MEYER BLOOMFIELD
DIRECTOR VOCATION BUREAU, BOSTON
LAURA F. WENTWORTH
SECRETARY VOCATIONAL INFORMATION DEPARTMENT, BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS
[_The philosophy of vocational guidance has been often written.
But it is from the actual cases of boys and girls, influenced to
this course of conduct or that, that the general public can best
get an intimate notion of how this new function of the schools
counts in the life of youth. The stories in the following
article represent typical experiences and services of such
teacher-counselors as Miss Wentworth, who was formerly
vocational counselor in the High School of Practical Arts, and
Eleanor M. Colleton, whose work among the Italians and other
children of the North End in Boston has had merit of a high
order._
_The latter part of the article is a digest, telling of past
performances and future plans, of a report which the Vocation
Bureau will shortly make public, covering its work for the last
three years._—Ed.]
In the morning mail of the Boston Vocation Bureau appeared, not
long ago, an interesting letter. It came from a sixteen-year-old
boy who had heard of the bureau, but was prevented by his job from
coming to it for help. He wrote asking for a special appointment,
which was granted.
At the interview following, the boy, Charles Lee, told of his
position and of his home conditions. He was an only son, living
with a widowed mother in Cambridge, and had been obliged to leave
school and go to work, taking whatever place he could find. This
was a position as assistant shipper in the sub-basement of a
clothing store in Boston. The employer in the beginning had
promised him promotion or transfer, but had failed to do anything
for so long a time that it became clear nothing would be done as
long as the boy was content to remain in the sub-basement at $3.00
a week.
Young Lee was a boy of attractive appearance, earnest manner, and
evidently of more than average ability. He seemed well equipped
for a business position and desired one with a good line of
advancement.
The Vocation Bureau had just completed the investigation of a
large and well known dry goods store in the city, and now sent Lee
with a letter to its employment manager, who took him into the
office at $6.00 a week. The boy has been followed up by the
bureau, and has shown marked business ability in his new position.
He is now in line for promotion to an executive position in the
firm. The help given him was based upon his home and employment
conditions, apparent abilities, and desire to find the right place
in a mercantile occupation.
Mary Schenck confided to her teacher that she wanted to take up
stenography and typewriting because she “knew a girl who had a
good job in that line.” A vocational counselor called at her home
and talked with her mother. During the visit it developed that
Mary’s mother and grandmother were both successful dressmakers and
that the girl herself had obtained very good marks in her sewing
in the grammar school. In fact, she had made the dresses for her
two little sisters for the past two years. As a result of this
information the counselor talked again with Mary and suggested
that she take up sewing in the school. Mary did so, even going out
to work in a shop for a while. Then she started in business for
herself. Today she is employing two assistants. Thus by a little
common sense and thought a girl was prevented from entering the
overcrowded field of stenography in which she probably would not
have been very successful and started in a line of work for which
she possessed natural ability and real love.
What is a vocational counselor? There are over a hundred of them
in the public schools of Boston. They are regular teachers,
designated by the school principals to advise and co-operate with
boys and girls leaving school for work. Two years ago an agreement
between the Boston School Committee and the Vocation Bureau called
for their appointment and they have been meeting twice a month
ever since to discuss the educational opportunities of the city,
the vocational problems of the children and to confer with
employers and others interested. Let us see just how their
influence is made to count in the lives of children.
Vocational guidance in a school involves three definite objects:
Guiding the child while in the school.
Guiding the child after leaving school.
Following up the child, i.e., ascertaining what becomes of him
after he goes into work.
[Illustration:
_Courtesy Massachusetts Child Labor Committee._