Answer: 19 17, the us congress passed a proposal on vocational education jointly put forward by Smith and Hughes, which was known as Smith-Hughes act in history. The main contents of the bill are as follows: (1) The federal government gives subsidies, vigorously develops vocational education below the university level, and establishes vocational schools that provide education in agriculture, industry, commerce and home economics; (2) The federal government should cooperate with the states to provide teacher training in agriculture, industry, commerce and home economics, and at the same time provide subsidies to vocational education teacher training institutions; (3) Offering vocational courses and vocational elective courses in public schools, and reforming the traditional middle school serving for further education into a comprehensive middle school with both functions of further education and employment.

The promulgation of Smith-Hughes Act has had an important impact on the development of general education and vocational education in the United States. It makes general education change from the traditional single goal of further education to the dual goal of further education and employment, strengthens the connection between general education and reality, and strengthens the practical factors of general education. At the same time, it also provides favorable conditions for the development of American vocational education.