ABSTRACT

During the first two decades of the new century, high school administrators sought to come to grips with the contradictory messages of the Committee of Ten and the advocates of practical instruction. The schoolmen’s course was unsteady, their voices confused. Some defended the academic tradition so forcefully upheld by the Committee of Ten; others embraced manual training but tried to stay clear of vocational education; still others saw the former as but a platform from which to launch the latter. Most were aware that a momentous, revolutionary change was in the offing and that they were engaged in a debate that would determine the course of American secondary education for decades.