BOYS AND THE FUTURE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19983, 28 October 1927, Page 2

BOYS AND THE FUTURE

MEASURING APTITUDE INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY. The problem of what to do with their boys has worried parents for time immemorial. Science has now come to the retene. A crowd of c.di;« ationalists, scientists, manufacturers and others has got together with the object of applying tests of a- psychological nature, wtiic.fi will be hclpfull in ascertaining the. brain power and mental alertness of both sexes at a stage when they are just about ready to embark on some career. They have called themselves the Australian Institute of Industrial Psychology, and, briefly, their object is to fit a man for a job and job for a man. For man one may substitute boy or girl where necessary. A number of practical tests was carried! out more for experimental purposes than anything the other oay, says a Sydney paper. They included simple questions and answers, both written and oral, and manipulation of a kind of jig-saw puzzle known as “links,” then there was a little wooden cabinet containing ten tests of mechanical ingenuity, such as assembling a lock, a paper r dip, or a bicycle pump. Next came the Galton bar. invented by Hie famous anthropologist of that name, used to ascertain the/ subject’s discrimination in space and length—considered: a valuable a’o in discovering whether a boy was suitable to become a surveyor, for instance. There are other sides to the institute’s activities, and by experimentation it is hopeful of assisting industry by adapting working methods to mental and muscular instinct. By this means, it is claimed startling ecnomies can be effected in production with a resultant increased Output and greater efficiency.