Evening star., 1932-10-02


recognized as a theory, Is still
" family understood as practice.
This is only natural to the prog
ress Of any new idea, because
it is one thing to outline the principles
of vocational guidance and quite an
other and much slower process to work
out their practical application. Conse-
quently. when parents and their chill
dren who have become convinced OF the
value of vocational guidance in theory
wish to take advantage Of it in prac-
tice they rarely know just what to look
for And If they know what to look
for. they have great difficulty In find
ing it, because there are so few inStitu-
tionS or organizations at which COM
prehenSive service in vocational guild
ance is as yet available.
Education in vocations and the pro-
viding OF knowledge about vocationS has
made considerable progress but the
analysis Of the individual and his voca-
tional assets is still conspicuously lack
ing. Prof. Joseph " Hanna of New
York has developed one of the outstand-
ing vocational guidance clinics in the
country and finds from 5 to Is hours
time eSefitial to an adequate vocational
analysis. And Prof Morris Viteles. in
charge of the vocational guidance clinic
at the University of Pennsylvania. finds
five hours the minimum time necessary
in the simpler cases. From S to Is
hours with one individual seems like a
long time to spend. but it is almost
negligible when considered in the light
Of decision which may take from 5
to Is years to work out, which may cost
thousands of dollars for education and
which may even determine the course
Of an entire lifetime
The purpose of this article is TO Illus
trate rather than to discuss vocational
guidance. The illustrations used repre-
sent specific cases as dealt with at the
Psychological Service Center.
The first case Is that of a mother and
her l8-year-old daughter. the mother a
widow: Katherine has not the faintest
idea of what she should do Most OF
her friends are going to college and I
could, with difficulty. send her. However.
she has not been brilliant student, she
has no particular reason for wanting to
go and would not feel justified in sup
porting her through college unless she
and I were both convinced that it was
the best thing to do
Inventory of Personality.
After obtaining a detailed account of
Katherine's educational and social his
tory, the next step was to make thor
personality, traits, aptitudes. interests
and educational achievements. This
was done through series OF psycholog-
ical tests and questionnaires.
BY the Bernreuter scale of measuring
ability Katherine was shown to have
more emotional stability than 60 per
cent of high school girls. more social
aggressivenesS than SIS per cent, and yet
less self-reliance than 83 per cent. She
also proved to be low in scholastic ca
pacity. her probable ability to do well
in English being especially poor and her
aptitude in physics and mathematics
not much better. Over against these low
points. however she showed a chem
istry aptitude greater than that Of 70
per cent of college-entering freshmen
and a marked mechanical ability. In
general clerical aptitude she was also
down. inferior to 81 per cent Of the
clerks on whom the test had been tried
She had absolutely no idea Of what
she wanted to do. but some very def
mite disinclinations against such well
known vocations as Secretarial work
clerical work department store work,
etc Her aversions seemed well founded
Her poor English aptitude and low
clerical rank would have worked against
success in the first two OF these occu-
pations and her lack or self-reliance
would have hindered her in the last.
In other respects her personality was
somewhat better than average, and in
she was tall slender and
quite attractive.
Katherines outstanding performance
was in the chemistry test. and the me-
chanical aptitude test. which requires
the assembling Of various mechanical
objects.
On the basis of these tendencies
coupled with the other factors partly
above. the following possibili
ties we're suggested to her:
l. Dental hygienist. profession for
which includes opportunities in
dental offices, hospitals and business
concerns and collateral work in the
dental profession.
in commercial work
3. Laboratory technician.
Chemistry . Basic Factor.
Chemistry and certain mechanical
facility are the basic factors in all these
pursuits. Katherine chose the first of
these three, entered a large Eastern
which gives two-year
course in dental hygiene, and is just
this course with an excel
lent record and definite enthusiasm
for the work. Incidentally, this was
the first independent decision of conse-
quence which Katherine had ever made,
and was not made until three weeks
after the conclusion of the examination.
katherlne's mother was an aggressive