Vocational Guidance in the High School
The Psychological Clinic Copyright, 1915, by Lightner Witmer, Editor. Vol. IX, No. 6 November 15, 1915 :Author: G. W. Gayler, Superintendent of Schools, Canton, Illinois.
Four years ago one hundred and fifty-nine eighth grade pupils in our schools were asked among other things to give their choice of a life work. In classifying and summarizing the answers we found that there were thirty-seven different occupations mentioned. Among these were the following:?farmer, forester, cigar maker, wireless operator, teacher, physician, nurse, musician, lawyer, chemist, cartoonist, stenographer, bookkeeper, draughtsman, contractor, telegraph operator, carpenter, milliner, aviator, mail clerk, hotel clerk, inventor, merchant, soldier, civil engineer, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, etc.
By grouping these we found that 26 per cent chose commercial and industrial occupations, 23 per cent chose professional work, and 24 per cent chose pursuits so difficult to classify that we placed them in a group which we called miscellaneous. Twenty-seven per cent indicated that they had made no choice.
At the beginning of the next year (Freshman year) all members of this class still remaining in our school, ninety-eight in all, were asked the same question and the answers were tabulated as before. During the interval of one year 66^ per cent of the pupils who were yet in school indicated a change of mind with regard to their choice of a life work. The remainder, 33Yi per cent, expressed themselves the same as before, i.e. they remained fully decided in their first choice or they remained wholly undecided in the matter.
In October, 1914, a further study of the same class now reduced to seventy-three showed that 47 per cent of those remaining had changed since the question was first asked them. A large percentage of those remaining constant in choice remained in school while a large percentage of those changing had dropped out of school. A few days ago this same question was submitted to the members of this same class for the fourth time. Fifty-two per cent of those remaining in school the entire four years had not changed their minds concerning their choice of a life work. Twenty-three per cent changed once and 12 per cent changed twice; 13 per cent changed three times or more.
This study, extending over a period of four years and as yet incomplete, seems to point toward several conclusions. First, a large percentage of adolescent boys and girls do not definitely decide upon their life work until late in the high school course, perhaps often not until after the course is completed. Secondly, a large percentage of these students vacillate, now choosing one thing and now another, influenced often by the most interesting thing at the time the choice is made, perhaps influenced often by the personality of a popular teacher, or by the subject of study with which the mind is filled at that particular time. Thirdly, there is a greater school life expectancy for those who remain constant in choice than for those who change.
It is interesting at this point to follow the amount of change in the enrolment of a given class through a number of years and to see, as far as possible, what relation there is between the migration of families and remaining in school. In the case of this class there were one hundred and fifty-nine enrolled the first year in the eighth grade, ninety-eight the second year, seventy-three the third year, and fifty-six the fourth year.
This does not mean that all who dropped out of this class have remained out of school permanently. Although unable to check all pupils we know that a large number moved out of our district and we have good reasons for believing that many of them continued in school, at least for a time after moving. Nor does it mean that the present Junior class in our school has only fifty-six pupils in it. We have had additions due to families moving into our district so that at the present time the enrolment is seventy. Last year in connection with our annual school survey we gathered data concerning the place of birth of all children enrolled in the schools. We also secured the place of birth of all parents attending school. We found that 53 per cent of our pupils were born outside of our school district. Many of them had made several moves before coming to our city. We found further that 82 per cent of the parents were born outside of our district. The migratory instinct is strong in us yet. The relation of changing schools to choice of a life work is shown by the fact that a large percentage of those pupils who are constant in their choice remain in school while a large percentage of those who change schools, or drop out of school altogether, are not conVOCATIONAL GUIDANCE IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 163 stant in choice of life work. Social and economic conditions which make it necessary for the family to remove from district to district affect the choice of a life work and consequently are factors to be considered in vocational guidance.
In addition to the factor of change there is another which must be considered in any study of vocational education and especially vocational guidance for the smaller cities, villages, and rural communities. This is the opportunities offered in the local community, and whether these vocational opportunities are purely local or whether they are general in their nature. If migration from community to community is so great, will it pay to give time and energy to the consideration of merely local occupations? Should pupils be encouraged to undertake to prepare themselves for purely local pursuits? Should they be directed into such pursuits as cigar making, stone cutting, tinning, dairying, etc.? The child who moves from place to place may not get the opportunity of engaging in his choice of work if his choice is a purely local pursuit. In order to attack this problem we compiled a list of the occupations of the fathers of the children in our schools. We found that there were one hundred and twenty-one (121) different occupations listed. The list varied from farmer, factory worker, and miner, to scavenger, bartender, and pool room proprietor. Only in three occupations did we find a large number engaged. These were farmers (126), factory workers (319), and miners (379). The opportunity for employment is- a negligible quantity in our community outside of these three occupations. Again many of these are pursuits in which there are few opportunities for advancement. Many are “blind alley jobs.” There is little chance for promotion. In the small city there is little opportunity for guidance into local pursuits which have a wide future outlook. Should children be guided into “blind alley jobs”? Shall they be guided into jobs in which the work is irregular, the promotion slow and uncertain, and at best the highest place soon reached ? The answers are not yet in sight.
I am fully convinced from the study I have made that the kind of guidance we need in our schools today is that which will lead boys and girls into higher grades of school work and the advice they need most is that which will cause them to remain longer in school.
I am further convinced that what we as superintendents, principals, and teachers need most is that guidance which will help us so to shape the course of study, and so to manage the school, that students will regard the school as of so much value to them that they can not afford to remain away. What we need is that knowledge and ability which will help us to guide children forward in their school work faster and further. The question of vocational guidance, in so far as the schools ought to deal with it, is concerned largely with the retardation and elimination of pupils, with the abridgment and enrichment of the course of study, with the vitalization of the subjects already in the course, with the management of the school and with the spirit of the teaching force. Every school system should collect a body of facts concerning the local educational situation, such facts to be used for determining educational policies. No school can do efficient work for the community which supports it, without these data to guide and direct the management. For too long a time we have been content to let tradition dictate our management. We have taught the same school our fathers have taught and used the same methods our fathers have used.
Among the many things which can be done by the school to guide the boys and girls into a better life as well as better places in life, is a full and complete study, continuing from year to year, of the age and grade of children with special emphasis upon the number behind the normal grade and the cause of it. This should include a rather complete study of the physical condition of children, sanitary conditions of school buildings and health conditions in the home. It should include a study of failures in school and the cause of these, the number of withdrawals and the cause of each. Going along with this there should be as full a study as possible of what children do after withdrawing from school. A fund of information local in its nature will help the teacher to handle children in school and to hold them in school longer. The pupils should be encouraged to create, cherish, and foster ideals. No one thing has more effect on the future life of children than this. The teacher, like Agnes in David Copperfield, should always be pointing the way upward. This is the best thing the teacher can do. In my own life nothing has helped guide me so much as the ideals formed by contact with men whom I admired, and by reading biographies of great men. Ideals presented in great selections of literature have inspiration for the student if properly presented by the teacher. Talks by the teacher, principal or superintendent on the value of education, financial and cultural, given to the school as a whole, or to individuals, discussions concerning different vocations and opportunities will help pupils to understand the value of the school to them, and the aid which it attempts to give each student.
Children in the lower classes should get acquainted with the work in the higher classes. It is entirely in order to take the time of any class to explain and discuss with the children the work of the high school and how it helps in the work of the world. In these discussions the teacher can get the viewpoint of the children. Visits to different departments can be made by pupils and oral reports of work visited can be given to the class. This is good oral theme work for English classes.
Finally, the question of vocational guidance in so far as the high school ought to deal with it, is concerned with the abridgment and enrichment of the course of study. The course of study must be vitalized. It must touch life at more points. It must appear worth while to boys and girls. Vocational guidance has to do with every subject of study and every recitation. It is not a new subject to be brought into the course. It must not be handled by a new teacher added to the corps. It should vitalize every subject and every lesson.
So much of our work, especially our high school work, is not adapted to the life of today?is traditional, memory work?that students seeing the uselessness of it, refuse to give their time to it. Put yourself in the place of the ordinary sixteen-year old boy who belongs to the 95 per cent who are going to plow corn, lay brick, build houses, punch holes in a piece of iron in a factory, or act as brakeman on a train, and see what value you would get from the study of Latin, or ancient history, or geometry, or botany, or for that matter any one of the many things offered in our high school course of study. Put yourself in his place with his choice of life work and his prospect ahead and see how much of the dry, mechanical, memory work, appeals to you.
It is not a question as to what we think about these subjects. We may think they are very much worth while. We cannot impose our standpoint upon him. What he thinks counts. It may be it ought not to do so, but it does. How will this course help him? He does not see that it will. I do not see how some of it will, do you?
Vocational guidance has to do with the kind of work offered in school, with the way work is done in school, with the inspiration breathed by the teacher into her class, with the advice which she gives when the boy comes to her with his problems. Every teacher should be a counsellor. Every teacher must be interested in boys and girls, far more interested in these than in Latin, or history or science or literature or any subject whatever. It is not a subject to be thrust upon one teacher as we have been doing with Latin, history, etc. This counselling with boys and girls is the vital work in teaching. Too long we have been concentrating our attention on subject matter, forgetting that we are teaching boys and girls, not subject matter. The only excuse the public school has for existence is that it helps boys and girls to solve life situations the better for having had the advice and experience of school life. The vital thing in life is the solution of situations. The main purpose of the schools is to help boys and girls to get ready to solve these situations correctly. Does the high school help?
One of the things which will be very helpful in vocational guidance is to study boys and girls in a sympathetic way, viewing things from their standpoint not from the adult standpoint, and not from the standpoint of the college, or the college man. Going along with this, and it may be included in it, is the fact that every teacher should have the missionary spirit. In the past we have often been content to take the children who come to us, without considering the ones outside the school, those who have no inclination to come. The missionary spirit reaches out after those who are not coming under the influence of the school. It is interested in seeing that those who are in school are enthusiastic about the work. It is not interested so much in a high standard for the few as in higher standards for the many. This leads to the personal touch and to inspirational work. Perfunctory work dwarfs and kills. Inspirational work gives life. We have been so wrapped up in certain pages of subject matter, we have been so concerned about finishing the assignment?finishing the book?that we have had no time for talk about the things of vital concern around us. It would be amusing, if it were not pathetic, to see how concerned teachers are about finishing pages, all the time neglecting the vital issues in which children are interested.
In conclusion then let me say that there is a place in high school for vocational guidance. We ought to have more of it, but it should come in largely through the regular work and in many places, rather than in one place through one teacher teaching the particular subject. Every subject, every lesson has in it great possibilities. Every teacher is and must be a counsellor and guide of youth.
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