The Washington herald., 1922-12-18
COLLEGE
!. DEGREES HARMFUL
Employment Specialist Says
Educated Starve While
Others Get Jobs

Necessity of thorough business or
technical training instead of q col
lege education for persons desiring
to earn their living. was stressed by
Miss Catherine Smith. manager Of
theo District Public Employment De
partment. in her weekly report for
warded Saturday.
She showed that $50 out of 565
persons who applied for positions
during the week had been placed.
Out Of the number placed, only q
Few were college graduates. More
than half were placed in white col
lar" Jobs. The department was un-
able to place the majority of appli-
cants with college educations.
HARD FOR COLLEGE MEN.
1T is almost impossible to place a
college graduate in q position owing
to the lack of qualifications needed
in the business and industrial world
today" declared Miss Smith. These
applicants want executive positions
Tor which they are not fitted and
which are very few.
On the other hand. the EMPLOYERS
don't want college graduates. They
state that employees of this kind are
united for the work and are always
expecting Increases which they are
not deserving. They are very un-
satisfactory and II is a rarity that
they last any length Of time" she
stated.
TOOK CLERK JOBS.
Records OF the last week showed
that more than 100 persons whom
the department was unable to place
mad received degrees from some Of
tne most prominent colleges in the
country. The few whom the depart
inent accommodated accepted posi-
lions OF cleriacl nature at salaries
ranging at IS a week. Applicants
with a business Of technical training
and those willing to accept laboring
or domestic positions were quickly
placed
The college graduate is worth
about $40 to SIS a week to the av-
erage business man, while they ex-
pect to obtain positions with salaries
OF about $50 a week. Many voice
their intentions Of accepting moth
ing but executive positions, Of which
there are none to be had" stated
Miss Smith.
NEED TO EARN LIVING.
THE sooner the public realizes
the necessity of a practical business
or technical training the better they
will be qualified to earn their living.
Every child, after 1t leaves the
eighth grade. should have somebody
10 direct its future education" she
stated.
Miss Smith outlined numerous In
stances during her business career
IN which persons beginning work
With business or industrial con-
Germ in a small capacity had worked
themselves up to high executive Do
sitions. while others. having college
educations, who started as general
help had not advanced. "A person
having a good high school or busi-
ness training has a 75 per cent bet
ter chance Of earning a good liv-
ing than one having obtained an
A. B. degree" she declared
WOULDN'T TAKE JOB.
Miss Smith told of a woman re.
Gently graduated from a prominent
college who Is in dire straits because
she wouldn't accept a clerical posi-
ton. She applied at the department,
showed her poverty by displaying
holes in her shoes, but became in
dignant when offered a position as
an apprentice typist at SIS a week.
Most graduates on applying for
work. when asked il they are stem
ographers or bookkeepers become in
suited. They appear to want it un-
derstood that they are too good for
such labor" declared Miss Smith.
The servant problem is one which
is causing department officials the
greatest concern, 1t is impossible to
obtain white domestics. as the Amer
lean girl of today would rather scrub
floors in an office building or hotel
than attach herself to the house.
hold of another American woman.
1T may be a matter of jealousy"
declared Miss Smith when questioned
as to why she made the statement
Colored domestics are unwilling to
hire themselves out by the week
They want to be paid daily for their
work and despise being compelled to
remain home at nights, tending the
children Of their employers, accord.
iup m Miss Smith