This dissertation contains three chapters, each investigating a question in American economic history. The first chapter is co-authored with Ran Abramitzky, Santiago Perez, and Joseph Price. In this work, we conduct a large-scale digitization of historical college registers, encompassing 2.7 million students at 65 elite US universities. We use…

This study aims to determine the factors affecting the occupational choice and career orientation of senior students in Girls Anatolian Imam Hatip High Schools (Religious Vocational High School) and reveal what the students who turn to different occupation groups are affected. The study was conducted using the "phenomenology" pattern,…

Anti-scientific attitudes can impose substantial costs on societies. Can schools be an important agent in mitigating the propagation of such attitudes? This paper investigates the effect of the content of science education on anti-scientific attitudes, knowledge, and choices. The analysis exploits staggered reforms that reduce or expand the…

Established in 1911 as a simple owner-operated commercial school in Providence, Rhode Island, the Katharine Gibbs School expanded over the decades to acquire an international reputation for excellence in secretarial training. This essay examines the origin, development, and ultimate demise of the chain, placing it within the context of the…

This article is not intended to be an autobiography. It relates to the experiences of the author as a pupil in a secondary modern school in Wiltshire during the late 1950s and early 1960s. He suffered the experience of being an 11-plus failure and a secondary modern graduate at the age of 15 years. Later in life he had a much more rewarding career…

There has been considerable discussion among policymakers and school leaders in recent years about the need to prepare students as early as junior high and high school for the demands of the 21st Century knowledge economy. Efforts to provide this combination of knowledge and skills often fall under the label of "Career and Technical…

Career and Technical Education (CTE) balances the pull between the practical and theoretical by applying academic knowledge to real-world problems, preparing students for a wide array of careers. Unfortunately, confusion and stereotypes still reign when it comes to what career and technical education is and is not, even as public sentiment shifts…

There has been considerable discussion among policymakers and school leaders in recent years about the need to prepare students as early as junior high and high school for the demands of the 21st Century knowledge economy. Efforts to provide this combination of knowledge and skills often fall under the label of "Career and Technical…

The 2019 edition of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is the 55th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The purpose of the "Digest" is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. It contains data on a variety of…

The 2017 edition of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is the 53rd in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The "Digest" has been issued annually except for combined editions for the years 1977-78, 1983-84, and 1985-86. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field…

The 54th in a series of publications initiated in 1962, the purpose of the "Digest" is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of education from prekindergarten through graduate school. It contains data on a variety of topics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and…

The National Conference on Secretarial Training, called by the United States Bureau of Education in cooperation with Boston University, was held at the College of Secretarial Science Saturday, October 27, 1923. The conference was attended by 120 delegates, representing Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Rhode…

The influence of industrial vocational education is having its effect upon practices and methods of commercial education. The practice of industrial education of analyzing a curriculum of subjects containing values of vocational work, related vocational, and non-vocational subjects is causing the examination of commercial education with a view to…

Sixteen years have elapsed since a committee of the business education department of the National Education Association submitted a report on the commercial curriculum with somewhat detailed treatment of the various subjects of study. Four years ago another committee of the same department made a less complete report. Subsequent changes in…

This chapter of the "Biennial Survey of Education in the United States, 1928-1930" focuses on the following topic areas as they relate to commercial education: (1) Introduction; (2) Trends revealed by enrollment statistics; (3) Research basis for objectives; (4) Commercial occupation surveys; (5) Office equipment surveys; (6) Job analyses; (7)…