There is a growing belief among those who are exploring the twilight
zone between education and industry that what youngsters like these
need is not more help in finding jobs but more and better training
before they find them.
]
In the first place the ordinary high or vocational school offers a
choice of several lines of work, and it is highly advisable to
have the child make a wise choice as to the line he is to pursue.
The best way is to have a general course offered at the beginning
during the pursuit of which the vocational counselor studies the
child and confers with the parents as to the child’s natural
ability, etc. This combined judgment of counselor and parent is
sure to result in a much wiser choice of work in the school than
if the matter had been left to the discretion of the child, who is
too immature to see the various occupations in their true
relationship. Parents and counselor may meet at the school, or the
counselor may go to the home. By going into the home discoveries
are often made which could not have come from only seeing the
child and parent at school.
During the school course it is often advisable to change a pupil
from one course to another. For example, Clara Bartlett had been
taking the millinery course with the intention of entering the
trade on graduation. Owing to her mother’s death, she found that
she must become her father’s housekeeper at the end of the school
year. Accordingly, after talking the matter over with the
vocational counselor, Clara changed from the millinery to the
domestic science course and obtained a very good training in
cooking and housewifery. The result was that when her school life
was over she was able to enter upon her new work as housekeeper
with a marked degree of success.
Sometimes it is necessary for a child to change from one school to
another in order that he or she may receive the best training for
a particular need. This implies a very close and cordial
relationship between the various kinds of vocational schools in
the city. Thus a girl who can give only one year to the
preparation for a trade should spend that year in a school where
she will get intensive work in that trade. If she is not advised,
there is danger that she will spend her year in a school which
offers a general course in preparation for the trade course, which
will then follow in the next two or three years. In other words,
it is necessary to take into consideration the girl’s outside
obligations and adapt her school life to them as closely as
possible.
Again, it is the duty of the vocational counselor to see that the
graduates of the school are given the most auspicious start on
life’s journey. This may imply definitely organized placement work
or it may mean simply making recommendations. If the work of
placement is definitely organized it should be done on a broad
social basis, for it may mean finding a position for one girl in a
millinery establishment and guiding another into a higher
institution of learning.
[Illustration:
_Courtesy Massachusetts Child Labor Committee._