CHOOSING A CAREER

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 72, 18 December 1928, Page 3

CHOOSING A CAREER

GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS AND PUPILS HEED TO AGRICULTURE “What shall we do with our boy, and what is his future to be?” This question, now that the end of the school year has come, is engaging the attention of all parents of children whose days at school are finished. For the guidance of pupils and their parents or guardians, and to assist them in their effort to find a solution of the problem of a suitable career, the Education Department has prepared a pamphlet, “Vocational Guidance,” which contains helpful information and advice on the selection of a vocation. Copies of the book have been received from the Department by the Wellington Education Board, and are being dispatched in bundles to all the primary schools, while lots are also in possession of headmasters of secondary schools. All pupils leaving the secondary and primary schools are given a copy, and are advised to use it in coming to a decision with their parents. The need of such a publication was recognised by the Department in 1927, and the first issue was made at the end of that year. Greater efforts, however. have been made this year to get copies into the hands of all pupils, there being a real demand for the publication. Wide Field for Selection. The book opens up a wide field for selection in the information it gives relating to all professions and trades. “The aim of the pamphlet,” states a paragraph in the preface, “is to present as briefly as possible a conspectus of the field before the child, with such information as to qualifications and aptitudes necessary for each occupation as it is hoped will assist parent and child in coming to a decision.” None of the recognised callings are neglected iu the pamphlet, as an examination of its pages will show. The information is presented in two sections, the first .dealing with the various types of school and courses available for children after they have completed their primary school courses, and the second dealing with the trades and professions they may enter. The pamphlet is more informative than the one issued a year ago, notably in the amount of space which has been devoted to agriculture and its allied callings as an avenue of employment. The absence in the first publication of information upon this important phase of the life of the Dominion was a source of a great deal of criticism in the Press and from the Education Boards throughout New Zealand. The Backbone of the Country. Dealing with agriculture the publication says: “About 26 per cent, of the male breadwinners of the Dominion are engaged in the various agricultural and pastoral industries. More than a quarter of those in these industries are employers of labour, and more than half are in business on their own account, less than half being wage-earners. The proportion of those who are their own masters is several times greater in these occupations than in any of the secondary industries or in commerce. For this reason the boy who chooses one of the various branches of farming has a better chance of becoming his own master and so attaining independence than if he had chosen any other of the occupations of town or country outside the learned professions. In addition to this great advantage, farming of all kinds means an outdoor life and in most cases plenty of physical activity as well as demanding a skill, knowledge, and erfatsmanship greater than are needed in almost any other occupation. There is thus full scope in the life of the farmer for all the powers that a boy or girl may possess. ... , „ “In a peculiarly high degree, there fore, a boy may find satisfaction and happineuns in the work of the ! ' nt if lie has also a deep love of nature and a keen interest in living addition to pluck and there is no reason why he f win through to a competence elen if he starts out after training w th liLtlc or no canital. In any case the fa> mcr ls ; in diuicult times, usually in a . better nosit ion than the town dweller, since he Fs ab e to produce for himself many o he necessities of life, and in he last analysis it is the peasant population of k country that best survives the stress

of wars and revolutions. In every sense, therefore, the farmer is the backbone of a country. This is particularly true of this Dominion, in which for. many years the agricultural and pastoral industries must be the main support of the country.” Under the heading of agriculture the publication also gives detailed information relating to mixed farming, dairy farming, pastoral farming, arable farming, orcharding, market gardening, beekeeping, vine-growing, poultry-farming, shearing, harvesting, mustering, together with such related occupations as veterinary science, other agricultural sciences, dairv factory work, flax-milling, and slaughtering.