PROBLEM OF THE BOY

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3247, 18 January 1926, Page 12

PROBLEM OF THE BOY

CHOICE OF OCCUPATION RECRUIT FOR THE TRADED. The boy and his future is the eternal problem of parents, and at the beginning of each year, it has pressing personal application for many. Then the new crop of boys comes on the labour market, and there is always danger of circumstances —and transcient circumstances seem often to be accorded a rather full measure of importance on these occasions—being allowed to fix the destiny of boys. It can bo said, and frequently is said that a boy can always change his job if be becomes convinced that he does not like it, but against that there is the influence of th e saying about the man who has set his hand to the plough. It very often Is the case that a boy feel’s bound to persevere in an occupation for which he has no bent The moment he changes his job he begins to lower the value of his stock.

Most employers regard with some suspision a youth who applies lor a vacancy after having spent some little time in another houfee or another occupation. The o.uestion, "Why did you leave?" cannot always be answered by a boy’s explanation of his likes and dislikes. Because of this many a boy who is now a man persisted in being the proverbial square peg, and thus his whole life has been governed by very minor circumstances. I/abour Ofljoe and Apprentices, The three chief avenues of life to which the parent of city boys give attention a>-e the professions, commerce and trades. Unfortunately there is a considerable drift into the "blind alley occupations. Not by any means are the majprity of these boys unequipped mentally and otherwise for higher tasks. They may be the victims of poverty or of parental neglect. The

day is coming when lh* State -will do .•nore to take car® of such children.

As it is. a groat forward step was made by the Apprentices Act of 1923 which provides that headmasters must advise tho Labour Department of the boys leaving school. It is the operation ofthls Act that accounts for the numbers of boys .applying for apprenticeships through the Labour Department at the present time. A great deal of good work has been done under this Act already although many parents make their own arrangements for their boys being apprenticed to trades. From headmasters who have most loyally. carried put their obligations. the officials of the Labour Department find out something of tho qualifications and bent of the boys appearing on their books, and then make an effort to place them most suitably.

Cases occurred where boys were saved from entering occupations which offered little future prospect. One boy whose parents probably had urgent need for the assistance he could give the home, was ready to go into a factory where he Would not have been taught a trade that would have helped him toward a career. He was a fine physical specimen, and when asked about his hopes, mentioned that he was anxious to go into a certain trade,, a trade requiring good physique, Inquiries were put on foot, and soon ho was apprenticed to the trade he desired, and is doing very well.

Crowded Professions. Unfortunately the restrictions placed upon the number of apprentices In various trades by Arbritation i Court awards limits *the field, and there is difficulty, in placing boys in many of the popular trades. Among the most popular are motor and electrical mechanic trades, which by'many people are regarded as more “genteel” than others. It is this insistence by many parents for “genteel” occupations for their boys that result in the professions being rushed. Sometimes a boy is kept at a secondary school at some sacrifice so that he may qualify for a profession, but while the professions offer a career for the brilliant, they by no means do so for everyone. Some of them, notably law have been) so rushed, that the prospect even for “golden mediocrity” Is not very bright. However, file boy who has the chance of continuing study for a profession always has a second string to his bow. Should he fail he has educational' qualifications which ought to give him a particularly good, chance to enter commercial pursuits.-**»

Probaly the largest nunjber of boys go Into pommerce- as Junior clerks or, as shop assistants. No one can predict what their future may be. In commerce so much depends upon the capacity of the individual. Many office and shop boys wa?te time If they do not put ' their. lieart

Into their work. Ylioae who** prospects generally are best we those who secure jobs with the larger firms, where they obtain a thorough ground. Ing in well-organised buslne**, but always th e personal factor applies. Farming For City Boy*. Without doubt, many boys who ar* started in clerical life do ifbt feel much attraction for'lt, and sdmejhav* little aptitude. And it Is timely to raise the question whether many city parents ever consider farming as *1 career for their boys.

The country is constantly bringing youths from England to bf taught farming under practical men. A kind of apprenticeship is provided for tfieia and their interests are protected b* the State, but there is no system which the youths of the New Zealand cities are induced to go on to farm* for training. The difficulties which have been th 9 common lot of farmer* during recent years may be the rea* son why city parents rarely send their boys to the country for the training which in due cours 0 will fit them to become farmers; but why should \ a slump and its afterneath rule out of consideration, the question of a car* eer as a farmer for so many, boys? A townward drift has been inevitable in recent years, but that is n* reason why a boy with a bent for IK* land should not bo given his chance. By all means let us bring from Brit, ain recruits for settlement but a better policy would be to breed our own settlers. Given the right kind of training the right kind of boy is of. fered better prospects on the land than in the city.