THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 1933. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21924, 8 April 1933, Page 10

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 1933. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE.

The Dunedin Vocational Guidance Committee deserves credit for the time its members have devoted to a problem of great urgency. That numbers of boys and girls should in these stressful times be leaving school without any definite guidance and without much hope of finding immediate and suitable employment is a condition of affairs that is fraught with grave danger to the whole community. The Committee at its last meeting took the important step of deciding to become an incorporated body and to increase membership as widely as possible. The members have shown all along a determination to do something more than make melancholy speeches and pass pious resolutions. Prom the first there has been a salaried officer who has done very good work in assisting boys and girls to find positions suitable to their powers, and has also been helpful to employers. It is evident that the problem confronting society everywhere, even in Communist Russia, will have to be faced by a definite organisation. The figures for schools in Dunedin and suburbs for last year show that there were in the sixth standard 939 pupils—sos boys and 434 girls. Of these more than two-thirds went on to secondary schools, leaving 275 who finished their schooling apparently. It is important to know what is happening to these 275. How many have secured suitable work? How many are doing nothing? And, further, it is important to know what are the figures for those in secondary schools of all kinds. It would be wrong to encourage the belief that the secondary schools make their pupils disdainful of certain types of work. It is natural both for parents and teachers to wish to do the very

best for their children, and therefore unwillingness to accept the first job offering is, in the case of a boy or girl of marked ability, often a very good thing, not only for the individual but also for society. Of course, beggars can't be choosers, and, as the Guidance Officer pointed out, there were more applicants than there were jobs, and injured dignity soon faded away in case of real need where a position was available. It is in connection with suitability of occupation that the purchase of 300 intelligence test cards was recommended and adopted unanimously by the meeting. If these tests are as valuable as the experts claim, surely it is both desirable and possible to apply them to all the pupils in the upper standards of the primary schools. We understand that the cosft of the test material is not great, and that the work can be carried out quickly by members of the school staffs. The most important part of the Committee’s deliberations centred round the recent report of Messrs Smith and Ansell. The conclusion reached was that while responsibility certainly rests upon local voluntary organisations, the problem is of national importance. No doubt the desire to place the onus wholly upon local civic responsibility is inspired by a recognition of the Government’s shortage of money. Still, a dispassionate survey of the difficulties forces on the conclusion that national effort alone can meet a national emergency. The suggestion of Messrs Smith and Ansell that boys could be liberated for training on farms in June, July, and August apparently did not meet with much favour. Yet it should not be lightly set aside; for such a practice prevails in Denmark and seems to work well in industries that are the same as those of New Zealand. Also in Switzerland a similar practice prevails, though in this ease climatic conditions are mainly responsible for the custom. There are great possibilities, as the Committee sees, in the u one day a week ” training already in operation at the Balclutha School. The proposal to utilise rough, uncultivated lands was, we think, wisely discarded— boys should be trained on farms to learn farm work. There is another point to be kept in view, namely oversight. Young boys going out under a training scheme must be put only with farmers of good repute who will undertake some care of the young lives. The old difficulty of turning boys with a good education to the land remains unsolved. It is useless merely to blame present-day education. Parents will send their children where the prospects are brightest. At present they certainly think of the town for the brighter children —country parents, too, do the same. The public will await with interest the further report and practical proposals of the Farm Committee. This whole movement deserves hearty support. It is gratifying to know that financial assistance has been forthcoming from several local bodies. The chairman and the Committee deserve the thanks of the community for what they are attempting.