CAREER BUILDING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20631, 12 August 1941, Page 2

CAREER BUILDING

WIDE OPPORTUNITIES NEW ZEALAND’S YOUTH GUIDANCE , ; “It can be said quite confidently that the opportunities for young people to select suitable occupations, and to build up careers for themselves have never been better than they are today. Our educational system offers . more scope for the fulfilment of individual ambitions, and in the industrial world it is no longer necessary to regard any job as a 'blind-alley’ job,” said Mr. G. W. C. Drake, Auckland, in an address to the Gisborne Rotary Club yesterday. Mr. Drake, who.is an official of the Auckland' Vocational Guidance Association, covered a good deal of ground in the time allotted for his address, pointing out the responsibility of parents for seeing that their children receive the benefit of opportunities .which the educational system offered, and., that they were . encouraged in courses of study and practical work which would equip them for congenial and economic occupations in the years of their adulthood. He referred to the work of the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, founded in Britain with the object .of placing in suitable occupations those who had special aptitude for definite classes of work. This institute had worked out a series of tests to ascertain the aptitude of individuals for the work in which they were engaged; and had done 'highly, valuable work in the industrial employment field. Post-Primary Education In New Zealand, those who got the full benefit of the'education system would need little help in defining their places in the economic world; but there was a surprisingly large proportion of young people now in the country who had had no education beyond the primary standards. A few y6ars ago, Mr. Drake said, that would not have been a handicap, but in the specialised world of to-day postprimary education qualifications were almost essential to the attainment of economic independence, in industrial occupations. Vocational guidance consisted of trying to fit the individual boy or girl into the sphere in which he or she could develop most usefully and happily. It was not a haphazard method of trying to find any job that would fit a person already failed in one or more trials. The study of young people’s activities and hobbies outside school hours was particularly useful in the building of a career, for in these activities the individual might well show talent which his or her school work gave no hint of. Vocational guidance, in essence, was applied commonsense. In this connection, Mr. Drake pointed out that a special bent for a particular type of work might not give the key to a life career. There were occupations in which the opportunities for newcomers were small; professions which could only maintain a few of-the aspirants to practice. It was common sense not to encourage a bent in such directions, unless the latent talent was such as to ensure success under keenly competitive conditions. Obviously it was better that the£,' special bent should be reserved for hobby work, and the talent guided into other channels. , . ; Guidance Towards Realities What was most important was that people should be guided towards reality. Young people must be assisted to realise what is involved in the making of a career, not overlooking the prime factors of diligence and perseverance. Many people of adult years, even, were quite otftivious to the opportunities which opened out before them; and younger people should be given an object to aim at, with some indication of the successive steps they ■ must take to achieve it. A common experience of those who took up this type of work was the encounter with parents who wished their sons and daughters to take up professional work, the young people being too often unsuited and uninterested. Parents unconsciously influenced their children against taking up jobs of a trade description, forgetting that trades must recruit workers, and that talent was as likely to receive due reward in the industrial world as in the profession. No job need be considered a blind-alley job, if the worker brought diligence and intelligence to its performance; and a boy starting in the humblest ranks of the industrial world could, with due encouragement and guidance in his early years, find his way to the top of the tree. Successful Young Farmers Farming was referred to by Mr. Drake as one line of endeavour against which there was a general bias in New Zealand. Owing to the complaints of the-farmers themselves, perhaps it was accepted that only the lucky ones could get a living oft' the land. This was not correct, and the experience of Aucklanders who, through the Auckland youth settlement scheme, had influenced the lives of a number of boys, showed that farming could be tackled and beaten by those with appropriate talents. Mr. Drake spoke of boys who had gone to farms and had-disproved for themselves the tales they had heard of the hardships of life on the land; and of others who, after five or six years’ work in the country, had bank balances of hundreds of pounds and confidence in their ability to succeed on the land. “Boys and girls are interested in work, and the scope of their recreational and leisure-time activities is astounding,” added Mr. Drake. “If these qualities of interest and diligence are guided into the right channels, they can develop character and ensure success in adult life.” He closed with an expression of the hope that the Gisborne Rotary , Club would ally itself with the newlyformed Vocational Guidance Association in Gisborne, as its members were in an excellent position to render valuable assistance through the medium of the association. . The speaker was given a hearty Vote of thanks, on the motion of Mr. J. Hutton. Mr. F. Tolerton was in the chair.