A Study On The "Dewey-Prosser Debates": A Conflict Between Vocationalism And Democratism In The Develo-pment Of American Secondary Vocational Education

The enactment and implementation of Smith-Hughes Act in1917symbolized that American Vocational Education had surpassed the European double-track system and the single-track system of American secondary education featuring Comprehensive High School had been established. There had been fierce competition between Prosser’s Vocationalism and Dewey’s Democratism during this process. In fact, Prosser’s Education for Vocation and Dewey’s Education through Vocation were based on different vocational education concepts, thus leading to Dewey-Prosser debates which offered the necessary vocational education theory system for America at the beginning of the20th century.Dewey-Prosser debates did not appear overnight and were far from a single historical event. It was triggered by Cooley Bill which was enacted in1913and involved in the American vocational education movement starting in1906. However, as early as the end of19th century, America had been the superpower in the world with advanced industry. The combination of the most advanced mode of production and the high level of democracy in the new America laid a solid social foundation for Dewey-Prosser debates. The conflicts and integration of traditions from European liberal arts and American native Unitarianism created an atmosphere of the coexistence of multiplicity for American vocational education movement.The competition between vocationalism and democratism involved in Dewey-Prosser debates not only indicated some different academic ideas of Prosser and Dewey and their respective league, but also show the conflicts brought by the plight of American vocational education since19th century. What’s more, it also illustrated the persistent struggle in many aspects, such as that between liberal arts education and vocational education, between the employer group and the employee group, and between democracy and efficiency.Dewey-Prosser debates and the American Model of vocational education are special phenomena in the history of vocational education. However, the different interpretations of those core propositions, given respectively by vocationalism and democratisim within the vocational education domain, and a continuous inquiry on the questions brought by it, such as the locality of vocational education and the justification of the existence of vocational education, have been beyond the scope of a single country.The dissertation consists of six parts.The introduction analyses the cause of the study, indicates the meaning of the study and the innovative points, reviews former studies, puts forward the research thinking, defines the related notion and methods of the study.Chapter one,"the Historical Origin of Dewey-Prosser Debates", probes into the plight of American vocational education in the19th century which is the prelude of Dewey-Prosser debates. It starts from the fact of the slow development of American vocational education in the19th century, and indicates the two important factors that hindered the development of vocational education---emocratism belief in education and liberal education tradition, then shows the struggle between liberal arts education and vocational education, the employer group and employee group during the selection and the latter transformation of the orientation in the manual educational movement. This provides the historical background of Dewey-Prosser debates.Chapter two,"Dewey-Prosser Debates and the Establishment of Vocationalism", studies Dewey-Prosser debates from the perspective of the establishment of vocationalism and the compromise. It first provides the background that the vocational education movement in1906copied the German model, and explores in detail the historical event concerning Dewey-Prosser debates, triggered by the enactment of Cooley Bill in1913, then shows the different ideas of Prosser’s vocationalism and Dewey’s democratism and analyses the two different concepts from the perspective of democracy and efficiency. Next it analyses the enactment of Smith-Hughes Act which occurred after Dewey-Prosser debates and the establishment of single-track system and explains the separate account and layers of courses in Comprehensive High School, which indicated the partial victory of Prosser Vocationalism league.Chapter three,"the Difference of Viewpoints on Vocational Education behind the Debates", deals with Dewey-Prosser debates from the theoretical perspective---the theory underlying the two different vocational education concepts to indicate the difference between vocationalism and democratism. It provides a comparative analysis of the logic start of vocational education, its orientation, its courses and the organization of teaching. This further indicates the necessity of Dewey-Prosser debates and the theoretical foundation underlying the American model.Chapter four,"the Historical Influence of Dewey-Prosser Debates", discusses the evolution of American secondary vocational education after1917---the influence of Prosser and Dewey. It explores the influence of Dewey-Prosser debates and that of the two different vocational education concepts. It clears the fact that American secondary vocational education had moved beyond the European framework and from the micro perspective of courses, it provides some information of two different eras in the evolution of American vocational education during the20th century---Prosser’s vocatioanlism era and Dewey’s democratism era and finally discusses the problems of comprehensive high school in the single track system.The conclusion provides a summary of the following four aspects:the locality of vocational education, the justification of the existence of vocational education, the vitality of vocational education and whether Dewey’s dream would be realized or not, which further indicates the depth of Dewey-Prosser debates.