Denver labor bulletin., 1918-08-31
INVESTING IN NATIONS HUMAN CAPITAL
By DOROTHY COFFIN, in The Public"

More than 500 two-year scholar
ships have been given to boys and
girls thru this committee. 1t was on
the basis of the observations and con-
clusions arrived at from the close
contact with these children that the
idea of a vocational guidance bureau
was founded. These conclusions were
confirmed by the results of a special
investigation made by the mayors
committee on vocational help to min
ors. This study of the fourteen-year-
old child in industry and in school
again proved that industry offers lit
tie educational or economic opportu-
nifty to the unframed child It was
felt that while the number of scholar
ships that could be granted is of ne
cessity limited (they are supported
entirely by voluntary contributions
the guidance and advice that had
proved part of the vocational schol-
arship plan could be extended to a
greater number of children.
Two years ago member of the
vocational scholarship committee drew
up plans for a vocational guidance bu-
reau to be conducted in the public
schools, and submitted them to the
board of education. They were en-
dorsed, but the board felt itself un-
able to finance the plan. The Henry
street settlement then offered to sup
ply the necessary funds if the board
! would sanction the bureau being put
/ into operation in one of the schools
| This was welcomed, and in March,
1916, the bureau was opened in public
school lat under the direction of Rita
| Wallack Morgenthau. Its purpose has
been by contact with the child to guide
and direct him to the school of in
dustry best adapted to his abilities,
its definite program being:
l. To keep the child in school as
long as possible.
2. To help discover his natural
abilities, and where possible to help
him decide upon a trade or profession
in which these will count.
8. To guide the boy or girl from
elementary to trade school
1. To persuade parents who can
not afford to let their children grad
uate from high school or elementary
school to give them training in some
I trade
s. To place children who must go
/ to work in touch with reliable en-
/ ployment agencies.
6. To recommend for scholarship
all children needing financial help, so
that their school days may be length
ened to at least their sixteenth year
7. To follow up for two years all
children who go to work after they
leave public school and all children
who go on to secondary or trade
school
In September, 1917, the vocational
department of the Henry street set
tlement opened a second vocational
guidance bureau in public school II.
The results already obtained in these
| two bureaus are convincing of the
value of this constructive work. The
committee emphasizes the Importance
of getting in touch with the child a
sufficient long time before he leaves
school, in order to have opportunity
for thoro study of his capacities
and limitations so as to direct him
to the school best fitted to his abilities
or to see that he is placed in the in
dustry that will offer him the great
est possible opportunity for advance
ment. While the vocational secretar-
les have expert knowledgeof indus
trial conditions from which they can
! give advice and information to the
child, they never undertake actually
to place him in a position.
The bureau hopes that as a result
of the child and parents broader
knowledge of resources an impetus in
the right direction will be given, and
is not disappointed if eventually work
is found along lines other than those
in which it has assisted the boy or
girl to obtain specific training, be-
lieving that every opportunity for fur
ther education is an asset in indus
trial as well as in social life.
Now more than ever the Importance
of vocational guidance is apparent.
Since the war, wages for unskilled
work have almost doubled. In this
country, as in England, we are going
thru the process of learning by ex-
perience. In England the poor econ
omy of exhausting the strength of its
youth and leaving it unframed for
the future has become apparent, and
the new education bill just put thru
parliament provides supervision and
protection of England's boys and girls
thru their eighteenth year. This coun-
try has not yet recognized the evil
already in our midst But the fact
that such efforts already are being
made as those of the vocational guild
ance bureau. shows that the time is
approaching when the conception of
the juvenile as primarily little wage
Garner will be replaced by the con-
ception of him rs primarily the work
man and citizen in training-the
states best permanent capital"