CHILDREN’S OUTLOOK

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 October 1939, Page 9

CHILDREN’S OUTLOOK

VOCATIONS WHEN GROWN UP SYDNEY, September 23. Significant revelations of the mental outlook of the children of this generation were produced by a competition conducted by the “Daily Telegraph,” which offered prizes to children for the best replies to its question “What do you want to be .when you grow up?” The tabulated result of the mass of replies received showed that 40 per cent, of the boys wanted to be airmen, 'lO per cent, sailors, 8 per cent, architects or draftsmen, 8 per cent, radio announcers, 7 per cent, wrestlers or boxers, (> per cent, railway employees, 4 per cent, jockeys, detectives, doctors, 2 per cent, policemen, plumbers or mechanics. Of the girls 21 per cent, wanted to be school teachers, 19 per cent, air hostesses or pilots, 11 per cent, nurses, 10 per cent, dress designers, 10 per cent, mannequins, 7 per cent, tennis players, and only 2 per cent, typists. The striking feature of the boy’s preferences is the fact that nearly half of them wanted to x be airmen. It suggests that the children of to-day have certainly become air-minded. A Newcastle boy of 10, who, of course, could not be expected to realise the real import of what he was saying, declared that he would like to learn to fly a British bomber so that hb could bomb the main cities of Germany. “I would like to have an extra big bomb to drop on Hitler,” he said, “but don’t let Hitler see this.

One boy of 13 wanted to become a ballet master because “the girls would be easy on the eyes.” Another wished to be a detective so that he could “imprison crooks and all those who hesitate to observe the law.” It seems strange that so few boys in a scientific age should seem to want to take up science. Only one case was reported—a boy who wanted to become an astronomer. One boy of eight chose the Church “so that 1 can go about teaching about God and peace on earth and goodwill towards men.” A boy of 12 wanted to become a composer because he believed that music is “superior to everything else on earth.” Among the girls the most unusual expression of desire came from a Gundagai girl of 13 who frankly stated that she would like to be a gangster so that she could rob the rich and help the poor. “Besides, I would earn, a lot of money for myself,” she added. Along with her entry she sent a picturesque drawing of a cowgirl armed with guns.