Milford chronicle., 1931-10-16
ALL PUPILS
POURED INTO
ONE MOULD
Is Criticism OF DIR. F. B.
Short. High School Needs
Vocational Guidance

Are the youths of today the citi-
zens of tomorrow, being trained to
meet the problems of life? Are our
high schools giving each boy and
girl an equal chance at success?
According to DR.. Francis B. Short,
of Milford, improvements could be
made.
The one great fault with the
schools, says this well-knOwn min
lister, is that they have a standard
lied course for all pupils. These
pupils are poured into the same
mould and the result is that their
individualities are not developed.
No matter what the student wants
to be-farmer, doctor, lawyer, min
lister, financier, engineer, mechanic,
nurse, artist, writer, stenographer,
teacher-he must do the same
work that the rest of his school
mates do.
The only remedy for this is a de-
partment in vocational guidance.
For those. scholars who haven't any
idea of what they want to become
or how to become what they want,
such a department would be like a
life-saver, a line thrown out to one
soon to be dragged under by the
swiftly moving current of life. This
work, says DR.. Short, requires a
humanist rather than a scholastic
professor, a man who, without nee
essarily knowing the child, would
tactfully probe into his inner ma
ture to find what the child liked to
do best of all and what he was fitted
for. Then the man should help set
him one the right track.
To look at the s1bject from a diff
ferent angle, ninety-five per cent OF
the business men of today fail in the
sort of work they do. In most cases
the failure is due to incapacity. The
man may not be industrious and |
that is his own fault. He might, on
the other hand, have no business |
ability or he might not like his job |
and these last two causes may be
blamed on a lack of his education. !
Perhaps he had no training in the |
work he was doing, and even more |
terrible than that, he might never |
have wanted to do that particular
thing. and could not make himself i
like the work. Truly this is the
greatest tragedy of all, for those
whose hearts are not in their work
will never succeed, and those who
had the talent of an artist, and be-
come a farmer have a very slim
chance. Those who are not direct
ed into the right channel are vast
ing their lives in vainly striving to
do something else. While the stu
dent is going to school, he should
learn what work he is best suited
for, and he will like it. That is
where guidance is needed; the
steadying hand of an older, wiser
person should assist youth as it
stumbles toward success.
During high school years the guild
ance is needed most, for not many
students really know what they
want to do and so, are not very
much interested in any subject. Like
q football each who places each
man on the team where he can do
The best, so some one should help
every scholar find the work for
which he is fitted; and as the coach
makes his team practice in their re-
;pectiVe positions, so should every
scholar learn a little about his
work before he must do it. Like
wise, with the same spirit of COM
petition that the players have, he
should get into the game loving it
and experiencing glorious thrill
while nearing his goal. The farther
along he gets, the more opportuni-
les are open to him, and soon he is
1t least, reasonably successful.
! DR.. Short commended the work
lone by Mr.. McGinnis last year in
lelping the Seniors choose their Oc-
:upations. That, he says, was help
ng. them to hit the nail instead of
heir finger. But it would be much
,etter- if they received such help all
he way through high school. How
much easier it would then be when
hey left SCHOOL, After all, life is
game, "a lot of pushing, showing,
all sorts of competition,
nd away to one end of the field is
he goal.
Alice Breme '32