Evening star., 1936-12-13
Choice of Occupation
Again Important
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

undertaken. According to the study of
persons in relation to occupations made
on behalf Of Yale University by Arthur
Beecher Crawford and Stuart Holmes
Clement, this man has made an un-
warranted assumption. No person, it
Is stated, has any niche cut out for him.
He must find his niche and shape it
himself. One cannot be born an UNDER
taker or anything else.
At a period when broadening employ.
ment opportunities are appearing the.
question of choice of occupation becomes
important. During the days of deep
depression there was no question OF
choice. One who had prepared himself
for some profession was glad to obtain
work as taxicab driver or even as a
messenger boy. With the advance Of
recovery there is more chance to pick
and choose.
1t is especially true that a young man
or woman must make his own niche
In the United States. In some countries.
notably England and France, young
people are destined to certain vocations
and trained for them. There are FAM
lilies in France in which the eldest son
has become a notary and advocate for
a dozen generations or more. In Eng
land, son follows father in the legal
profession or in the church. The same
is true In the artisan and laboring
classes In the coal mining regions in
the north of England and in Scotland
the miner takes pride in his vocation
and expects his sons, generation after
generation, to follow into the pits.
A reason for this difference is that
in those older countries opportunity
always has been narrower than in the
United States Here, in anything like
normal times, there are many more op-
portunitieS, many more chances to make
opportunities. Here man may make
an entirely new business for himself
and succeed, where in an older country
the very newness of the innovation
might arouse a prejudice which would
defeat the effort.
Both here and in the older countries,
one encounters innumerable cases OF
the determination of father to compel
his son to follow in his footsteps. Some
times the equal determination OF the
son to take another line results in family
estrangements. That is a favorite
theme for novelists, with the son coming.
home later in triumph to pay OF the
mortgage on the old homestead. The
fact is. however, that this plot is lived
out in everyday life. 1t is an example
of how the prepared niche does not fit,
an example of how the niche must be
shaped by the one filling it.
Nor can the niche be shaped in ad-
vance save in the most rudlmentary
manner. A young man or woman may
decide upon course Of action, career, =.
and discover that circumstances alter
the direction of the plan, not infre-
ouently for the better. Finding an
occupation and making success OF 1t
is an evolution.
A seemingly anomalous fact is that
the profession of teaching Is about the
worst paid in the United States. Edu-
cation is presumed to be the foundation
of advancement, and it might be sup
posed that those who give this founoa-
ton should. themselves, be highly re-
warded. The reverse is true. In several
lists of average earnings in various pro-
fessions. authorities place the teaching
profession at the bottom. Teaching, 1t
seems, is somewhat akin to the ministry
of religion, as it should be. in that many
persons have a sort Of call to teach and
despite low pay are content.
The rewards of business are somewhat
larger than of the professions for college
men and women. A study shows that
at the age of 40 large number OF
canvassed graduates showed an average
annual income of $6,700 from business
occupations, while an average income OF
Sc 200 was shown arising from the prac-
tice of professions.
Within these categories appear some
precedencies which may surprise. For
example, it is not the banker VINO
stands-as some might suppose-at the
head of the list in business 1t Is the
advertising man. And in the profess
sional group it is found that the dentist
outranks in income the civil, electrical
or mechanical engineer.
1t has often been demonstrated In
the field of business that college edu->
cation is not necessary to success, and
vet surveys have revealed that the COLI
lege graduate has a better chance. The
Horatio Alger heroes who have been
foundlings and have won their way up
to success through frightful hardShips
get the more publicity, but the fact IS
that the successes from such starts are
very few compared with the successes
among those who have received some
training.
About the only rule to follow in the
choice of an occupation is interest. II
a person has a keen interest In a sub
ject, an abiding curiosity about every
angle of that subject, the chances are
that entry into a field of endeavor
which in some manner embraces that
subject would result in success. 1t IS
the most complete folly, the experts
will tell you, for youth to pick ouS
what seems to be profitable profession
or line of business and set about pre-
pairing himself for such work. He may
find the preparation extremely dull and
be stimulated only by the promise OF
rich ultimate rewards. He may THINK
of the great bankers Of the world and
study banking, only to learn later that
he would have made greater success
as a veterinary surgeon because OF his
innate interest in animals. There are
men in the banking business who do not
make as much as newsstand tenders.
To persons with precise minds, the
scientific world Is inviting. Most re.
search workers in science do not earn
much money. Indeed. listing Of the
earnings of the professions gives them
a place third from the bottom, only
Just above teachers and preachers. But,
normally, 1t Is found that these men
and women achieve top rank in interest
in their work and rich measure Of