VOCATIONS FOR YOUTH.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18158, 24 October 1930, Page 3

VOCATIONS FOR YOUTH.

END OF SCHOOL LIFE. APPEAL TO EMPLOYERS. The last term of the school year Is now well on the way, and in a few weeks some thousands of boys and girls will have completed their education and be ready to enter a profession or some branch of trade and commerce. The increasingly difficult problem will again arise as to vvhat to do with the boys and girls. What does the future hold for them? The principal of Wellington Boys’ College, Mr W. A. Armour announced in a letter to the Manufacturers’ Association last week that he had the names of 57 boys who would be seeking employment at the end of the year. Yesterday the principal of Rongotai College stated that precisely the same number would be leaving that college at the end of the term. To these must be added the girls from the .Wellington North and Wellington East Girls’ Colleges, also those pupils attending Scots College and private schools who will be looking .for a vocation at the end of the year.’ There will be a considerable exodus from the Technical College at the end of this term. How many cannot be said at the moment, as the process Is in operation all through the year, third-year pupils leaving, to take up situations as opportunities arise. A class may start the year with 20'third and fourth-year pupils, but by the end of the year, there are usually only three or four of them left, as little difficulty is experienced in placing them in industry and commerce. In this respect the position at the Technical College seems eminently satisfactory, as employers regularly forward their requirements to the pirncipal and the difficulty has been to meet the demand. Greater difficulty is experienced in finding suitable openings for boys from the colleges in professional careers.

Vocational Guidance.

At the end of 1929 the Education Department isued a vocational guidance pamphlet. This contained much valuable information, far more, in fact, than any boy or girl could digest. The material could only be made good use of by the pupils in conjunction with the parents and the principal and staff of the school. At Rongotai College the principal, Mr P. M. Renner, has appointed Mr R. M.- Edwards, one of the masters, to act in the capacity of liaison officer between college and professional and business men of the city. He has already spent a day interviewing architects, accountants, the Industrial Research Board, Labour Department and organisations of a professional or commercial character. In addition, a circular has been sent to the principals of between 80 and 90 firms, stating: “A certain number of boys will bo leaving us at the end of this year and we-are endeavouring to place them in positions for which we think they are suited ... We should like, you to understand that our list contains only such boys as we are prepared to recommend. We fully recognise our responsibility to prospective employers and the boy thus sent out by us has it thoroughly impressed upon him that he carries the good name of his school with him into the world.” Openings have been ob r tained for 16'boys already, and it is hoped to place the majority of the others by the end ef the year.

College Helping

’“When, we started this school,” said Mr Renner, “we started on tho lines of the best type of post-primary scheel, to do our best to discover the boy’s aptitude, to foster it, and, having trained him in a certain direction, to place him in something for which he is most fitted. It is no use training the boy and fitting him out completely and then leaving him to fight for himself- Post-primary schools ought to shoulder the responsibility not only of training boys, hut of getting them where they will be of direct benefit to the community . Otherwise they are an economic loss. We want to, organise in such a way that there will be closer co-operation between the school* on the one hand, which represents the people, and the big business world into which we are sending our boys.” ,