In this paper I mainly deal with a well known post-war essay of Max Weber (1864-1920) 'Politics as a Vocation' (1919). A large number of research studies on this essay have been carried out from the viewpoint of Weber's political thought. However, examining the historical studies of political education reveals that no speculation has taken place concerning his thought on 'political education' in the text. Hence this paper aims to clarify his educational thought regarding the political leader revealed in the text, and to consider its historical significance, compared to contemporary philosophers of education (E. Spranger, Fr. W. Voerster). For these aims I especially focus attention on the idea of 'self-proof' (Bewährung). The approaches employed are intended to clarify the historical and sociological backgrounds, before examining Weber's essay (1919), and in this case to analyze the principal modes of thinking on education. The texts for these approaches are follows: 1. G. Kerschensteiner's 'Education for Citizenship' (1911). 2. Weber's political writing in the course of the termination of monarchic government during World War I: 'Parliament and Government in Germany under a New Political Order' (1918) 3. Weber's sociological writings, namely the three theories of charismatic education, associative relationship, and formal, rationalistic 'natural law'. The essay (1919), based on these approaches, reveals Weber's educational thought regarding an idealistic political leader, who lives 'for' politics and gives direction to the calling. In Weber's view, he required some 'personal qualifications'. These are the following 'inner' qualities: 1) A feeling of power, backed up by the use of violence, without illusion. 2) Ethical aspects: a) Passion in the sense of concern for the thing itself, oriented toward an 'idea'. b) An ethical sense of responsibility, complementary to ethics of conviction. c) Intellectual judgment which is receptive to realities. 3) Readiness (unresolved tension) to be conscious of the paradoxical relationship between ethics and politics. In Weber's understanding, the core of these qualities is educable. The sought-for political leader cannot be a born politician. In particular, his abilities could be learned by means of continuous 'struggle' with others, and of severe 'exercises' inherent in the meaning of 'charismatic education'. At the same time the trained leadership qualities should be 'proved' objectively among his followers. Such a leader's activities are characterized as both an educational practice and the radical opposite of specialized professional training. The 'natural' leader thus stands in contrast to the 'appointed' leader of the bureaucratic order. According to Weber, the educational tasks are very difficult. Nevertheless, there certainly exist qualified persons who have the capability to grow up to be leaders. They can be broadly selected from social resources. Throughout their selection they are to be trained in the qualities of a political leader. Weber's thought on the development of a political leader's qualities by 'self-proof' contrasted with some thoughts of education regarding the political leader by inner self-governance. His thought as an idealistic possibility was presented to a society in decline. However it remained unrecognized by them, differing from the Weimar republic's education policies for 'citizens of the state' in schools.

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Secondary school systems maintain a distinction between academic and vocational education. In most countries, the objective of academic education is to prepare students for university, whereas vocational education prepares them for entry into labor markets. Many (educational) sociologists refer to this distinction as "tracking" that differentiates social/economic status. Particularly, they demonstrate that vocational education reduces chances to enter college, and that lower class children are more likely to be placed on a vocational track. However, some sociologists insist that this perspective overlooks the positive role of vocational education. And, varied studies aiming to understand the effects of vocational education have been conducted. Recently, difficulties have been observed among high school students in "transition from school to work" in Japan. Associated with this present situation, "occupational relevance in education" has been attracting attention in recent research. However, shouldn't most previous studies on vocational education have included abilities which are formed inside of school? Previous studies on the effects of vocational education seemed to lack this perspective. The aim of this study is to probe how students' images of occupational ability is formed based on quantitative investigations (data collected from 428 industrial high school students) conducted at two industrial high schools. More precisely, the correlation between self-awareness of occupational ability among students of an industrial high school and academic records of technical subject is investigated. The findings of this paper can be summarized as follows. From the research it was demonstrated that occupational abilities are divided into two categories i.e. "ability of manufacturing" and "ability of management", and "ability of manufacturing" is influenced by academic records of technical subjects. It can be inferred that specific ability or -"ability of manufacturing"- is developed inside industrial high schools.

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