Implementation of civil rights guidelines in vocational education encountered problems because it broke down the half-century-old harmony of interests between government and the vocational education community. Since 1917, federal support for vocational education had led to a highly centralized, virtually self-monitoring system of schooling. In the Vocational Education Acts of 1963, 1968, and 1976, Congress introduced social redistribution objectives into vocational education, along with a plethora of compliance controls. Implementation of these policies, by the Department of Education's Bureau of Occupational and Adult Education and Office for Civil Rights, has been unsuccessful because of manpower planning problems, confusing guidelines, and unwillingness to cut off funds to force compliance. Implementation through court decisions has been more effective but is restricted to particular cities and remains incomplete even there. To achieve compliance in vocational education, the federal government should vary its enforcement according to the economic situation. It should use "adaptive" strategies with loose guidelines where youth unemployment is low, but apply "programmed" strategies using larger punishments and rewards to force compliance where youth unemployment is high. (RW)