills that they have learned from college. With the implication of the Smith-Hughes act, expanding the capacity of graduates to establish and immediate livelihood that would help them support their family needs without having the need to undergo too much pressure as other college graduates are experiencing.

In support to this particular act in recognition of the need to alleviate poverty in the country, the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1961 has been introduced to further empower the process of training individuals under specific programs that target the development of essential skills that are necessary for establishing immediate livelihoods after they graduate from middle school. From this point, not only did the ac insisted on the institution of agricultural skills to be provided as a sense of training to students but also that of other vocational skills that are needed to establish independent sources of livelihood. This also included extra training on basic employees that are relatively hoped to have other options of work after the years of being employed.

History of legislative dates:

1914: Smith-Lever Act expansion

1917 Establishment of the Smith-Hughes Act

Amendments history:

As for today, workforce education is considered to be a strong source of economic competence in the United States. Facing the challenges of hosting to a huge number of immigrants and welcoming the possibilities of higher rates of poverty, the country does need to equip itself and its people with the capability to make definitive courses of change in the way people are living their lives. While America continues to expand in its economic strength, the other half of the population of the country continues to struggle. Hence to strengthen the impact of the Smith-Hughes Act, it has been required that those who are to handle vocational courses are supposed to be specifically skilled in their own fields hence making it easier for them to create an impact on the students they are to teach. An amendment on the supporting budget has also been considered to make sure that the application of the said law becomes strongly backed up by governmental funding. This included an adjustment on how the whole campaign for advanced educational provisions should be funded. Expanding the impact of the said bill not only on the Southern American regions but also on some areas in the west, east and north have been given the opportunity to consider the same options of educational development being suggested in the said amendment. Looked upon as a national strategy in defense of wide-spread unemployment, this particular program has specifically been suggested to be applied also in college education and later on in adult-education that catered to non-formally-schooled individuals who desired to learn more and apply more skills to improve their status of living.

References:

Gadell, John (1972). Charles Allen Prosser: His Work in Vocational and General Education. Washington University. p. 23.

Worrell, A. (2009, January) Woodlawn School Tabbed for Historical Marker. The Carroll News.

Vocational Education Act of 1917, or Smith-Hughes Act of 1917. http://federaleducationpolicy.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/1917-vocational-education-act-or-smith-hughes-act/. (Retrieved on April 25, 2012).