Graduate credit for industrial arts shopwork in colleges and universities of the United States

Abstract

Scope of Study: The purpose of this study was to investigate the present status of shopwork as an area of graduate study of industrial arts education in American colleges and universities. A survey was made of seventy-one colleges and universities offerings. The courses of these institutions were analyzed and classified according to their frequency of appearance, and the amount of such credit hours that could be applied toward an advanced degree.

The writer is of the belief that such a study is beneficial to those who are seeking additional manipulative skills while pursuing a graduate degree.

Findings and Conclusions: Thirty-one of the seventy-one institutions investigated included courses of industrial arts shopwork as a graduate study area. Machine woodworking and drafting appeared more often than any other courses. Manual arts therapy, job analysis, carpentry, foundry, and lapidary and sterling techniques appeared only one time each as a separate subject.

Graduate schools established before 1930 offer less industrial arts shopwork on the graduate level than newer schools. Institutions with fewer shopwork credit hours permit a greater percentage of such hours toward an advanced degree.

The writer is of the opinion that if the present schools of industrial arts education are to cope with the growing demands of industrial arts teachers, they must include more of the latest techniques of industry and elevate more shop courses to graduate students.