MALADJUSTMENTS

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20076, 4 November 1930, Page 15

MALADJUSTMENTS

CHOICE OF VOCATION. reasons for so many 'njNEMPLOYABLES." [ "Vocational Guidance and its Relationship to Juvenile Delinquency" was I the subject of an address given by Mr M. Keys, vocational guidance officer at the Christchurch Technical College to the members of .the New Zealand Howard League for Penal Reform at the annual meeting of that body yesterday. Mr Keys said that while in other countries boasting an enlightened social outlook and an effective system of education the work of vocational guidance had advanced considerably beyond the stage when it had to justify its existence, that was not the case in tho Dominion. However, not the least object of the work was to prevent as far as possible vocational maladjustment, which was a real factor contributing to industrial and social unrest, and the cause of much of our juvenile delinquency. "The choice of a vocation with due regard to the boy's or girl's aptitudes, abilities, ambitions, and resources, must mean, in all likelihood, laying the foundation of success and happiness," Mr' Keys continued. "An occupation out of all harmony with a boy's aptitudes and capacities means inefficiency, unenthusiastic, and perhaps distasteful labour, with a relatively small chance of financial success. Psychology teaches us that we learn best and like best those activities for which we have the greatest inherent capacity and ability. Vocational guidance aims to discover before the transition from' school to work i 3 completed these inherent capacities, and indicate the lines along which they may best be developed. I believe that- thus the solution for much of the industrial unrest so prevalent at the present time will be found. It might be said that it is a permanent contribution to the humanising of what is in many ways the most vital of all human interest, that of industry. I am fully aware of the seriousness of juvenile unemployment, and the part it plays in juvenile delinquency, and as from year to year a very large number of boys and girls are absorbed into the industrial world, it remains for vocational guidance to play its part in correcting maladjustments. "A Royal Commission made a study of unemployment in England, and found that a large share of the unemployment was due to a lack of guidance and direction of boys at the critical periofl when they left school to enter industry. It ia unfortunately only too clear that the mass of unemployment is continually being recruited by a stream of young men from industries that rely upon unskilled boy labour and turn it adrift at manhood without any general or special industrial qualifications. Ido not think that this aspect of the unemployment question has been considered much as yet in New Zealand, and yet the problem of 'dead end' occupations is found to exist in every industrial community, and the 'unemployables' who emerge from them have generally lacking proper guidance, and not having found the occupations for which they are best fitted, been attracted blindly by the initial high wages and the slight adaptability required. "As it maladjustments, to a large degree, are seen to be inevitable," coneluded the speaker. "The idea of joy in work is scoffed at among a large class. It Is unknown by far too great a percentage."