Vocational Guidance

Vocational Guidance

By Dr. John T. Miller, Editor "The Character Builder"

During the past few years the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association has given much attention to the study of vocational guidance. This study is now receiving much attention in the public schools and it is likely that the time will soon come when every youth will be given help in finding the vocation for which he is best adapted mentally and physically. The need for such help has been felt by educators and progressive citizens for centuries. History informs us that Cicero sent his son to Athens and placed him under the care of Chrysippus, who was one of the greatest philosophers of the age, but the young man was incapable of improving even under the instruction of so eminent a teacher. In view of this fact Cicero proposed "that there should be triers, or examiners, appointed by the state to inspect the genius of every boy and to allot him the part that is most suitable to his natural talent." It seems strange that humanity would go on for two thousand years longer letting young people choose their vocations in a haphazard way. Seventy years ago, Horace Mann said that if he had only one dollar in the world he would spend it with a good character analyst and vocational adviser, to learn what he should do. Fortunately it appears that the time has now come when young people can get that help as freely as they get their education. In Bulletin No. 19, issued by the United States Bureau of Education, in 1918, the commissioner of education says:

American democratic ideals demand not only that all should have as nearly as possible equal opportunity for education, but also that all men and women should be employed in that form of work by which they may contribute most of their own happiness and to the common good. In our complex industrial and economic life it is little less wasteful to leave boys and girls without assistance and guidance in selecting their occupations and finding employment than it would be to leave them unaided in obtaining education. Both are necessary for the highest good.

The two essential things in vocational guidance are, a knowl- edge of the individual who is to be advised, and of the demands of the various vocations. This knowledge enables a vocational adviser to place a person in the vocation for which he is best adapted mentally and physically. Some persons are built for work requiring strength and endurance, others for work requir-

290 IMPROVEMENT ERA

ing speed, fine adjustments, and ability for detail. It would not require an expert vocational counselor to decide that the person weighing 110 pounds would not be well adapted to blacksmithing, and that a person weighing 250 pounds and possessing a large, angular frame, would not be well adapted to watchmaking, tailoring, or other fine constructive work. With such pronounced developments the problem of vocational guidance is not difficult, but when people have nearly an equal development of all the organs, giving them a symmetry that indicates versatility and adaptability, the problem of vocational guidance is much moye difficult. Such persons have many-sided interests and adapt themselves so readily to a number of' vocations that they have some difficulty in selecting one from the ten thousand that are now required to do the world's work, and to center their efforts upon that one to the exclusion of all the rest. Without a system of character analysis to guide the vocational counselor he is compelled to resort to the trial and error method, where the boy tries one thing after another until he finds something that interests him. This has not been a satisfactory method of vocational guidance, because with ten thousand vocations for each one to try he cannot more than make a beginning in a lifetime, and may be undecided after he has tried quite a number. One of the difficulties in vocational guidance is that many young people think more of the salary that they will be able to get in their vocation than of their fitness for the work that is to be done. In recent years many young men who have become interested in the moving pictures have read of the large salary that Charles Chaplin receives, and imagine that they could qualify to take his place. Many girls have been in the same attitude relative to Mary Pickford's position. It is doubtful whether many who have the ambition to get into those remunerative positions could succeed if they were given an opportunity to try. Every person should get into a vocation where the remuneration is sufficient to get the necessaries of life, but the greatest remuneration that comes from any vocation is the pleasure that comes from the work. A young lady who has strong mathematical ability was taking a course of instruction on the adding machine in a commercial college, and was so in lo\e with her work that she remarked "I would like to do this work if I did not re- :

ceive a dollar for it." This is an evidence that the work was very pleasurable to her. How fortunate humanity will be when every human being gets into work that is pleasurable and never grows monotonous. As it is today, there are many people watching the clock hour after hour, anxiously waiting for quitting time to come, because they find no pleasure in their work. Such

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 291

drudgery has a detrimental effect upon health and makes it impossible for the person to put his best efforts into his work. A few years ago the writer met Mr. E. B. Harrison, who has been in the jewelry business for forty-five years, and has made a success of his work. Mr. Harrison stated that when his nerves were on a tension he could always relieve them by working on a watch or some other piece of mechanism at his bench. When one's daily tasks have such a favorable effect upon mind and body it is proper to say: "Blessed is the man who has found his work." Mr. Harrison is so well adapted to his work that he could not have easily chosen any vocation that would have been more congenial and in which he could have succeeded better. During the time of the visit referred to here Mr. Harrison had just adjusted a "millionaire machine" which had been sent to him from California because of his reputation for doing such particular work. This machine adds, subtracts, multiplies and divides with marvelous rapidity, and with almost human intelligence. It was a rare treat to see Mr. Harrison operate the machine after he had adjusted it. When one sees men who have made a success of their work and have found pleasure in it it is merely a suggestion of the increased happiness and success that might be attained by the inhabitants of the world if all were placed in vocations adapted to their organizations. The interest that has been awakened in this great problem through the Mutual Improvement Associations will cause young men to study the problem that is before them more intelligently than heretofore, and may inspire those who have special talent as character analysts and vocational advisers to prepare themselves to render helpful service to their fellow men. There are now a number of books that give a complete description of the requirements of many vocations, but in order to make vocational guidance effective it is as essential to know the talents, tendencies and adaptabilities of persons as to know the requirements of the vocations. In future articles practical suggestions will be given on character analysis. Los Angeles, Cal.