Past historical studies have resulted in contradictory interpretations of the social-philosophical motives underlying the early rationale of the vocational education movement. Contemporary vocational educators argue that early tenets (and the underlying philosophy of providing more equal opportunity and freedom of occupational choice) have not been transmitted to the present-day interpretation of vocational education. Historians critical of vocational education have claimed that the philosophy underlying vocational education was basically conservative and designed to slot individuals into lower rungs of an educational ladder. The even more radical revisionist historians have cast early leaders in the role of conservative "social-control" advocates. Vocational education has been unable to react to criticism within a philosophic framework or present alternative evidence which demonstrates adherence to a historical pattern of value-related standards. While criticism has focused on operational as well as philosophical dimensions, more ideological criticisms have come from the educational essentialists and education perennialists. Perennialists criticize vocational education which trains students to do a "servile, task as "debasement of human nature." Essentialists advocate an educational system excluding vocational training. Reasoned argument, supported by documentation of empirical evidence, is crticial in establishing credibility for the field of vocational education. (YLB)