Chidren Appling for Working Certificates
(An Aspect of Vocational Guidance) :Author: Rebecca E. Leaming, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania. Introduction.
Practically the first work done in the field of vocational guidance was in the nature of generalization. Studies or so-called “surveys” were made of the various occupations, industrial pursuits, trades and professions. Much time and effort was put into the writing of these discussions and many books and booklets were published telling all about the profession of nursing, the trade of millinery or carpentering and so forth. These were at least a beginning and they were undoubtedly helpful and a step in the right direction, but they were theoretical. The final conclusions in all of these studies had to be that an individual could go into a given field of work if he had the necessary abilities, if he had the training, if he had the desire, and if he had the chance.
One of the first departures from theorizing regarding vocational possibilities was a sharp turning from the job to the individual. An attempt was made to get a picture of the individual’s assets and liabilities. Psychological examinations and tests were given to discover in which class of the generalizations already mentioned an individual’s chances of succeeding were at a minimum. Then the individual was advised to keep away from that particular profession or trade. Some attempts were made to discover on the positive side for what profession or trade the person was best fitted. This, howler, usually resulted in the examiner or adviser discovering that the person who would be apt to succeed in one field gave indications that he would be just as able to succeed in several others.
More recently still, those interested in vocational guidance have tried to get at the individual’s wishes and desires in regard to a vocation, after first estimating his assets and liabilities. This attack of the problem from the emotional, or motivation, side is a very important one and up to the present has received far too little attention in the study of vocational guidance, whether from the angle of child or job. At the present time, too, the tendency seems to be to study vocational guidance more or less apart from the individual. That is, the things which are receiving a great deal of attention now are (1) defining of “vocational guidance”, (2) where and how vocational guidance should be done, and (3) who should do it. The fact (that an examination of the individual is negative rather than positive in its results seems to have somewhat dampened, for the present anyhow, the ardor for more intensive work along the line of the individual. This is particularly true among educators.
There is one side to the problem which has been given far less attention than any other and that is a study of the actual jobs which a child can get in a given moment in a given locality. If it has been decided that he is best fitted for a certain kind of work and he desires to do this particular thing, where can he be sent for the chance to do it? What are the chances for a beginner in that line? Where are the openings? What usually becomes of the young people who start in with this job? Several people have said that before we go any further in vocational guidance we had better get together and decide whether, after all, vocational guidance in its best and most efficient form will not have to be a very specifically localized thing. The generalizations which formerly held the center of the stage will play an important part as background for the person who is going to do vocational guidance but it looks for the present as if the best results will come from an intensive and thorough study of local conditions and will be determined by them in a very large measure.
Very little work has been done in trying to discover what positions the child of working age fills and is able to fill. Very little has been done in endeavoring to study specifically the actual positions into which the eighth grade, the high school, the college and even the technical school graduates actually go. A differentiation must be recognized here between the studies already made of the profession of lawyer, or teacher, the trade of carpentering or millinery, and a study which should be made locally of the people who take training in these fields and are actually holding such positions. The general studies cannot fail to be of value to anyone interested in vocational guidance, but the problem will have to be reduced to an intensive study of the locality in which the guidance is being done before we can get the best possible results for our efforts.
The problems of vocational guidance are many and they are far from being satisfactorily solved. While we are working on the problem of perfecting our means of determining the individual’s abilities, and his adaptability for certain lines of work, we should certainly be making careful intensive and extensive studies of the openings which are available for the young worker, both before and after he starts working. This study aims to make a beginning toward the consideration of conditions as they actually exist today in the working world for 14- to 16-year-old children. This age is chosen for discussion because of the Pennsylvania law which provides that no child may work until he has passed his fourteenth birthday and has completed the sixth year of school. The law further provides that from the time he is 14 until he is 16 he must have a certificate of permission issued by the school authorities for every position which he holds.
The Problem.
From July, 1918, to June, 1919, the Board of Public Education of Philadelphia, through its Emploj^ment Certificate Department, issued 19,345 general employment certificates, or “full-time working papers”. These were issued to employers of children between 14 and 16 years old in accordance with the Pennsylvania Child Labor Law. Of the 19,345 certificates issued, 9,567 were for children leaving school and securing papers for the first time.
Nine hundred and eight of these “working certificate” children were interviewed for this study and they form a typical cross-section of the group. From the information secured in these interviews, an attempt has been made to secure some definite information on the following problems:
1. The number leaving school seemed large in proportion to the number enrolled in the school census (332,314 children between the ages of 6 and 16). Of these 56,608 were between the ages of 14 and 16. Of the total number, 301,123 were attending public, private or parochial schools. Of the 14- to 16-year-old children, 43,774 were attending one of the three types of schools mentioned above, while 11,364 were not in school but employed and 1,470 were out of school, but not employed. Why are 23 per cent of all the children from 14 to 16 enumerated by the census not in school?
2. Is there a general dissatisfaction with school among parents, and a distaste for the school routine among the children of this group? Why?
Is this group composed primarily of successful or unsuccessful school children?
4. Is economic necessity a primary factor in causing this group to leave school?
5. What is the nature of the jobs held by children in this group? Are they intelligently chosen?
How are the jobs obtained?
Do these children plan for the future?
8. Is there a real need for vocational guidance in this group? Procedure. Five hundred and thirteen children who applied to the Bureau for their working papers were interviewed consecutively regardless of whether they were applying for working papers the first time or not. About a month later, 395 other children were interviewed. The second group was composed of those who were just leaving school and who were applying for first certificates only. It is to be understood that these children had already secured positions and were merely applying for their official working permits. The children were questioned carefully by one of the Counselors in the Junior Employment Service, who was accustomed to interviewing cihldren, and an attempt was made to secure the following information as accurately as possible:
Name of child Old job Sex Wages School attended Reason for leaving old job Grade completed New job Date of birth How obtained Number of certificate Wages Reason for leaving school Plans for future A cumulative record card is kept on file in the Department on which all of the positions which the child holds and the length of his stay in each position are enumerated. The children were interviewed for this study after they had been through the doctor’s examination and while they were waiting for the final issuing of the certificate. The information was recorded on sheets prepared for the purpose. Later tables of wages, reasons given for leaving school, ways in which positions were secured, plans, etc. were worked out. Then the schools were approached with the idea of securing the following information about each child: Age at which child entered first grade Number of grades repeated and which grades Marks given for the last three reports before the child left school, in the following:
Effort Conduct Standing Results. Distribution of Sex and Age. Bors. Girls. Totals. Group I. Group II. Group I. Group II. Group I. Group II. Aqb. 14 138 164 129 118 267 282 15 150 73 96 40 246 113 Total 288 237 225 158 513 395 APPLYING FOR WORKING CERTIFICATES. 167 Number of Certificate for which Child was Applying, Group I. (Group II were all first certificates.) First : 239 Second 145 Third 59 Fourth 36 Fifth 14 Sixth 3 Seventh 10 Eighth 4 Ninth 2 Tenth 0 Eleventh 1 Average . 2.08 Grades Completed. Group I. Group II. 6B 298 94 7A 54 120 7B 56 56 8A 10 44 8B 62 31 9A 0 3 9B 0 1 10A . 0 1 1 yr. H. S 18 2 lyr. H. S 11 35 yr. H. S 3 2 2 yr. H. S 0 3 2J yr. H. S 1 0 3 yr. H. S 0 2 4 yr. H. S 0 1 Average .. 6.80 6.78 Reasons for Leaving School. Group I. Group II. Dislike of School 249 183 Financial Reasons 191 180 Miscellaneous 73 32 Total 513 395 Reasons Given for Leaving School.
The reasons for leaving were accepted as given, without an attempt at verification. It was practically impossible to verify the reasons because of the time involved. For example, where financial difficulties were cited as a cause it would take at least three or four visits, by a skilled social worker, to the child’s home to determine whether the economic situation was such as actually to force the child to leave school and secure work. For this reason the preceding tables may be a better study of the emotional attitude of the children than of the real condition causing them to leave school. It gives us, at any rate, a picture of the things which they considered sufficient excuse to quit school and go to work.
The reasons are very similar on the whole in the two groups studied except that in the second group we notice considerable reference to failing in school and not being promoted. This may be due to the fact that the second group was interviewed nearer the time when school was closing for the summer and promotion and failures were playing an important part in the minds of the children. The first group was interviewed after the second term was well on its way and failure and promotion had ceased to figure so largely on the child’s horizon.
In the enumeration of reasons, distaste for school shows the greatest number of cases. Financial reasons come next. Miscellaneous reasons or excuses represent the cases where, according to the child’s story, neither dislike of the school routine nor financial pressure at home was the primary cause for leaving. In this group we find such reasons as “very good job was offered”, “advised by doctor”, “larger than other pupils in class”, “eye trouble”, “moving to country”, etc. Under miscellaneous reasons and in fact under all the reasons given we have to consider the following factors: 1. Youthful labor at this time was in demand and good wages were being paid.
2. Friends who are leaving school frequently make the child want to leave with them.
3. /Twenty-seven said they left because they dreaded the change from a comparatively small, familiar grammar school to a large, unknown high school and we may assume that some others who did not admit it were influenced by this same reason. Judging by the school records which were secured, it appears that a good deal of the dislike of school may be attributed to the inability to get along satisfactorily there. Two hundred and fortythree children out of the 513 in the first group gave dislike of school as a reason for leaving; 143 of these children had repeated one or more grades. Inadequate adjustment is undoubtedly a large reason for leaving school.
School Reports.
Group I. (No school records for Group II.) 347 Public School Records obtained 61 Parochial School Records obtained 77 Public School Records not obtained 8 Parochial School Records not obtained 28 Children never heard of at school named on record. APPLYING FOR WORKING CERTIFICATES. 169 Age Entered First Grade. Yuars. Public School. Parochial School. 5 years 29 0 6 years 132 30 7 years 56 2 8 years 30 2 9 years . 10 0 10 years 5 0 Not given 85 19
Number of Grades Repeated. Grades. Public School. Parochial School.
0 64 30 1 70 12 2 45 10 3 47 1 4 41 0 5 31 0 6 27 0 7 11 0 8 9 0 9 0 0 10 1 0 11 1 0 Total 347 53
Note?A grade in Philadelphia represents one half of a school year. Public School Reports.
Number of Times Each Grade was Repeated. 1A .. 79 5A 77 IB . 78 5B . 63 2A 85 6A 63 2B 72 6B 50 3A 80 7A 48 3B 73 7B 31 4A 75 8A 7 4B 62 8B … 6 H. S. 2d half Jr. year 1 School Standings.
Parochial School. Public School. Grade. Effort. Conduct. Standing. Effort. Conduct. Standing. E 0 10 11 19 0 VG 3 16 4 5 5 7 G 24 27 10 74 86 14 F 21 8 29 127 94 137 P 4 0 9 32 50 75 VP 0 0 0 8 8 32 Not given 0 0 0 90 85 82 Key: E = Excellent F = Fair VG = Very good P = Poor G = Good VP = Very poor
This study, especially the school records, has been commented on by an authority* on Junior Employment. Her remarks are extremely pertinent and sum up the situation very admirably. I quote from her remarks: “The causes for this lack of interest in school, for ‘incorrigibility’ and failure of the children are not for this report to determine. The psychologist would say that they were not properly classified within the different grades. The physician might add that malnutrition, diseased tonsils, defective hearing or many another malady could have retarded progress in school. The economist might find that in these particular families low wages or irregular opportunities for employment for the wage-earner prevents a sustained good standard of living which insures sufficient vitality for a successful attack on school work. The modern educator would recommend a more varied or more flexible curriculum which would interest the child who is not stimulated by academic work. No doubt all four would agree with the social worker that every one of these elements must be considered if we wish to reduce the number of school failures who start forth to work, unprepared, at the earliest opportunity. Merely passing a law requiring school attendance until the age of 16 will not solve their problem. Theirs is only a manifestation of the difficulty which begins in the early grades. It is a challenge to the modern movements in education.” Work?How Obtained.
Method. Group 1. Group 2. Walked in and applied 152 43 Through friend who worked there 120 95 Saw “ad” in paper 89 71 Through a relative 87 71 Had worked there before 28 6 Through Employment Bureau 16 5 Saw sign outside 11 21 Inquiries of family 0 15 Advertised.. > j 0 9 Employer?friend of family 0 9 Friend 0 7 Neighbors 0 7 Through school or college 1 7f Getting a Job.
The results obtained in interviewing this group of children seem to confirm the suspicions entertained regarding the method of secur* Miss Dorothea deSchweinite, In Charge of the Junior Employment Bureau for WhiteWilliams Foundation and the Bureau of Compulsory Education of Philadelphia. t To the above add: for Group 1, Attendance Officer?3; Continuation School Teacher, Solicited by employer?2 each; Minister, Municipal Court?1 each. For Group 2, Father’s own business, Knows foreman?5 each; Solicited by employer?3; Truant Officer, Knew manager, From former employee, Friend of father?2 each; Offered position, Minister, Manager of Orphan Horn*, Working for Aunt, Court?1 each.
ing work which is prevalent among them. We find that 195 children walked in and asked for work. This is significant. Since they had secured the position in this way we may conclude that this is the way accepted by both employer and children for getting a job. The next most frequent way for them to secure their position is by hearing of an opening in an establishment where a friend or relative is already employed. We find 283 children secured their positions through friends or relatives who were working and “asked” for the child. In 160 cases the child got a job by seeing an advertisement in the paper and going in person to answer the “ad”. These are the most frequent ways of getting jobs. Twenty-one used an employment bureau, 32 saw a sign “Boy (or girl) Wanted” hanging outside an establishment and went in. Thirty-three children had worked in the same place before and knew of openings so that when they became dissatisfied somewhere else they went back to their former employer and asked to be taken back. Thirty-three cases here reported indicate that the employer is frequently willing to take the child back. We must remember, however, that during the time that this study was being made youthful labor was in great demand. The remainder secured their positions in some more or less random way, through a teacher, an attendance officer, the minister, a business school or the municipal court.
Friends and relatives who figure so largely as means of obtaining positions do not take into consideration the individual desires, competencies and health of the children for whom they secure jobs nor do they usually know very much about the jobs which they get. Certainly trained people are needed to determine the child’s competency; to get at his desires; to look into his health problems and finally to secure for him the best job possible. These same people ought to help the child over his difficulties in adjusting himself to his work. They should be available at all time for the child to consult when he needs advice and guidance in his work. The turnover rate in this group is very high. Consultation with trained counselors would reduce this constant changing by getting the child into a place for which he was better fitted and then helping him to stick there. Junior Employment Bureaus are giving these children guidance and advice and helping them secure positions, the best attempt which has been made so far to handle this proposition. As they now exist there are many criticisms of these bureaus which can be offered. One of the most conspicuous of these is their distance in most cases from the place where the child is working. This renders them inaccessible enough to diminish their usefulness in advising the child after he starts working. Furthermore, the work they can do is extremely limited because there are always a certain number of jobs available and no more. The counselor has to pick the best of these jobs, the position for which the applicant appears best suited. Can you call the following performance vocational guidance? A boy or girl comes to the office in urgent need of a position and the counselor, studying the list of positions available, and his applicant, picks out the most promising ones. He presents these to the candidate who signifies his preference and is then sent to the one he selects. It is true that these children are followed up and that an endeavor is made by the time they become 16 to get them to start along some line where they will really learn something and to continue some sort of education, if it is at all possible for such arrangements to be made. The task is difficult but these bureaus are a decided step in the right direction.
Kind of Work for which Child was Employed. Kind. Group 1. Group 2. Did you know 46 40 Helper (textile and hosiery mills) 136 79 Messenger (inside and outside) office boy or girl 120 120 Stock boy or girl 21 20 Paper box work 24 0 Store clerk 21 22 Clerical work 19 18 Apprentice or learner 17 19 Work on artificial teeth 14 4 Packing, filling, labelling 13 0 Doffer 13 v 11 Helper (miscellaneous) 12 3 Bobbin boy or girl 0 4 Miscellaneous 57 55 Total 513 395 The Work Itself.
Our results seem to indicate that a very large percentage of the positions into which the children who obtain certificates go are quite definitely “blind alley” jobs. But it is quite possible that we shall have to change our connotation of “blind-alley” since many industrial jobs today fulfill all the requirements of what we called “blindalley” some years ago. There is, however, a distinction in jobs for these children since many of them, from the point of view of future, are decidedly more hopeless than others.
The boy goes into some kind of position as office, errand, messenger, or stock boy or into a mill where he is a “helper”?a combination of inside messenger, errand boy and an apprentice. The girl usually becomes either stock girl, inside messenger, cash girl, or inspecAPPLYING FOR WORKING CERTIFICATES. 173 tress, paper box or bindery worker, machine operator, worker in establishments where false teeth are made or helper in the textile or hosiery mills. The last two predominate, probably because Philadelphia is a center for those industries. In-the textile mills, these children mend, wind, thread, cut, fold, trim or act as rail-setters, doffers, bobbin girl or boy. In the hosiery mills they do seaming, sorting, trimming, folding, turning, singeing, examining, boxing, mending and even knitting and topping in some cases. Employers seem to find more places in large manufacturing establishments where they can use girls who have to attend school than boys of the same kind. The boys fill office and errand positions to a larger degree than they fill positions in the mills.
In manufacturing establishments these children are usually called “helpers”. “Helper” is a word used to indicate that the boy or girl will probably take up the trade at which he is “helping” but he cannot be called an apprentice until he is 16. This is due in part to the union regulations, the labor laws, the working men’s compensation laws and a general dislike to taking on workers in steady positions where they will be required to lose two half days a week at Continuation School. In this study sixteen cases were definitely mentioned as apprentices, eleven machinists, three tailors, one optical worker, one gold beater. Many of the “helpers” may be pseudoapprentices but a study which is being conducted at the present time by the Junior Employment Service of the Bureau of Compulsory Education of Philadelphia is showing quite conclusively how pitifully small is the number of real, established, systematic apprenticeships or schemes of training. Nineteen employers have answered their questionnaire on this subject so far. Ten stated that 14- to 16year-old children were of no value in their industries; nine said that they were useful but the work assigned to the young worker was quite simple and required little training. Visits to business organizations practically always show the same attitude toward 14- to 16year-old children. Taken as a whole, the positions which these children fill are vague and ill-defined. They are neither systematized nor supervised and very little training in them is provided. Yet the children, as well as their parents, seem to feel that as a “helper” or “messenger” they will continue their education in business or in the factory to as good advantage as they would in school.
In many cases the child has no supervision. No attempt is made to train him. He learns whatever he can pick up. In the socalled “blind-alley” job, the bright child undoubtedly gleans a great deal of information. It is possible, for him to acquire a really thor174 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC. ough industrial education if his powers of observation, his memory, his retentiveness and his trainability are good enough. This is the exceptional child?the one whom financial trouble or some other social mal-adjustment forces to leave school and go to work. But the percentage of this type of children who go to work around the ages of 14 and 16 is extremely small. The largest percentage of children are those who did average or below average work in school. . What becomes of these children? Thrown into industrial and commercial life without any direction or supervision?their powers of learning for themselves are neither keen enough nor sufficiently developed for them to acquire any real training, so they drift on from one mechanical job to another, learning almost nothing. A child of 14 or 15 is too young to go into a regular apprenticeship in any of the trades. This means that a child going to work at 14 has two years in which to drift around doing odd jobs, here and there, losing the habit of study and acquiring habits of indifference, carelessness and lack of responsibility and an attitude of living from moment to moment. By the time those two years are over, many children are completely spoiled. They have had so much experience by the time they reach 16, that they will not consider settling down to the grind of learning a trade. The outlook for them as workers of the future is far from promising.
Wages. Rate. Groop 1. Group 2. Did not know 118 92 Piece rate.. 3 2 Hour rate ($.20-.30) 10 3 Day rate ($1.50) 1 0 No pay 0 2 Weekly rate $2.00-5.00 8 4 $6.00 21 18 $6.00-8.00 51 55 $8.00 99 57 $8.00-10.00 60 45 $10.00 65 43 $10.00-12.00 18 12 $12.00 22 0 $12.00-14.00 14 6 $14.00-18.00 20 13 $18.00-40.00 0 3 Monthly rate ($24.00-50.00) 3 5 Wages.
It was found in interviewing these children that those who were getting a certificate for the first time were the ones who did not know what they would earn. There were 210 children in the two groups who were not informed as to wages. After they had held over two positions and were applying for the third, or fourth certificate there were very few cases in which the child did not know his wages beforehand. The child becomes more wise and wary, less trusting and dependent, as his working career progresses. He learns to find out before he signs up for a job, the wages, hours, something of the working conditions, the work he is expected to do and so forth. When he first starts out a job is a job and they all seem pretty much the same to him. Experience teaches him some of the “tricks of the trade”.
From the tables it appears that there is a great variety of wages but in reality most of these earn from $5 to $8 a week. In cases where the wages are given as more it means that pay for time lost while at continuation school will be deducted from the amount specified as the wage. Where it runs $5, $6, $7, it means in general that pay for the time spent at Continuation School has already been taken off and the amount stated is what the child will actually receive each week.
The fact that nearly one-third of these children did not know how much they would earn points to the fact that the financial aid which the child would bring into the home was not a vital factor in many cases. At the time these interviews were held the parents were earning good wages and this further emphasizes the fact that the families were not in desperate straits financially. There probably were cases in which the financial help furnished by the child contributed very materially to the support of the family. It is to be regretted that it was impracticable to investigate the financial situation in families of these children and to determine in how many cases the child’s financial help was necessary. The number of cases giving financial necessity as the reason for leaving school serves as a mask for a great many reasons, one of which, dissatisfaction with the school, has been pointed out. For this reason, the figures give a very inaccurate idea of the real situation.
The child cannot, on $7 or $8, maintain himself as an independent economic unit and he usually gives no thought to this fact or to calculating or planning for the time when he can. Many families simply allow the child to buy, with his earnings, his own clothing or some the extra finery or small luxuries which cannot be provided for him in the family. In some cases where real financial pressure exists, the child turns his entire wages into the family budget. There is a strong feeling, in most families, however, that the child should have what he earns. The child does not, as a rule, spend his money wisely and for that reason his wage frequently does not assist the family very much.
These children, when viewed en masse in the large room where the certificates were issued, presented a very prosperous appearance.* There were very few poor, ragged or destitute-looking children in the group, such children, for example, as one is accustomed to see frequently in the public libraries in poor neighborhoods. Failure in school and a school curriculum not comprehensive or flexible enough to suit the needs or interests of these children played a far larger part in their leaving school than financial trouble.
Reasons for Leaving Old Job. (Group 1.) Didn’t like it 57 Fought with boss 15 Returned to school 43 Work unhealthy 7 Fired 33 Hours too long 6 Found better job 26 Left to work for father 4 Not enough wages 26 Work too dusty. 3 Work too hard 22 Work too cold 3 Too far from home. . 16 Miscellaneousf 13 Leaving Former Positions.
A survey of the reasons given for leaving former positions indicates that the 14- to 15-year-old child is not well adjusted to his work. It may be that in the nature of things he cannot be well adjusted. We can see, however, a decided need of someone for the child to consult before leaving his job, for one of the numerous reasons given. It is more than possible that some slight adjustment could have been made in many of these cases which would have corrected the thing which caused the child’s dissatisfaction. Furthermore, we see here again a need for someone to consult with these children not only when they contemplate leaving a position but also when they take the job. Someone to point out to them the advantages and disadvantages, what they may expect and what they cannot hope for. The large turnover which is found at present among these children could be considerably reduced by more careful work with them in selecting their jobs and in adjusting them to the job after they have selected it. The need for personnel workers is being recognized universally but nowhere is there greater need for personnel work than among this group of 14- to 15-year-old child workers.
Plans for the Future. Plans. Group 1. Group 2. No plans whatsoever 209 99 Hosiery worker 45 14 Electrician’s apprentice when 16 yrs 32 21 * It must be remembered that these children were interviewed in the spring of 1920 before the period of economic depression had begun. t No chance to get ahead, Wanted electrical work. Wanted work out-of-doors?2 each; Work not steady, Got sick, Leaving Town, Work too dirty, Girls not nice, To go to Business College, Father objected to place?1 each. APPLYING FOR WORKING CERTIFICATES. 177 Plans for the Future.?Continued. Plans. Group 1. Group 2. Learn some trade (nothing definite) 10 34 Machinist 26 25 Stenographer 26 19 Auto-mechanic 25 9 Business College 15 19 Weaver 13 0 Typist 10 12 To advance in present work 0 13 Factory worker 0 12 Draftsman 5 10 Dressmaker 7 7 Office work 0 7 Travelling salesman 6 2 Clerk , 6 7 Machine operator 5 0 Tailor 2 5 Civil Engineer 0 5 Railroading 1 5 Business man 2 6 Return to school for an education 4 3 Telephone operator 4 2 Paper box worker 4 - 3 Cabinet maker 3 2 Printer 3 0 Leather worker 3 0 Shipper 3 0 Compositor 0 3 Miscellaneous* 49 43 Plans for the Future. Perhaps one of the most striking characteristics in the young person today is the complete lack of plans for the future. This is not confined to one group alone. It is just as true of the average college student as it is of the boy or girl of 14 or 15 who is starting out to work. It seems as if our present day education, environment or something tends to discourage, at least not encourage, plans for the future. Most of the college students have plans for their next immediate step and probably in some vague and hazy way have the general outline of an idea of some place in the world which they would like to fill. The children in this group are conspicuous in that they * For group 1: Plumber, toolmaker, gold beater, baker, carpenter, spinner, sailor, farmer, cigar worker, real estate dealer, telegraph operator, optical worker?2 each; domestic, sign painter, file setter, embroiderer and beader, pottery worker, bookbinder, shoe worker, engraver, jeweler, saleswoman, glazier, nurse, clothing designer, bricklayer, dental laboratory assistant, milliner, violinist, painter, pattern maker, steam fitter, 1 each.
For Group 2: Mechanical drawing, office boy at Reading Terminal, lawyer, electrical engineer, painter, junk dealer, musician, carpenter, jewelry, 2 each; chauffeur, shoemaker, looper, artist, comptometer operator, pattern maker, farmer, bank work, pawnbroker, poultry business, chemist, baker, aviator, plasterer, inspectress, engraver, housekeeper, florist, work with father, undecided? 1 each. have no plans for the future, no plans even for their next immediate step, not even ambitions, ideals or desires. This is rather a sweeping statement and undoubtedly the usual number of exceptions can be found to prove it. It is very convincing, however, to work with this group for a long time and to be impressed time and time again by the fact that the future simply does not figure at all in the calculation of these children. They do not even think of it, much less plan for it. We are not surprised, with this in mind, to discover that 308 had no plans for the future. Fifty-nine were planning to be hosiery workers, probably following in the footsteps of some members of the family or some admired friend. In somewhat the same way, thirteen were planning to be weavers. Electrician, automobile mechanic and machinist seem to hold an almost romantic interest for boys and these, as an expression of future plans, can very nearly be considered as the expression of cherished desires or dreams rather than actual practical plans. We are not surprised that they come well up in the list of expressed plans. Stenographer with the girls holds something of this same romantic charm. Personal fitness and possibilities do not interfere with the plans at all. Business College is another of these more or less hazy plans, a sort of medium through which the boy or girl is supposed to pass and come out with his whole possibilities in life vastly improved. It is looked upon as a remedy for all dissatisfactions with working conditions and the Business Schools are only too keen and eager to encourage this view.
With the exception of typist, which was the plan of ten children taking up a trade, dressmaker, travelling salesman and clerk, the rest of the plans are varied and cover a wide range of possibilities. Most of these children, however, were not even considering whether they would eventually be self-supporting or how soon this could be accomplished.
Conclusions.
From the results obtained in interviewing these 908 children it may be concluded that the indications which led to this study had real significance.
1. A large number of these children leave school to go to work as soon as their age and grade permit them to get working papers. 2. Their reasons for leaving are due largely to dissatisfaction with school, either their own or their parents. The pressure of financial difficulties is a factor but it is frequently over-estimated by parents and children, due to discontent with school.
Even in times when work is plentiful and wages high, large numbers of children leave school, which shows that financial pressure at home is not the great cause for leaving. Furthermore, the small amount which they earn per week does not materially increase the family budget. The dislike of school and the urge to work and earn money for the “frills” which the family cannot supply are far more frequent causes for leaving than any real need for money.
3. The study of school reports shows us that these children do not come from the successful group in school. The fact that they dislike school undoubtedly is often due to inability to get along in school. The curriculum does not suit their needs or abilities. These children do not conform to the hypothetical average type for whom the curriculum is planned so they drop out, “not liking school” or “compelled by financial necessity to leave”.
4. The kinds of work which these children are employed to do indicate that most of them will be added to the great mass of untrained, poorly-paid, routine workers with which industry is so crowded. A study of this community has disclosed almost no apprenticeships or training systems and the outlook for education on the job is not bright. There is a crying need for systems of training workers.
5. The reasons given for leaving jobs indicate the immaturity of the worker and his poor adjustment to industrial conditions. Few of them are the more significant factors which influence older workers, such as the unhealthfulness of the work,?the irregularity of employment, or the lack of chance for advancement. Their reasons are mostly matters of like and dislike. They all tell a story of poor adjustment to work and working conditions.
The usual wage for these children is $6, $7 or $8 a week.
7. One of the great needs of this group is to be taught to think in futures. A great many of the problems of the social worker and educator of the present time can be eliminated if the children of today, who are the adults of tomorrow, can be taught to consider the future and plan accordingly. After all, can planfulness be imparted? It may be a congenital imagination complex. If so, these children cannot be taught planfulness per se but something should be done to keep them from drifting aimlessly on with nothing in view beyond the next moment.
8. They need some organized system of securing definite information as to where opportunities for work exist in their community and how they can best take advantage of them. These children need to have all the vocational possibilities put before them; they need to know something of the competencies and training required for each profession, trade, occupation or job and also of the nature and conditions of the work involved.
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