New Britain herald., 1930-03-28
SAYS FEW PEOPLE
 LIKE THEIR JOBS
Scientist Makes Survey and Re-
 VealS Much Dissatisfaction

New York, March oS.-Science has determined that most people are dis satisfied with their jobs.
 While scores of psychologists have been searching for methods Of detecting the so-called "voca- t!onal interests of young people, Dr. Harry D. kitson, of Columbia University. has been finding ort whether persons already at worK are really interested in their occu- paions. Now he is able to state that the majority of them are noe.
 Being one of the nations lcad- Ing vocational psychologists, an1 professor of education. Dr. k!t sons task is to study people and their work, to survey the wide vo- cational field, and to help make possible the placing of workers III occupations, from making to trlck-layinG, in which they will be capable and contented.
 As the basis of his test 10 deter mine the extent of dissatisfaction. he chose a trite old controversial question which is asked oftcncr than How old is Ann?" His ques- ton is: What would you do if you had a million dolars?''
 Imagine a scale ranging from zero to 100, in steps of tcn,' sus- sests Dr. Kitson. What point on this scale represents the degree oe interest you have in your occupa- tion - not your present job. bat the occupation itself? In order to arrive at this judgment objcctiv>a- ly, consider as the 100 degree point that activity in which you would spend the major portion Of your time if you had a million dol lars and did not have 10 wori.. Then estimate the distance down the scale which represents your ili- tcrcst in your occupation.'
 There are but four other bits oS Information required by the tes.: vocation, sex, length of time en- gaGcd in occupation, and age at which the decision was made 10 enter this line of work.
 So far, Dr. Kitson has sprung hls questionnaire on thousands of persons. but has arrived at de- mite conclusions only in the gen- cral classficltions of teachers. doctors and nurses. From his .ob- strvations among many other oc- equations, however, he was willing to Generalize thus;
 'fFhCrn is O. qlSsatlstaction in practically every kind of work. I believe that far moro than half of us are dis contentcd, and millions of us bit tcrly so.
 Most People Failures
 Not one person in 20 ever rcni- lzed his childhood ambition except perhaps in the artistic pursuits. Most artists, musicians and actors, for instance, I find have deter mindo on their Tiff c work at an early age. But the vast majority never are able to choose. Circum- stances and environment govern them almost completely. When the time comes for them to go to work they accept the first avail. able opening.
 The result is that not one per son in five is really hapry in his | jcb. Most people, in answering this test I devised indicate a ccr- tain amount of interest in thctr work. but no point below 75 on | the interest scale denotes any real | Contcntmcnt"
 Interest is product of expcti- | encc, psychologists say, and the l professors figures bear them out. elementary school 1 teachers who were interested ;a 1 their work 10 the degree of 13o l had served on an average of u | years; while most of the 70 degree 1 level had serTcd only about three years. Somewhat the same ra,io | even held true with policemen, man of the veterans indicating