The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-07
PUBLIC SCHOOLS AS
EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES

ual Faults of Pupils
Finding the Proper Job
for Each Boy-Value' of
a Vocation Adviser.
Eli w Weaver, Chairman Students
AID Committee, High School Teach
ers' Association, New York.
Exclusive Service The Survey Press
Bureau.)
A few summers ago, while tramping
through Dutchess county, New York, I
saw hundreds of bushels of early APP
| pies going to waste. At the same
time fruit was sold from the retail
stands in New York City, only sixty
/ miles away, at almost prohibitive
| prices The farmer could not dur ng
| the busy season afford to use his reg
ular hired help to prepare properly for
the market these by-products of his
| farm. OccaS onal help was hard to
secure But I knew that there were
! thousands of young people out OF
school for the summer months, seek
| ing work of any kind to earn for their
support while being educated in the
| high schools and colleges.
I was able the next season through
! cooperation with the State depart
ment of agriculture, to send from the
school where I taught, large number
| Of pupils to farmers in Hudson River
count es. After eight or ten weeks
! work these boys came home in Sep
TENDER with from $50 to $40 cash each
and the benefit of a summer of health
full labor with their county cousins.
| Frequently employers criticize the
public schools saying that they do not
| turn out boys properly prepared for
/ business life. The boys, we often hear,
cannot even write and spell decentiy
and lack habits of punctuality and
responsibility. I called upon one such
| compla nant and found that he hired
| any boy who came along In answer to
! an advertisement and then blamed the
| school for any deficiencies he develop
ed. That employer since then has ap-
| piled to me whenever he NEEDED boy
and every year he has been supplied
with boys who have proved perfectly
| satisfactory.
| Experiences such as these led to the
| forming Of the Students Aid Commit
/ tee of the High School Teachers as
ISOLATION in New York. This work has
grown IN value. superintendent Will
| liam Fl. Maxwell has recommended
| that the Board Of Education Organize
a vocation or employment 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 knd of work for which each Is
best suited to aid in placing each stu
/ dent in a position in which his talents
Will have a full scope to develop The
small cost of such a bureau would be
| mere nothing compared with the
| good 1t would accomplish"
Each year thousands OF boys grad
| uate 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 education. If the fam
| lily does not need their assistance they
may be practically free to choose any
1 career.
| High school teachers spend much en-
ergy in studying the requirements OF
the colleges and properly advise pupils
as to the selection of a university
| But nine-tenths of those who go to
high school need help and counsel to
enable them to decide wisely what bus
mess they are to follow. A wrong
choice. beginning under unfavorahle
COHQ .LlOHS anu d Ed1luTC Il1S SAAOSCA
field means misfortune to the 1ndivid-
| ual loss to the community, an ex-
asperated employer and unkind cr-tt-
cisms of the school system.
Here is a man who conducts for
eign agency business. He hires
bright American boys to begin at
small pay with excellent prospects for
| advancement" These boys work hard
during long hours and have few
| chances to become acquainted with
the world outside of that office. When
they discover that their much adver-
tised chances for advancement are
purely imaginary they have lost their
hopefulness and their faith in the fair
ness OF men.
Another large corporation has at the
head of it's employment department q
gentleman who has devised carefully
graded system of promotions and adj
vancements aims to keep his en-
ployees satisfied and strives to make
them more valuable to the corpora
ton and to themselves. This firm is
anxious to get our good boys. Our
committee has arrangements for plac-
ing boys with many large employers,
can save them from making the cost
ly mistake of taking work and with
responsible firms.
I The success of a typewriting ma
chine is due to the fact that the SELL
ing agents of the manufa cturers have
l
| ments and shown a disposition ia meet
!; Changing needs. By a careful study
of the demands of the market school
authorities can meet the requirements
and save to the child the maximum
amount of time for acquiring culture.
That this is q proper field of endea-
vor for school authorities to under
take has been recognized in Boston
where the school board pays the sal
airy of one official in the vocation bu-
reau who gives his entire time to
training vocation counsellors for the
large public schools. The London
County Council has recommended that
in every borough of the city associa-
lions be formed Of teachers, employ
eds and residents who shall study con-
ditions and try to place children leav-
ing school. These associations are now
being formed.
The work has been performed in
New York for several years by teach
ers who gave their time and labor
voluntarily and supplied the funds to
support the work of the Students Aid
Committee. The committee sends to
| employers only boys whom it can rec
| ommend for faithfulness and efficiency
in school work and for suitable ty to
the kind of employment concerned.
A young fellow gets vacation job
: with steamship company to whom
he goes with an excellent school rec
ord. He works at desk as a clerk