Clark County, Ohio

History and Genealogy

Springfield High School Class of 1951

Industrial Education

It's a far cry from the revolutionary idea of Manual Training in the school curriculum to the well organized trade high school. Springfield High is not a trade school, but we do have one of the best equipped trade departments in the state.

The uninformed have the mistaken idea that Vocational Education and Industrial Arts are just two ways of saying the same thing. Nothing could be farther from the actual situation. The boys who enroll in Vocational Education have decided on the field in which they have decided to learn a trade. Their work is basic training in the learning of that trade. Three periods a day are spent in the shop under the guidance of pracitcal instructors.

The co-operative arrangement between the school and Springfield factories whereby boys may alternate three weeks in the school shop with three weeks in a factory is one of the most valuable phases of the course.

The work of the Industrial Arts course is exploratory. Boys who enter this department have not yet chosen their field and are able to participate in each of the courses before making a vocational choice.