At the interview following, the boy, Charles Lee, told of his position and of his home conditions. He was an only son, living with a widowed mother in Cambridge, and had been obliged to leave school and go to work, taking whatever place he could find. This was a position as assistant shipper in the sub-basement of a clothing store in Boston. The employer in the beginning had promised him promotion or transfer, but had failed to do anything for so long a time that it became clear nothing would be done as long as the boy was content to remain in the sub-basement at $3.00 a week.
Young Lee was a boy of attractive appearance, earnest manner, and evidently of more than average ability. He seemed well equipped for a business position and desired one with a good line of advancement.
The Vocation Bureau had just completed the investigation of a large and well known dry goods store in the city, and now sent Lee with a letter to its employment manager, who took him into the office at $6.00 a week. The boy has been followed up by the bureau, and has shown marked business ability in his new position. He is now in line for promotion to an executive position in the firm. The help given him was based upon his home and employment conditions, apparent abilities, and desire to find the right place in a mercantile occupation.
Mary Schenck confided to her teacher that she wanted to take up stenography and typewriting because she “knew a girl who had a good job in that line.” A vocational counselor called at her home and talked with her mother. During the visit it developed that Mary’s mother and grandmother were both successful dressmakers and that the girl herself had obtained very good marks in her sewing in the grammar school. In fact, she had made the dresses for her two little sisters for the past two years. As a result of this information the counselor talked again with Mary and suggested that she take up sewing in the school. Mary did so, even going out to work in a shop for a while. Then she started in business for herself. Today she is employing two assistants. Thus by a little common sense and thought a girl was prevented from entering the overcrowded field of stenography in which she probably would not have been very successful and started in a line of work for which she possessed natural ability and real love.
What is a vocational counselor? There are over a hundred of them in the public schools of Boston. They are regular teachers, designated by the school principals to advise and co-operate with boys and girls leaving school for work. Two years ago an agreement between the Boston School Committee and the Vocation Bureau called for their appointment and they have been meeting twice a month ever since to discuss the educational opportunities of the city, the vocational problems of the children and to confer with employers and others interested. Let us see just how their influence is made to count in the lives of children.
Vocational guidance in a school involves three definite objects:
Guiding the child while in the school.
Guiding the child after leaving school.
Following up the child, i.e., ascertaining what becomes of him after he goes into work.
