Date of Graduation

1945

Document Type

Problem/Project Report

Degree Type

MA

College

College of Education and Human Services

Department

Not Listed

Committee Chair

Rebecca L. Pollock

Committee Member

Laurence Hill

Committee Member

Frances DeLancy

Abstract

Commercial education is relatively a newcomer in our schools, as compared with the College Preparatory Course. Because of the demands of business and society the content of the commercial course has been largely increased to include such subjects as commercial law, salesmanship, consumer economics, insurance, business machines, office practice, and other subjects, to meet these new demands.

Since the field of commercial education is still newer in the Negro high schools it seems to the writer to be necessary that a comparison of situations will be the basis for determining future needs and equipment in the Negro and white high schools.

With the introduction of the County Unit System in our state, many schools have been discontinued and in most instances only one high school for Negro youth exists in a county. The writer felt that a study should be made to find out whether the opportunities in commercial education are comparable to those offered in the white high school and if the courses are being used by pupils vocationally or merely for personal use. In other words, if the commercial facilities in the Negro high schools of adequate.

The purpose of this study is to determine the opportunities offered in the Negro high schools and deals primarily with the number of Negro high schools and a comparison with a comparable number of white high schools, offering commercial work, the number of teachers employed, a comparison of subjects, the number of units to be earned, size of classes, equipment, and a follow-up of the commercial graduates in so far as possible.

The data presented in this study were obtained from the following sources: Questionnaires were circulated among 34 Negro and 34 white senior high schools, listed in the West Virginia Educational directory for the school year 1944-1945; from the published records of the West Virginia State Department of Education; from the published records of the Bureau of Negro Welfare and Statistics; and from the principals in schools where there were no commercial courses given.

Replies were received from 70.6 per cent of the Negro schools and 67.7 per cent of the white schools investigated. This represents a fair sampling on the basis of comparable enrollments and also represents each county in which there is a Negro high school.

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