The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-12

few summers ago, while t1amping through Duchess county, New York, l saw hundreds of bushels of early apples was sold from the retail stands in New York city, only 60 miles away. at almost pi piohibtive prices. The farmer could not during the busy season afford to. use their regular hired help to prepare properly for the market these by-products of his farm Occasional help was hard to secure. But knew that there were thousands of young people out of school for the summer months, seeking work of any kind to earn a httle for their sup port while being educated in the high schools and colleges.
 I was able the next season through CO., operation with the state department of I taught large number of pupils to farmers in the Hudson river counties. After eight or ten weeks work these boys came home in September with from $30 to S70 cash each and the benefit of a summer of healthful labor with their country cousins.
 Frequently employers criticise the pub lie schools saying that they do not turn cut boys properly prepared for business lie. The boys, we often heard, cannot even write and spell decently and lack habits of punctuality and responsibility. I called upon one such complainant and found thatlh hired any boy who came along in answer to an advertisement and p1 ba on dof cies he developed. That employer since then has applied to me whenever he needed a boy and every year he has been supplied with boys who have proved per fectly satisfactory.
 Experiences such as these led to the forming of the students aid committee of the High School Teachers associa- ton in New York. This work has grown
 in value. Superintendent William IL. Maxwell has recommended that the board of education "organize vocation or em- ployment bureau 'The special field of labor for such bureau," he says. would be to bring to the attention of employers Of labor the various kinds of training given in the public schools, to ascertain from principals and teachers, and in some cases from young people themselves the kind of work for which each is best suited to aid in placing each student in a position in which his talents will have full scope to develop. The small cost of such bureau would be a mere nothing compared with the good it would accom- plish." U
 Each year thousands of boys graduate from our high schools For most school life ends then, and the question Is how to earn living? Many young people who go out into the world think that they must take the first thing that is offered to them. They do not know that they can choose their careers, yet to large extent this is true of young people of ed ueation. If the family does not need their assistance they may be practically free to choose any career. High school teachers spend much en- ergy in studying the requirements of the colleges and properly advise pupils as tc
 the selection of an university. But nine tenths of those who go to high schoo
 need help and counsel to enable them to decide wisely what business they are tc follow. A wrong choice, beginning un- der unfavorable conditions and failure in the chosen field means misfortune to the individual. a loss to the communi- ty, an exasperated employer and un- | kind criticisms of the school system.