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The separate vocational or technical high schools in the large cities must be reckoned as permanent institutions.

By and large their programs are satisfactorily connected both to the employment situation and to the realities of the apprentice system.

It is not often realized to what degree certain trades are in many communities closed areas of employment, except for a lucky few.

One has to talk confidentially with some of the directors of vocational high schools to realize that a boy cannot just say, `` I want to be a plumber '', and then, by doing good work, find a job.

It is far more difficult in many communities to obtain admission to an apprentice program which involves union approval than to get into the most selective medical school in the nation.

Two stories will illustrate what I have in mind.

One vocational instructor in a city vocational school, speaking of his course in a certain field, said he had no difficulty placing all students in jobs outside of the city.

In the city, he said, the waiting list for those who want to join the union is so long that unless a boy has an inside track he can't get in.

In a far distant part of the United States, I was talking to an instructor about a boy who in the twelfth grade was doing special work.

`` What does he have in mind to do when he graduates ''??

`` Oh, he'll be a plumber '', came the answer.

`` But isn't it almost impossible to get into the union ''??

I asked.

`` He'll have no difficulty '', I was told.

`` He has very good connections ''.