Page 5 of Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal v.21 n.2

ARTICULATION IN A FULL PROGRAM OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE Address by EDGAR P. WESTMORELAND, Supervisor of Industrial Arts and Voca- tional Training, Washington, D. C., before Kentucky Negro Education Associa- tion, Louisville, Kentucky, April 20, 1949 It is a great honor to be asked to participate in this public meeting of the Kentucky Negro Education Association. In coming to you from the nation's capitol, I bring greetings from the Wash- ington School Club, the Columbian Education Association, and from our First Assistant Superintendent of Schools, in charge of Divisions 10-13, Dr. Garnet C. Wilkinson. He heartily indorses the principle of mutual exchanges of ideas and opinions. We, too, in the District of Columbia, are very much interested in the theme of this convention-"Education for a fuller realization of democracy.' That this theme also has a national and international interest is evidenced by the liberations now going on in Congress; the development of the Atlantic Pact, the crisis in China, the work of the United Nations, and such far-reaching problems whose final solutions will depend upon the direction and leadership of an edu- cated people. 1. On the national level we are now making some headway. According to Dr. Earl J. McGrath, recently appointed Commissioner of Education, "It has been the view of the large majority of Americans that all children, regardless of their origins or social status, should have the chance to de- velop their abilities to the fullest." 2. Federal Administrator Oscar R. Ewing recently expressed this opinion, "We in America have something unique. I don't mean wealth or power, or any material thing. I mean the part of our democracy that is still largely a dream-but a very, very real one. I mean the ideal of equal opportunity. . . . We all know it hasn't been achieved. Millions of children have the cards stacked against them merely because their parents happen to be poor or because they happen to be Corn in the wrong part of the country. Millions more are denied equality of opportunity for purely arbitrary reasons-race or color or religion." 3. Vice President Barkley, speaking last month to the National Conference of Christians and Jews, challenged the American people to form a united front against intolerance and bigotry. The theme of this convention is, therefore, very timely. The history of education in America presents a panorama of emphasis in the educational process. In the earlier years, the focal points were the mastery of skills and the memorization of facts. There was little else. Little, if any, attention was given to the student as a personality, to his moral, social, and civic consciousness, to his health, or his use of leisure time. Little, if any, attention was given to the development of the students' judgment, discernment, initiative, and ability to analyze and solve basic problems of living. In short, little, if any, attention was given to Articulation-the process of relating the use of skills to life, and of the inter-relationships among the facts learned as between those facts and life. (For example, the difference between H20 and H2SO4.) 5