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CHOOSING A VOCATION
BY
FRANK PARSONS, Pu.D.
LATE DIRECTOR OF THE VOCATION BUREAU AND BREADWINNERS®’ INSTI- 66
TUTE, CIVIC SERVICE HOUSE, BOSTON; AUTHOR OF ‘‘ YOUTH AND THE WORLD,” ‘‘ THE CITY FOR THE PEOPLE,” ETC., ETO.
rstee Press)
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY Che Viterside Press Cambridge 1909
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COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY MEYER BLOOMFIELD
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED >
Published May 1909
DEDICATION
To Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw, the progressive daughter of Agassiz, whose far-sighted and beneficent philanthropy has done so much for the young people of Boston, and indirectly through the spread of her institutions, for young people throughout the country, this book is dedicated in a spirit of reverent affection and respect.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
THE manuscript of this book was practically ready for publication when Professor Parsons died. For a year prior to his death he had given a large part of his time to Vocation Bureau work. Some of the material here used appeared in articles in The Arena, and a number of the “cases” in Part III have been published in the daily papers of Boston and New York. The appearance of these articles brought hundreds of letters of inquiry from all parts of the United States, expressing interest in the effort to give scientific vocational counsel to the young. ‘That Professor Parsons would have carried the plan to a greater completeness had he lived, there is no doubt; but the work that he did do is of such value that it is believed many will be grateful to get such information about it as can be given in this volume.
Whatever doubts there may be of the practicability of giving expert vocational counsel to young men and wo- men, there are certain simple truths upon which the plan is based, and which I believe no one will deny.
1. It is better to choose a vocation than merely to “ hunt a job.”
2. No one should choose a vocation without careful self-analysis, thorough, honest, and under guidance.
3. ‘The youth should have a large survey of the field of vocations, and not simply drop into the convenient or acci- dental position.
4. Expert advice, or the advice of men who have made a careful study of men and of vocations and of the conditions
vill INTRODUCTORY NOTE
of success, must be better and safer for a young man than the absence of it.
5. Putting it down on paper seems to be a simple matter, but it is one of supreme importance in this study. No young man can make the self-analysis which Professor Parsons calls for on paper without gaining a distinct bene- fit, a guide, a rudder, a plan which will reduce very greatly his liability to become a mere piece of driftwood upon the industrial sea.
A thoughtful reading of the “cases” in Part III will give the reader a fair test of the practical application of the plan and its freedom from dogmatism or any undue claim to the word “ scientific.”’ In practical helpfulness to the scores of people who have applied to the Bureau it has established its worth and its sanity; and I am convinced that it will be reproduced in other communities, and eventually, in its fundamental principles, in our educational system itself.
RateH ALBERTSON. Boston, May 1, 1909.
CONTENTS
PART I. THE PERSONAL INVESTIGATION
I. Tae Importance of Screntiric MetHop .. 8
Il. Tue Princietes anp Metuops INVOLVED .
III. CouNnsELorRS AND APPLICANTS. ...... 14 IV. Extenpep Discussion ofr Personat Data. . 26 Weetan Mernop in OuTLINB. ....... 46
PART II. THE INDUSTRIAL INVESTIGATION
VI. Tuer ConpiTions of EFFIcIENCY AND SUCCESS IN
DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES . ... «4. s « 49
VII. Cuassirications oF INDUSTRIES . .... . 65 VIII. Inpustries Open To WomEeN. ..... . 66 wee eee eH. OF STATISTICS. . . « 2. 2. 2 V1
X. Tue MoveMentT OF THE DEMAND FOR WorRKERS 74
XI. Tse GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF WorRKERS' 83
PART III. THE ORGANIZATION AND THE WORK
meeeeuen VOCATION BuRBAU. <« . . . 0 « «. 91 XIII. Tue Scuoout ror VocaTiIoNAL COUNSELORS. . 93 SeEwOr SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS . . « «+. + + « « 96
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PART I
THE PERSONAL INVESTIGATION
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THE IMPORTANCE OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD
No step in life, unless it may be the choice of a husband or wife, is more important than the choice of a vocation. The wise selection of the business, profession, trade, or occu- pation to which one’s life is to be devoted and the develop- ment of full efficiency in the chosen field are matters of the deepest moment to young men and to the public. 'These vital problems should be solved in a careful, scientific way, with due regard to each person’s aptitudes, abilities, ambitions, resources, and limitations, and the relations of these ele- ments to the conditions of success in different industries.
If a boy takes up a line of work to which he is adapted, he will achieve far greater success than if he drifts into an industry for which he is not fitted. An occupation out of harmony with the worker’s aptitudes and capacities means inefficiency, unenthusiastic and perhaps distasteful labor, and low pay; while an occupation in harmony with the nature of the man means enthusiasm, love of work, and high economic values, — superior product, efficient ser- vice, and good pay. If a young man chooses his vocation so that his best abilities and enthusiasms will be united with his daily work, he has laid the foundations of success and happiness. But if his best abilities and enthusiasms are separated from his daily work, or do not find in it fair scope and opportunity for exercise and development; if his occupation is merely a means of making a living, and the work he loves to do is side-tracked into the evening hours, or pushed out of his life altogether, he will be only a fraction of the man he ought to be. Efficiency and success
A CHOOSING A VOCATION
are largely dependent on adaptation. A man would not get good results by using his cow to draw his carriage and his horse for dairy purposes; yet the difference of adapta- bility in that case is no more emphatic than the differences in the aptitudes, capacities, powers, and adaptabilities of human beings.
We guide our boys and girls to some extent through school, then drop them into this complex world to sink or swim as the case may be. Yet there is no part of life where the need for guidance is more emphatic than in the transi- tion from school to work, — the choice of a vocation, ade- quate preparation for it, and the attainment of efficiency and success. The building of a career is quite as difficult, a problem as the building of a house, yet few ever sit down with pencil and paper, with expert information and coun- sel, to plan a working career and deal with the life problem scientifically, as they would deal with the problem of build- ing a house, taking the advice of an architect to help them.
Boys generally drift into some line of work by chance, proximity, or uninformed selection; and the high per- centage of inefficiency and change experienced by many employers in their working force, and the cost it entails in employment expense, waste of training, and low-grade service, are largely due to the haphazard way in which young men and women drift into employments, with little or no regard to adaptability, and without adequate pre- paration, or any definite aim or well-considered plan to insure success.
The aim of this book is to point out practical steps that can be taken to remedy these conditions through expert counsel and guidance, in the selection of a vocation, the preparation for it, and the transition from school to work. No person may decide for another what occupation he should choose, but it is possible to help him so to approach the problem that he shall come to wise conclusions for himself.
II
THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS INVOLVED
In the wise choice of a vocation there are three broad factors: (1) a clear understanding of yourself, your apti- tudes, abilities, interests, ambitions, resources, limitations, and their causes; (2) a knowledge of the requirements and conditions of success, advantages and disadvantages, com- pensation, opportunities, and prospects in different lines of work; (3) true reasoning on the relations of these two groups of facts.
Every young person needs help on all three of these points. He needs all the information and assistance he can get. He needs counsel. He needs a vocational counselor. He needs careful and systematic help by experienced minds in making this greatest decision of his life.
The more light he can bring to bear on the problem from his own observation, reading, and experience, the better it will be for the clearness and strength of the con- clusions arrived at, and the permanent value of the results attained. The first step, therefore, is self-study.
To win the best success of which one is capable, his best abilities and enthusiasms must be united with his daily work. He needs, therefore, to investigate himself in order to determine his capacities, interests, resources, and limi- tations, and their causes, so that he may compare his apti- tudes, abilities, ambitions, etc., with the conditions of suc- cess in different industries.
The schedule of personal data outlined later in these pages may be used as part of the process of self-investiga- tion and self-revelation. The answers the young man or
6 CHOOSING A VOCATION
woman makes to these questions afford much light on the problem under consideration, not only by their direct re- lations to it, but indirectly also; for a careful counselor can read between the lines a great deal about the accuracy, clearness, directness, and definiteness of thought, care, thoroughness, modesty or conceit, mental make-up, and special characteristics of the young man’s character and ability. In addition to the schedule study, the counselor puts whatever questions and makes whatever tests the case may call for, on the general principle already stated.
When I hand this schedule to a young man I talk to him somewhat as follows: —
“‘Some of these questions can be answered very definitely. In respect to others, the character questions for example, you can only make estimates more or less imperfect and subject to re- vision. Some questions you may not be able to answer at all without assistance and careful testing. But do the best you can. Consider every question carefully, try to form a good judgment on it, and state the tests or evidence you rely on in making your judgment. A thorough study of yourself is the foundation of a true plan of life. Deal with the matter as though correct conclu- sions would mean ten thousand dollars to you. A true judgment of yourself may mean more than that. Stand off and look at your- self as though you were another individual. Look yourself in the eye. Compare yourself with others. See if you can remember as much as the best of your companions about a lecture or a play you have heard together, or a passage or book you have both read. Watch the people you admire, note their conduct, conversation, and appearance, and how they differ from people you do not admire. ‘Then see which you resemble most. See if you are as careful, thorough, prompt, reliable, persistent, good-natured, and sympathetic as the best people you know. Get your friends to help you form true judgments about yourself, and, above all things, be on your guard against self-conceit and flattery. Test every element of your character, knowledge, mental power, ap- pearance, manners, etc., as well as you can. And then bring the study to the counselor. He will help you revise it, make further tests, suggest the means of judging questions not yet satisfacto- rily answered, and consider with you the relations between your
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS INVOLVED 7
aptitude, abilities, etc., and the requirements, conditions of suc- cess, advantages and disadvantages, opportunities and prospects in the various callings you might engage in, and also consider the best means of preparation and advancement to secure the full- est efficiency and success in the field of work you may decide upon.”
The study made by the applicant reveals much more to the counselor than is contained in the answers made to schedule points. He can read between the lines important messages as to care, accuracy, memory, clearness and de- finiteness of thought, directness or irrelevancy, conceit or modesty, common sense, etc., which help to indicate the suggestions that ought to be made in the individual case.
Besides this study by the applicant on his own account, the counselor usually questions him at some length in a private interview. Ancestry, family, education, reading, experience, interests, aptitudes, abilities, limitations, re- sources, etc., are inquired into with a vigor and directness that are not possible in a written research. The memory is tested and the general intelligence so far as possible, the senses also and delicacy of touch, nerve, sight, and hearing reactions, association-time, etc., where these facts appear to be important elements in the problem. For example, an artist needs, among other things, good visual memory and delicacy of touch; a dentist should have keen sight, delicate touch, correlation of hand and eye, and plenty of nerve; and if the verbal memory is defective or the auditory reactions are slow, it would probably be dif_i- cult to become a thoroughly expert stenographer. So again, slow sight and hearing reactions would be one indication against the probability of becoming highly expert as a telegrapher or a thoroughly competent chauffeur. The workers in some psychologic laboratories think the tests of reaction-time are liable to too much variation from special causes, difference in the stimulus, attention, emo- tional conditions, etc., to be of much practical value. But
8 CHOOSING A VOCATION
the Yale experiments on sight and hearing reactions seem to afford a clear basis for taking such facts into account in forming a rational judgment, and that is the opinion of a number of investigators of high authority. When the normal reactions, and the extreme reactions under intense stimulation and keen attention, are carefully tested and compared with the average results, the data certainly af- ford some light on the individual’s probable aptitude and capacities. Other things equal, a girl with slow normal hearing reactions could not expect to become so readily and completely proficient in stenography as a girl whose normal reactions are unusually quick. Tests of associa- tion-time, memory-time, will-time, etc., may throw some light on the probability of developing power in cross-ex- amination, executive ability, fitness to manage large affairs, etc. Rapidity and definiteness of memory and association, promptness and clearness of decision, etc., are certainly more favorable than their opposites to the development of the powers just mentioned. Nevertheless, it must not be forgotten that all such indications are only straws, hints to be taken into account with all the other facts of the case. The handicap of slow decision or imperfect memory may be more than overcome by superiority in industry, earnestness, vitality, endurance, common sense, sound judgment, etc.
For the purpose of aiding to get a comprehensive view of the field of opportunity, we have a classified list of more than two hundred ways in which women are earning money, and similar classified lists of industries for men. Another study has been made and is published herewith in regard to the conditions of success in different indus- tries: first, the fundamentals, applicable in large measure to all industries; and second, the special conditions, ap- plicable to particular industries or groups of industries. For example, health, energy, care, enthusiasm, reliability, love of the work, etc., are essential to the best success in any industry; while power of expression with the voice is
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS INVOLVED 9
peculiarly related to success in the ministry, law, and public life; organizing and executive ability, knowledge of human nature and ability to deal with it, power to manage men harmoniously and effectively, are important factors in business affairs of the larger sort; and delicacy of touch, coordination of hand and brain, fine sense of color, form, and proportion, strong memory for combinations of sound, etc., are special elements in artistic and musical success.
Opportunities, specific and general, in different lines of work should be classified with reference to each of the leading industries, and also with regard to the location of industrial centres of various sorts and the geographical distribution of demand. A table has been prepared show- ing all the leading industries in Massachusetts, with their relative development and geographical centres. Similar tables can be made for other states and for the United States. Attention is also given to the relative growth of industries and the movement of demand. For instance, census figures show that the per cent of progress in the printing trade in Massachusetts is four times the per cent of progress for the whole group of manufacturing and me- chanical industries. Again, industrial education is grow- ing very rapidly, and the demand for competent teachers of commercial branches and the mechanic arts, woodwork, machine work, etc., is much greater than the supply. As data develop on these lines, more and more complete and perfect information relating to immediate and specific openings and opportunities for employment, and to the general and permanent demand in different occupations, will be made available. Data in regard to pay, conditions of labor, chances of advancement, etc., should also be col- lected and systematized.
There is possibility here for codperation with employ- ment agencies of the right kind, with very valuable and helpful results.
We have in tabular form the courses given in the lead-
10 CHOOSING A VOCATION
ing vocational schools, and are making simple tables of all the day and evening courses in or near our city that have a vocational bearing, noting the length of each course, its beginning, time per day and week, age and conditions of admission, cost, opportunities of earning money while studying, etc., so that young men and women can see at a glance all the institutions that give such courses as they may desire and the relative advantage as to time, cost, and conditions.
Special effort is made to develop analytic power. The power to see the essential facts and principles in a book or a man or a mass of business data, economic facts, or politi- cal and social affairs, reduce these essentials to their lowest terms and group them in their true relations in brief dia- grams or pictures, is invaluable in any department of life where clear thinking and intellectual grasp are important elements. This analytic power is one of the corner-stones of mastery and achievement. ‘To develop it we give the student class of applicants samples of good analytic work, and ask them to read a good book and analyze it, or make an investigation and reduce the facts to analytic form. After they have had some practice in analysis, we use the following more extensive contract, which calls for a dozen items or such portions of them as the counselor may deem best to ask for.
In reading ........ under agreement with the Vocation Bu- reau dated........ make a page or more of keynotes on the following points, and talk them over with the counselor for the mutual benefit of all concerned.
Put page reference after each point you note.
1. Facts. The half-dozen facts that seem to you most impor- tant.
2. Events. The leading events or landmarks of the book.
3. Principtes. The half-dozen principles you think most vital.
4, Cuaracters. The chief characters (if the book deals with characters) and their most striking characteristics.
5. Ipeas. The most interesting and inspiring ideas.
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS INVOLVED 11
6. Suacestions. The most helpful suggestions and their ap- plication to your life.
7. Beauty, Usr, Humor. Passages that are specially beauti- ful, novel, useful, or humorous.
8. INTERESTS AND Reasons. The things that interest you most of all, and the reasons they interest you.
9. Eruics, Morats. The ethical aspects, or right and wrong of the book and its characters, events, ideas, and principles.
10. Common SEnsE. Criticisms as to purpose, method, make-up, style, etc. What you would say to the author if he asked you (a) how you liked the book, (b) what you liked best, (c) what you did n’t like, and (d) how you think it could be improved.
11. Comparison, Ranx. Comparison of the book with others you have read, and the rank you would give it.
12. Appitications. General utility of the book, — application of its facts, teachings, etc., to individuals, society, govern- ment, industry, civilization, etc.
I find it best to have at least fifteen minutes’ private talk with the applicant before he begins his personal study (and half an hour or an hour is better still, if it can be had), in order to question him about his education, reading, and experience, how he spends his spare time and his money, the nature of his interests and ambitions, and the general outline of his problem. Sometimes the case is pretty clear at the first interview ; sometimes a good deal of study is needed to get the right clue. If the boy is undeveloped and inexperienced and shows no special aptitudes, he is advised to read about various industries in Fowler’s “Starting in Life” and other vocational books, and visit farms, factories, carpenter shops, machine shops, labora- tories, electric works, railroad depots, buildings in course of construction, newspaper offices, photograph studios, courts, banks, stores, ete., talk with the workers and super- intendents, too, if he can, try his hand at different sorts of work on the farm, in the care of animals, in the factory, office, and store, so as to get an experience sufficient to bring out his aptitudes and abilities, if he has any, and to
12 CHOOSING A VOCATION
form a basis for an intelligent judgment as to what he shall try to do in the world.
Breadth is important as well as specialization. A man cannot be fully successful, nor secure against the changes constantly occurring in industry, unless he knows a good deal besides the special knowledge immediately applicable to his business. ‘There is no way in many cases to bring true interests and aptitudes into clear relief, except through variety of experience. An interest in a certain line of work, or the lack of interest, may be the result of knowledge or of ignorance, an indication of power or of weakness. A boy often takes a dislike to his father’s occupation because he sees the inside of it and knows all its “outs,” while he does not know the disadvantages of other occupations in respect to which he is familiar only with the outside. It may be that a wider experience will develop some new in- terest and aptitude, stronger than any that is now in evi- dence. Many boys might be equally successful either in business, or farming, or some mechanical line, or one of the professions. Any honorable work in which there was a fair chance for advancement would interest them after they had passed the initial stages and got sufficient skill and understanding of the calling to work with reasonable facility and certainty. In such cases the choice of an occu- pation is largely the question of opportunity and industrial demand. If the father, or uncle, or any relative or friend has a good business into which the boy can grow with a prospect of adaptation and efficiency, the burden of proof is on the proposition that this foundation should be aban- doned and another building started on a new site. If there are excellent openings in forestry, scientific agriculture, business and office management, skillful art-craft, teach- ing the mechanical arts, etc., such facts must have full weight in cases where outside opportunity, East or West or South, is a determining factor. The question of resources, ability to take expensive courses of instruction and wait
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS INVOLVED 13
long years for remunerative practice or position, is also very important. But the fundamental question that out- ranks all the others is the question of adaptation, — the question of uniting, so far as may be possible, the best abilities and enthusiasms of the developed man with the daily work he has to do.
Kil
COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS
I LIK to begin with a general talk to a class or a club or some other organization or group of students or young people, presenting the matter in some such form as this : —
If you had a million dollars to invest, you would be very care- ful about it; you would study methods of investment, and get ex-’ pert counsel and advice from those familiar with such things, and try to invest your money so it would be safe and would pay you good dividends. Your life is worth more than a million dollars to you. You would not sell it for that. And you are investing it day by day and week by week. Are you studying the different methods of investment open to you, and taking counsel to help you decide just what investment you had better make in order to get the best returns upon your capital ?
The Vocation Bureau has been established to help you in this. One of the most important steps in life is the choice of an occupation. If you take up a line of work to which you are adapted or can adapt yourself, you are likely to be happy and successful. If a man loves his work and can do it well, he has laid the foundation for a useful and happy life. But if his best abilities and enthusiasms do not find scope in his daily work, if his occupation is merely a means of making a living, and the work he loves to do is side-tracked into the evening hours or pushed out of his life altogether, he will be only a fraction of the man he ought to be. Efficiency and success are largely dependent on adaptation. You must learn what you are best adapted to do, and get started in that line.
You may not be able to get into the right line of work at first. You may have to earn your living for a while in any way that is open to you. But if you study yourself and get sufficient know- ledge of various industries to determine what sort of work you are best adapted to, and then carefully prepare yourself for effi-
COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS 15
cient service in that line, the opportunity will come for you to make use of the best that is in you in your daily work.
Lincoln tried farming, lumbering, rail-splitting, and running a flat-boat. He was a teacher, postmaster, captain in the Black Hawk War, storekeeper and surveyor. But whatever he did to earn a living, he was always spending his spare time in reading good books and in telling stories and discussing public questions. He kept studying himself also, and he concluded that his special abilities were his great physical strength and his power to ex- press himself in a forceful and attractive way which made people like to hear him talk. His bodily strength fitted him for such heavy work as blacksmithing, and he debated with himself whether he would learn that trade or the law. It would be com- paratively easy to get a start in blacksmithing, for little capital would be required and he could earn his living probably at once, whereas it would cost much time and money to make himself a good lawyer and get practice enough to support him. While physical power and an easy open way invited him to blacksmith- ing, he knew that his higher powers — his distinguishing traits of mind and character — adapted him to public life and the law, and he obeyed the call in spite of the difficulties in the way. He found friends to help him in his studies and his entrance to civic life and legal practice. He was elected to the legislature of Illi- nois when he was twenty-five years old, and began the practice of law in Springfield when he was twenty-eight.
You know the rest; how he gradually built up a good practice, went to Congress, became a power in his state, and was chosen chief executive of the nation in 1860 at the age of fifty-one. If he had remained a storekeeper, or a surveyor, or a boatman, we probably never would have heard of him. He would have done his work well and made an honest living, and put his spare time into telling stories and discussing public questions with his neigh- bors. His best power and enthusiasm would have been separated from his work. They would have sought an outlet in his leisure hours, while his work would have been simply a means of earn- ing a livelihood. He studied himself to find out and develop his best abilities, and persevered in preparing for and entering upon a field of usefulness in which his highest aptitudes, abilities, and enthusiasms could find full scope and expression and be united with his daily work, and that was one of the fundamental reasons for his great success.
16 CHOOSING A VOCATION
Have you found out in what direction your chief abilities lie, in what line you are best adapted to achieve success, and the methods and principles to be followed in your upward progress? If not, is it not time you began to study yourself and your possi- bilities with a view to making a clear decision and building up a successful career in the calling to which your aptitudes, capaci- ties, interests, and ambitions best adapt you?
Some of the cases that have come before the Bureau are then described, in order to show how the system works, and an invitation is given to any who desire a consultation to make an appointment with the counselor. Sometimes a considerable part of the audience responds to this invi- tation. After a talk to a class of thirty or forty boys, for example, the teacher and all the larger boys made appoint- ments which kept the counselor busy for over two weeks.
Many applicants also come individually in response to the circulars that have been distributed, or press notices that have appeared from time to time.
The first interview with an applicant generally requires from fifteen minutes to an hour. I question him at suffi- cient length to get a general idea of his situation, sometimes asking him to write the answers to the questions in my pres- ence, but more frequently noting the answers myself directly in my Vocation Register, a notebook of convenient size which I can easily carry about with me.
I begin by getting the name and address of the appli- cant, and then ask him to state his problem as briefly and concisely as possible, taking not more than one or two minutes in the recital. ‘This frees his mind at the burning point, and makes him feel that you have got at the kernel of his difficulty at the start, so that he is more ready and will- ing than he otherwise would be to go through a careful questioning about all sorts of details which must follow if the counselor is to gain a thorough understanding of the case.
The sole condition of this interview is that we shall be
COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS 17
perfectly frank with each other. That is the only way in which we can get at the valuable results that are desired.
I use, as a rule, a course of questioning substantially
as follows: —
Age?
Height ?
Weight ?
Health record ? How much time have you lost from illness in the last two years? Five years? Ten years?
What tests of endurance have you undergone ?
How far can you walk?
How much can you lift?
Is your digestion good ?
Are there any hereditary diseases in your family? If so, what?
Where were you born?
What is your father’s business? His father’s business? The business of your mother’s father? Of your uncles on both sides? Of your brothers, if you have any? The extent and importance of the business in each case? What oppor- tunity have you to enter the business in each case? Are you drawn toward your father’s business, your uncle’s, etc., or do you dislike it? Will your father open the way for you to make a success in his line? Same with uncle, brother, etc. ?
Sometimes the family bent toward a given line of work, teaching, for example, or mechanical industry, is so marked as to furnish one indication of the probable direction in which a young man’s aptitudes may be found to lie. Sometimes, also, the opportunity for entering upon the business in which the father or brother or uncle is engaged is so excellent as to furnish a strong reason for carefully considering that course.
These considerations, as a rule, I do not mention at the time, but reserve them until the end of the examination, or such time as I may choose to make suggestions to the applicant in regard to his choice of occupation.
I next question the applicant about his education, read- ing, etc.
4
18 CHOOSING A VOCATION
What schooling have you had?
In what studies did you make the best records?
In*what studies did you make the worst records ?
What studies did you like the best ?
What did you like the least ?
What rank did you take, on the whole, in school or at college?
Did you do your very best with your studies, or was your time and interest largely taken up with other matters, athletics, social affairs, etc. ?
What reading have you done on your own initiative not required in connection with school work? Books, magazines, news- papers?
What are your favorite books of all you have read?
What are your favorite authors?
Have you read any history? If so, what?
Economics ?
Government?
How do you spend your spare time?
Tell me how you spent each evening of last week?
When you have a holiday, what do you do with it?
What is it that interests you most?
If you were at the World’s Fair, what would most attract you?
_ What would you go to see first ?
What are your ambitions?
What man in history, or what living man, would you be like if
you could choose?
Such questions tend to throw light on the aptitudes and interests of the applicant, and also on his weak points and diversions.
Next I question the youth in regard to his experience.
When did you first go to work? At what age?
What did you do first ?
How did you get that work? Did the employer come after you, or did you get the work upon your own personal application, or through the efforts of your parents or friends ?
What pay did you get at the start?
How long did you stay ?
Did you like the work?
Did it meet with the commendation of your employer or
COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS 19
those in authority over you? Or did they find fault with you?
Why did you leave?
What pay were you getting at the end?
What work did you do next? Repeating in regard to this second and all following ex- perience all the questions asked in relation to the first work done, and any others which may be suggested by the circum- stances of the case.
Have you saved your money and invested it? If so, how?
How do you spend your money?
Is there any one dependent upon you for support ?
Do you smoke?
Do you drink ?
By the time this course of questioning is finished the counselor is able, as a rule, to classify the applicant with a reasonable degree of accuracy. The applicants fall into two main classes: First, those having well-developed aptitudes and interests and a practical basis for a reason- able conclusion in respect to the choice of a vocation. Second, boys and girls with so little experience or manifes- tation of special aptitudes or interests that there is no basis yet for a wise decision. The latter are asked to read books and magazine articles about various occupations, and as they read to visit various industrial institutions, watch the men at work, talk with them, ask them how they like their work and their pay and if there is anything they do not like and what it is, if they would advise a young man to enter their line of work or not, and why. The boy is asked in some cases to try his hand at various occupations, — farming, taking care of animals, carpentry, machin- ist’s work, setting type, selling goods, etc., — to broaden and deepen his practical experience, and bring to light and develop any special capacities, aptitudes, interests, and abilities that may lie dormant in him or be readily acquired by him. After some weeks or months of such reading, in- vestigation, and practical self-development, the applicant
20 CHOOSING A VOCATION
may come back and have another interview, when it may be possible to arrive at some definite conclusion as to what line of work it may be best for him to prepare himself for.
In dealing with the first class of applicants it is often possible to make quite definite suggestions even at the first interview, as will be seen by any one who will carefully study the records of actual cases printed in this volume.
With such applicants I generally ask at the close of the questioning above suggested : —
If all the boys in Boston were gathered here together and a naturalist were classifying them as he would classify plants and animals, in what division would you belong?
In what respects, if any, would you excel the mass of young | men, and in what respects, if any, would you be inferior to most ?
Would the classifying scientist put you in the mechanical group or the professional group, the executive group or the laboring group?
Would he class you as artistic, as intellectual, or physical, quick or slow, careful or careless, enthusiastic or unenthu- siastic, effective or ineffective, etc. ?
This focuses the attention of the young man on the characteristics that have been brought out during the interview, and helps him to place himself in the class where he belongs. Then we take the tables that show the conditions of success in different lines of industry, and go over them together in connection with what has been brought out in relation to the young man, to see if any valid conclusions can be drawn as to the true relations be- tween the interests, aptitudes, and ambitions of the appli- cant and the advantages and disadvantages, and the con- ditions of success in different industries.
If the youth already has a good start or an excellent op- portunity in some line of work for which he is reasonably well qualified, the question may come whether it is not bet- ter for him to follow up this opportunity than to go off and
COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS 21
try to build up a career in a new line which, though it may be somewhat more attractive to him, is far less easy of ac- cess and much less certain to produce successful results.
With both classes of applicants it is a common thing for the counselor, after a little questioning, to give the youth one of the Bureau’s sheets of instructions, and a leaflet on personal investigation together with a standard blank book which we buy at the rate of one dollar a hundred, and ask the applicant to make a careful study of himself with the help of his friends, answering in the book so far as possible all the questions in the list, and then come back for another interview.
The case may be so clear that this is not necessary; but where the questions of the counselor do not bring out de- cided aptitudes and abilities or clear indications of wise policy in the choice of an occupation, this fuller study should be made by the applicant, and it is an excellent thing for him to make it in any case, though not by any means essential in all.
While I am questioning the applicant about his prob- able health, education, reading, experience, etc., I carefully observe the shape of his head, the relative development above, before, and behind the ears, his features and ex- pression, color, vivacity, voice, manner, pose, general air of vitality, enthusiasm, etc.
The answers to the questions above suggested and the way in which the answers are given generally afford a good idea of the young man’s mental development; his memory, reason, imagination are practically an open book to one who will question him carefully in detail for half or three quarters of an hour. And his business experience, the attitude of employers toward him and his attitude toward them, his reasons for leaving this, that, and the other place, all afford evidence of his disposition, effi- ciency, and general character.
But special tests may be applied wherever the counselor
92 ~ CHOOSING A VOCATION
may deem it best. For instance, the memory may be tested by reading to the applicant from some book of good English sentences of 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 words, and asking the applicant to repeat the sentence read. He may also be asked to read himself and then repeat or write the sentences. If he can remember only 10 or 12 words cor- rectly, his verbal memory is poor; if he can remember 40 or 50 words, it is pretty good. The readiness and cer- tainty with which he can give dates and details in regard to his business experience and of his past life is in itself an excellent memory test.
Sometimes the counselor may wish to test the nerve and delicacy of touch. One way to do this is to have a series of very small circles a sixteenth or a thirty-second of an inch in diameter, and giving the applicant a fine-pointed pencil, ask him to put a dot precisely in the centre of each little circle and one exactly in the middle between each two circles, and make a certain mark at a given point on each of the circles in the group.
Rapidity can be judged by testing the swiftness of reading and writing and walking, and if a psychologic laboratory or some psychologic apparatus is available, it is easy to apply much more accurate tests through the phenomena of reaction-time, association-time, etc., than are readily available without scientific apparatus.
If the applicant’s head is largely developed behind the ears, with big neck, low forehead, and small upper head, he is probably of an animal type, and if the other symp- toms coincide he should be dealt with on that basis.
If the voice is harsh, or unpleasant, or lacking in vitality, I generally give the youth a lecture on the value of voice culture and the use of clear, sweet, well-modulated tones in conversation.
If the face is blank and expressionless, a talk about the economic value of the smile is in order.
If the handshake is listless or wet, clammy or too force-
COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS 23
ful, it is well to call the young man’s attention to his defects in this respect. So if the manners are in any way objectionable or undeveloped, the boy should be frankly but kindly told and urged to correct his errors.
In other words, the counselor should use the utmost frankness and kindliness in a friendly effort to enable the applicant to see himself exactly as others see him, and correct whatever defects may stand in the way of his ad- vancement.
If the young man has not developed a proper interest in civic affairs, the counselor may try to quicken his develop- ment as a citizen by making suggestions in relation to books that he may read or organizations that he may join in order to bring out that side of his nature. If the young man has any bad habits, the counselor’s questioning in re- lation to how he spends his spare time, how he spends his money, etc., is pretty apt to bring out the facts. And then it is the counselor’s duty, in a mild and kindly but firm and energetic way, to make suggestions that will show the young man clearly the disadvantages of such habits and what will be the outcome if he persists in following them.
The counselor will find it greatly to his advantage if he will commit to memory the series of questions above sug- gested, or their equivalent, so that he can ask them readily without referring to any written or printed memoranda. The spontaneity of the examination is very important in securing the best results. ‘The counselor should also fa- miliarize himself with the specimen cases printed in this book, so that they may be to him what the leading ques- tions in the law become to a first-class judge or lawyer. Every one of our leading questions should be firmly fixed in the memory, so that when a new case occurs analogous to one on record, the latter will immediately come to the mind of the counselor to aid him in classifying the appli- cant and making suggestions that may be most advan- tageous to him. No close adherence to precedent is
24 CHOOSING A VOCATION
urged, of course, but only so clear and thorough a grasp of our leading cases that they may be used to throw con- stant light on the new problems that arise. ‘The counselor should also make a special effort to master and use the concrete form of suggestions. Instead of simply saying to the mistaken would-be doctor: “‘ You would probably be at a great disadvantage in the pursuit of that profession,” say to him, after bringing clearly to his mind the contrast between himself and the ideal doctor, something like this: «“ Do you want to run a race with an iron ball tied around your leg, or would you rather enter a race where you can run free like the rest?’’ So again, instead of saying to a youth: « You have got a pretty good start where you are; | why not stay and develop that?” put the matter in some such form as this: * You have a house half or two thirds built, the walls well wp, almost ready to put the roof on; now as wt wise to leave the building you have so nearly completed and go off to a new location, dig a new cellar and begin building all over again, when you do not know that you will like the new building any better than this one, after you get wt?”
This picture-method of presenting the case never fails to interest the youth, and often proves far more convincing | than any form of direct statement that could be used.
The counselor should gather for himself all possible in- formation in regard to the conditions of success in dif- ferent lines of work and the distribution of demand in different industries, supplementing our tables by original research. He should also have full information in regard to courses of study, so that he can aid the applicant in choosing the best means of preparation for the calling he decides upon. The counselor will do well also to gather biographic data relating to the characteristics of leading men in their youth, and the relation between these youth- ful traits and the development of later life. If possible, a picture of the boy and of the man in his maturity should be
COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS 25
secured to go with each one of these skeleton biographies. Such pictures and materials may be obtained in many cases from leading magazines and other publications, or may be had in response to direct communication with the men whose biographic data are wanted. Such skeleton biographies will be found of the greatest interest to young men and women who are trying to decide upon their life work, and will prove most useful to the counselor in mak- ing up his mind as to the classification of the applicant, his future possibilities, and the suggestions it may be best for the counselor to make to him.
IV
EXTENDED DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA
As I have already said, no general rule can be given that will fit all cases. ‘The method must be varied with the varying personal situations. A fifteen-minute interview will often bring the counselor to a definite opinion as to the ad- vice to be given. In many cases, however, the problem is extremely difficult, and the counselor will wish to go into minute details with the applicant. For this purpose the following form is given at the risk of some repetition. ‘The counselor can seldom take time to go into all this close analysis with the applicant, but the questions should be handed to the applicant, who can take them home and make them the basis of a thorough self-study.
To the applicant for vocational counsel : —
After you have written the answers to the following questions as far as you can, the counselor will meet you to discuss the record and any other questions the counselor may wish to ask, and to consider the problems of vocation, location, preparation, and development that you may desire to deal with, — what occu- pations you are best adapted to, the opportunities for employ- ment in them, and the best means for the preparation and build- ing up of a successful career.
The counselor will also aid you in coming to true conclusions on points of the schedule regarding which self-judgment may be
difficult. But you should first do the best you can by self-exami- * nation, with such help as you may get from your family, friends, teachers, employers, and critics. Ask them to tell you what they think of you in relation to the various elements of manners, mind, character, etc., given below, and assure them that you want to know the truth, because you want to get acquainted with yourself.
If you hide your limitations and defects from yourself, you may
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 27
hinder your advancement quite as much as by neglecting your abilities and opportunities.
All the information and assistance we can give are freely at your service, but the more light you can bring to bear on the problem from your own observation, reading, and experience, the better it will be for the clearness and strength of the conclusions arrived at, and the permanent value of the results attained.
The first step is self-study. To Know Thyself is the funda- mental requisite. Efficiency, success, and happiness depend very largely on adaptation to your work. You have therefore to inves- tigate yourself, with the aid of the counselor and your friends, in order to determine your capacities, interests, resources, and limitations, so that you may compare yourself with the condi- tions of success in different industries.
Perfect truth and frankness with yourself and the counselor are absolutely essential to the best results.
Try to see yourself as others see you, and plan the future with a real knowledge of the nature, resources, and conditions you have to deal with, the purposes you may reasonably hope to ac- complish, and the means by which you can move steadily toward the best success of which you are capable.
Write your answers on ordinary letter sheets 8x10. Use only one side of the paper. Number each answer to correspond with the question.
PERSONAL REcoRD AND SELF-ANALYSIS.
PART I. 1. Name. 2. Address. 3. Where born and brought up. 4. Family you were born in; total number in it. 5. Ages of father and mother. 6. Nationality of father and mother. 7. Number and ages of brothers and sisters. 8. Business or occupation of father, brothers, uncles, and other near relatives. 9. Health of family; sickness record. 10. Do you live with the family? 11. Ancestry—grandfathers, great-grandfathers, etc., nation- ality and residence. 12. Occupation and resources.
26.
27.
CHOOSING A VOCATION
Physique, health, hereditary diseases. Length of life. Characteristics, special traits of body, mind, and character.
. Your age.
. Married or single. Your family if rere . Height and weight.
. Health.
Sickness record.
. How much time have you lost by sickness in the last five
years ? Strength: What tests have you undergone ? What hard work have you done? How much have you lifted ? Endurance: How far have you walked in one _— State
trip ? _ Give distance and number of hours _—_ with it took. dates, Courage: How have you acted when in * danger, or suffering pain, disap- _—as you pointment, or loss ? can.
Compare yourself as to strength, endurance, and courage, with others of your age, and with the best standards you know or have heard of.
. Habits as to fresh air, exercise, bathing, and diet.
Do you sleep with your windows open?
Do you breathe deeply in the fresh air every day? How often do you bathe?
Have you studied physiology and hygiene ?
. Habits as to smoking.
Drinking. Use of drugs. Other forms of dissipation.
. Education and training.
General education. In school, what schools ? Best records in school, prizes. Poorest records, in what? Out of school, by Reading, what, how, results.
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 29
Favorite books. Favorite authors. Teaching Working What have you learned by these means ? Association Industrial education. What courses and when? Manual skill, drawing, use of tools, etc. Sketches from memory (Consult with counselor about filling in this question).
. Experience and present use of time.
Positions held and work done, pay, and length of time in
each case.
Reasons for leaving in each case.
Attitude towards employers — cordial and sympathetic, or not.
Do you watch for the bell to ring and stop as soon as it stops ?
What are the prospects of rising where you are? Are you on friendly terms with your bosses? Have employers said anything in commendation or complaint ?
. Do you realize that wages depend largely on the efficiency
and productive value of the workers ?
. Do you hope to be an employer yourself some day? . By what methods does advancement generally come, accord-
ing to your observation ?
. Through what means do you hope to secure advancement ? . Savings. . How do you spend your money ?
Why have n’t you saved more of your money?
. Most interesting or notable things in your life. . Likes and dislikes, pictures, music, theatre, books, dogs,
horses, athletics, etc.
. Favorite amusements.
. How your evenings are spent.
. How each evening last week was spent.
. Dominant (or ruling) motives and interests.
What do you look for first in the newspape:
What would you buy and do next week if you dollars left you?
Is there anything you would rather have tha
30
73. 74.
75, 76.
79. 80. 81.
82. 83.
84.
85.
86.
CHOOSING A VOCATION
Tf so, what? On what occasions have you put forth your strongest efforts ? For what purposes ?
If you were to visit a great international exhibition like that at St. Louis a few years ago, or the Centennial at Philadel- phia, or the World’s Fair at Chicago, where you could see splendid grounds and buildings, beautiful fountains and electric lighting effects, magnificent collections of manu- factured goods, agricultural, dairy, forestry and mining products from all the leading countries, machinery, paint- ings and sculpture, educational and governmental exhibits, men and women of many nations, wild animals, military and naval disnlays, etc., etc., what would interest you most ?
ou want to see first ? aim your chief attention ? ome second in attractiveness for you? rth? ve least interest for you? wherever you wished, what countries or visit first ? ns for each of the countries or regions you specially wish to see. Ambitions. What would you be and do if you could? If you had Aladdin’s lamp and could have your every wish fulfilled, what would be your first half-dozen wishes ?
Important things you have accomplished.
eat ea ee one If all the boys and girls Distinguishing characteristics, 5 7h ton were io meet to be
aptitudes, capacities, abilities, compared with you, in what and attainments. respects, if any, would you
Limitations and defects to be ©S¢el most of them, and in what would you be inferior
recognized. to ‘maser
Compare your distinguishing abilities and limitations with the conditions of success in different callings, especially in those that lie in the direction of your ambition, as shown by the careers of men and women who have been successful in that line, and of those who have failed in it.
Have you studied the lives of Lincoln, Franklin, Garfield, Garrison, Phillips, Roosevelt, Gladstone, Wanamaker,
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 31
Edison, and others, so as to discover as far as you can the laws of success, — why and how some men succeed, and what are the causes of failure ?
87. Resources.
88. Financial.
89. Relatives.
90. Friends.
91. Organizations you are connected with and how.
92. Organizing ability. Evidence. What organizations have you been instrumental in forming ?
93. Describe briefly what you did, and the results.
94. Environment.
95. What places have you lived in?
96. If towns, or cities, give street and number in each case.
97. Dates also, if possible, or your age, as nearly as you can, in
each place. 98. Describe the neighborhoods of each residence. 99. Trees, grass, flowers, water, scenery ? 100. Class of people you were living among in each case. 101. What did they work at? 102. What were their amusements ?
103. What kind of life did they lead?
104. Did you mingle with them freely ?
105. As one of them ?
106. If not, what were your relations with them and your attitude toward them ?
107. Which, if any, of your residences were your own choice?
108. Reasons for your choice in each case?
109. Who selected the other residences ?
110. Why? 111. What sort of people do you prefer to live with now? 112. Why?
113. What effect do you think your locational environment has had on your ideals and ambitions, habits of thought and action, industrial opportunities and adaptability ?
114. Would your opportunities and chances of suc- __, cess be greater in a smaller place, or in the Sh iar country ? ions you ex-
115. In the West or South? press on,
116. In Europe, Africa, New Zealand, or Australia ? these points.
32 CHOOSING A VOCATION
PART II.
The counselor will help you to reach correct conclusions on these points, but you should first make the best judgments you can by means of self-investigation and the help of your family, friends, teachers, employers, critics, — any one who will tell you what they really think about you. What they say may not be wholly right, — they may make mistakes, or they may be preju- diced in your favor or against you, — but their statements are
valuable evidence to be considered by you in making up your
mind what the truth really is.
Appearance, Manners, Conversation, etc. Figure, slim, medium, thick-set, fat, plump, angular, straight, or crooked, bent, round - shouldered, hollow- chested, bow-legged, or otherwise de- fective. Face, color, outline, features, symmetry, expression. Hair, color, quantity, outline, adapta- tion to face and figure. Dress, colors, fit, style, adaptation. Do you give much attention to dress ? How long does it take you to dress? How much do your clothes cost a year, including hats, shoes, neckties, under- wear, and all apparel ? Do you take expert advice as to color, style, fit, etc. ? Neatness. Are your collars and cuffs Caucasian ? Are you careful to be clean and neat in dress and person? Or do you wear your finger-nails in mourning and your linen overtime ? Postures, sitting and standing. Are they refined, graceful, vigorous, or the contrary? Do you stand straight or stooping ? Do you sit upright, chest out, or loll a limp heap in your chair?
Look in the glass. Watch yourself. Get your friends to look you over
in private and in public, and tell you confidentially what they think of your appearance, manners, voice, etc.
You can do the same for them if they are willing.
Compare yourself in every detail with people you admire and with those you dislike, and stud how to acquire the excellences of the former and avoid the faults of the latter.
Get your family and friends to help you recognize your defects, and tell you every time you fail to come up to the standard you set for yourself.
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 33
Do you carry your chin forward, or your head tilted to one side?
Motions, rapid or slow, graceful or not,
excessive or not.
Smile, frequent, rare, or absent, intermit- tent or perpetual, natural or forced, friendly or supercilious, frank or cor- dial, or cunning and unsympathetic, attractive or repellent.
Do you smile naturally and easily and feel the smile in your heart, or is your face ordinarily expressionless, or tinged with frowns, scowls, sneers, or in any way uninviting or repellent?
‘Do you realize the economic and social value of natural, friendly, cordial smiles, and of merry laughter, not so loud or frequent as to become annoying or monotonous ?
Do you cultivate smiling as one of the winning graces that make life richer ?
And do you cultivate smiles and laughter by right methods, — not mechanically but at the root, by cultivating the merry moods and friendly feelings that naturally express themselves in smiles ?
Handshake, warm and cordial, or wet, clammy, listless, medium pressure, no pressure, or a vice-like grip that makes the indi- vidual regard you as a relic of the Inquisition, hasty, moderate, or long-drawn-out, quiet, or with one or two movements, or with pump-handle motions, more or less numerous and exten-
"sive.
Do you shake hands like a steam engine, or a stick, or an icicle, or like a cordial friend ?
Have you cultivated a handshake that is warm and hearty, and yet not so strong as to be uncomfortable, nor so weak as to seem indifferent ?
Manners, in-general, quiet, noisy, boisterous, deferential or self- assertive, listening politely or interrupting and contradicting. Careful of etiquette at table or not.
Are you thoughtful of the comfort of others?
34 CHOOSING A VOCATION
Are you frank, kindly, cordial, respectful, courteous in word and actions?
Do you love people and show your friendliness in voice and manner ?
Or do you feel and show indifference and dislike?
Do you look people frankly in the eye? Or do you avoid their gaze? If so ask yourself why.
Do you whistle or hum or make little noises with hands or feet, where others may be disturbed thereby ?
Have you any habits little or big that may be disagreeable to others ?
Voice, inflections. — Is your voice soft or loud, clear, smooth, musical, full of vitality; or rough, harsh, unmusical, clouded, husky, nasal, languid, gloomy, discouraged ?
Are you careful about modulation, emphasis, and inflection? .
Do you talk pretty much on one tone or a few tones, or do you watch the tones of speech that please you in others and the emphasis that gives form and color to spoken words, and adopt the best examples for your own use?
Are your inflections natural, cheery, courteous, respectful, modest, musical; or aggressive, discourteous, self-assertive, conceited, affected, unmusical, pessimistic, repellent ?
Have you cultivated your voice ?
Do you take care to pronounce your words clearly and cor- rectly ?
Conversation. — Can you readily enter into conversation with new people?
Are you at ease with them?
Do you try to find out what they would like to talk about and make the conversation agreeable to them, or do you expect them to listen to the things that interest you?
Do you talk a good deal about yourself, your business, your ideas, your ailments, and other accomplishments, or mostly about public questions, or about the weather, the crops and the current scandals, murder trials, ete. ?
Are you a good listener, sympathetic, and really trying to get at the thought of your friend, or do you simply tolerate his talk and spend the time in thinking what you will say when he gets through?
Do you do most of the talking, or do you draw out your com- panions and listen to them most of the time?
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 35
Do you smile when they differ from you and quietly state the facts and reasons for your view, or say you think there is force in what they say and you will think it over; or do you show irritation at their stupidity in disagreeing with you, assert your conclusion and deny theirs with heat, and per- haps call them hard names or slur their intelligence ?
Have you studied conversation as a fine art? Do you prepare for it, —look up or think up and fix freshly in mind some pleasant and interesting things to say when you meet people ? You can put on some good ideas, as well as a good coat and a clean shirt, when you go out to spend the evening.
Personal atmosphere, cheery, animated, vivacious, full of good nature, or solemn, sleepy, indifferent, taciturn, morose.
Mind and sense, powers of attention, observation, mem- ory, reason, imagination, in- ventiveness, thoughtfulness, receptiveness, quickness or
stupidity, analytic power, constructiveness, breadth, _ grasp.
Faculties specially developed. Faculties specially deficient. Form of head.
Sight, normal, near or far, color sense, acute or medium, or color blindness.
Hearing, normal, defective, or acute.
Smell, normal, defective, or acute.
Knowledge
of self, motives, abilities, weaknesses, etc.
of human nature.
of business or industry. of government.
of laws and causes.
of things, cities, countries, ete.
of language. of law. of medicine.
What tests have you undergone?
In school and work and play, have you noted what powers you excel in and what you are deficient in, as compared with your compan- ions ? What light do your records in school and at work throw on the question ?
Have you asked your family, friends, and teachers to help you locate your strong points and your weak ones?
Have you considered how much is due to capacity, and how much to training or the lack of it?
State what means you have used to get a know- ledge of these things.
36 CHOOSING A VOCATION
of science, physiology, hygiene, psy- chology, sociology, ethics, econom- ics, physics, chemistry, metallurgy, Mark the mechanics, agriculture, horticulture, classes of books
Sj]. you are most forestry, entomology, botany, zodl familiar with, and
ogy, biology, geology, astronomy, the best books mathematics, arithmetic, algebra, you have read in
geometry, analytic geometry, descrip- each class you mark. tive geometry, calculus, quaternions, surveying, engineering, architecture.
Mark the sciences you have studied in school with an (S), if in college mark with a (C), and those you have read on your own account mark (R), and give the name of the book and author.
Of history and biography. .
Of literature, fiction, philosophy, essays, humor, nature books, etc.
Skill. What ability have you to put your knowledge in action, to express your ideas through your body?
What training and skill of hand have you in indus-
Skill of try?
the hand. Do you draw, paint, or sculp?
Do you play any instrument? What? Can you read or speak in public?
Public What have you done in this line?
Speaking. Can you act or imitate others ?
What have you done in this direction ?
Singin Do you sing? What part, etc. ?
BIns: Can you impart your knowledge? Can you teach?
Character.
Nothing is more vital than this. Health, ability, and character are the main factors in the best success. High character linked with ability — power and training of mind and body — can accomplish almost anything.
In examining your characteristics and making up your mind what traits should be developed and what repressed or extin- guished, there are some broad tests you can use to great advan- tage. Ask yourself the following questions, and act on the an- swers you get from your conscience and insight: —
(1) “Would I like to have a strong novelist, like Victor Hugo, Walter Scott, Thackeray, Howells, or the author of ‘Sher- lock Holmes,’ describe me just as I am, — acts, words,
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 37
thoughts, motives, turning the light on so the whole world would know the exact truth about me?”
(2) ““What changes would I like to make in the picture?” (3) “Can I not make those changes, or many of them, in the
original ?”’
(4) “‘Am I the kind of man I wish my sister to associate with, become intimate with, and marry? If not, am I fit to associate with her and with my mother and other nice
people?”
(5) “Am I the kind of man I’d like to see the world full of ? If not, what improvements must I put on myself in order to win my own approval, and attain the type of manhood I would be willing to have increase and multiply and
occupy the planet ?”’
You can test yourself in greater detail by putting a cross be- neath each word that is in capitals, in the following list of char- acteristics, which seems to you fairly applicable to yourself.
If you judge yourself to come between the traits named, as if you think you are neither painstaking nor reckless, put your cross mark on the line between the two extremes.
Do not fail to read the side notes carefully, and act on their
suggestions to the best of your ability.
HONEST DISHONEST TRUTHFUL UNTRUTHFUL CANDID DECEITFUL PROMPT DILATORY RELIABLE UNRELIABLE TRUSTWORTHY UNTRUSTWORTHY
In weighing yourself on this count, ask yourself whether you do things that you would consider evidence of dishon- esty or untrustworthiness if others did them; and whether, if you were an em- ployer, you would trust a person who did or said these things with your money, property, or business.
State the facts on which your conclusions are based, especially the facts showing
Do not place too much weight on your estimates of your own character, but do your best.to form true judg- ments by looking at your acts and words and motives and judg- ing them as you would if they were the acts, words, and motives of another person.
After marking the words that seem to ap- ply to you, submit the paper to friends who know you well, to see if they agree with your markings.
Or, better still, ask some of your _ best friends to mark other schedules to represent
38
that you are or have been trusted or have proved yourself worthy of trust.
JUST UNJUST SQUARE UNFAIR HONORABLE DISHONORABLE HIGHMINDED LOW MINDED
Do you act in ways which when adopted by others you regard as taking unfair advantage, acting meanly or dishonor- ably for the sake of money or against justice and right, under the control of low motives or selfish interests ?
CONSCIENTIOUS UNSCRUPULOUS STANDING FOR WILLING TO DO
THE RIGHT AND SAY QUESTION- REGARDLESS ABLE THINGS FOR OF CONSE- MONEY OR POSITION QUENCES OR OTHER ADVAN-
TAGES
Call to mind the specific facts.
When have you sacrificed advantage to right ?
When have you sacrificed right to advan- tage?
CAREFUL CARELESS PAINSTAKING RECKLESS THOROUGH SLIPSHOD EFFICIENT INEFFICIENT
Do you do what you do the very best you possibly can?
Tendency to concentrate on one or a
Tendency to spread attention and effort over a wide
few things. field. Many irons in the fire. INDUSTRIOUS IDLE HARD-WORKING SHIFTLESS PERSISTENT CHANGEFUL STEADY INTERMITTENT
CHOOSING A VOCATION
their estimates of you, and then compare notes.
If two or three of you work on separate pa- pers at the same time, and then see where your markings differ and discuss the reasons frankly, you will get a great deal of light on your virtues and de- fects.
You can simplify the matter somewhat, per- haps, by writing all the good qualities in one long column, and all the undesirable charac- , teristics in a_ parallel column; then putting a cross under each trait you think is yours, or two or more crosses if you have the trait very strongly developed.
You should revise your judgments from time to time with the aid of your friends, and note progress.
Make a list of the shortcomings it seems most important to elim- inate as rapidly as pos- sible, carry the list in your pocket, run over it every day, and note what you have done to get rid of the undesir- able traits and form opposite habits.
New habits will be easily formed if you give constant attention and daily effort to the task.
For instance, suppose you are fighting un- truthfulness, or care- lessness, or bashfulness, or lack of thoughtful- ness and smiling court- esy. Appoint some
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA
ALERT DULL OR ABSENT- MINDED ATTENTIVE INATTENTIVE KEENLY ALIVE APATHETIC QUICK SLOW ACTIVE PASSIVE ENERGETIC WORKING AT LOW PRES- SURE EARNEST INDIFFERENT ENTHUSIASTIC WITHOUT ZEAL OR EN- THUSIASM DEEPLY INTER- NO HEART INTEREST ESTED IN IN WORK. WORKING WHAT YOU ONLY TO MAKE A ARE DOING LIVING.
State the facts on which you base your conclusions, and the reasons you mani- fest traits in the right-hand column if you conclude you have some of these traits.
SELF-RELIANT TIMID, RETIRING
CONFIDENT DISTRUSTFUL OF SELF
WILLING TO INCLINED TO FOLLOW LEAD
ORDERLY
SYSTEMATIC, METHODICAL
39
friend your confessor, and tell him or her every success and every failure, and in your struggles the successes will grow more and more numerous and the failures less frequent, and with earnest per- sistence the failures will vanish and you will have nothing but success to record.
Then you are ready to devote your atten- tion to a new set of shortcomings, and so on until you have rounded out all the weak points in your character.
After a little you can impose a penalty on yourself also, if you choose, for every re- lapse. Human nature is plastic, and we can make ourselves good or bad, beautiful or ugly, admirable or disgust- ing, according to our will and effort.
DISORDERLY OR INDIFFERENT NO ATTENTION TO METHOD,
UNSYSTEMATIC
HABITUALLY PLANNING AND WORKING BY WELL-~ CONSIDERED RULES
WORKING BY GUESS OR HABIT INSTEAD OF A DEFINITE PLAN
Do you plan your work carefully as you would if you were going to build a house? Do you use system and scientific method in
all you do? PROGRESSIVE
UNPROGRESSIVE
FULL OF INITIATIVE AND PUSH NO INITIATIVE — SATISFIED TO GO ALONG IN THE OLD WAY
Are you continually seeking new and better methods, and trying
to improve yourself and your work? OPEN-MINDED TOLERANT
BIGOTED INTOLERANT
40
WILLING TO LISTEN TO THOSE WHO DIFFER FROM YOU, AND TRY TO SEE THE STRENGTH OF THEIR FACTS AND REASONS
CHOOSING A VOCATION |
DOGMATIC, SURE YOU ARE RIGHT. TREATING THE IDEAS OF OTHERS WITH RIDI- CULE, SCORN, OR INDIFFER- ENCE, OR CLOSING THE MIND AGAINST THEM
How do you feel toward people of different creed, or political or economic faith? Do you welcome their thought and try to see if they have not caught some truth which has escaped you, or do you feel sure they are wrong, before you hear them, and either leave them alone with their error or talk with them only for the purpose of convincing them of their mistakes, or of show- ing apparent courtesy though really feeling no interest or wel-
come for their thought?
REASONABLE
OPEN TO SUGGESTION AND CRITICISMS
SENSIBLE
PRACTICAL
SEEING THINGS IN TRUE LIGHT
WELL-BALANCED, POSSESSED OF ‘‘COMMON SENSE” AND ‘* HORSE SENSE”
WIDE-AWAKE SHREWD LONG-HEADED, FORESIGHTED
UNREASONABLE
SELF-OPINIONATED, OBDURATE
FOOLISH
IMPRACTICAL
FANCIFUL, DREAMY, UP IN THE AIR
UNBALANCED, LACKING IN COM- MON SENSE, MAKING FRE- QUENT BLUNDERS, UNABLE TO MAKE THINGS COME OUT AS INTENDED
GREEN
EASILY IMPOSED ON
LACKING IN FORESIGHT AND SHREW DNESS
Think how often you have been imposed upon, and how often things have developed the way you thought they would, and how often not. On foresight is founded our control of the future.
KINDLY SYMPATHETIC
CRUEL, HARSH, INDIFFERENT UNSYMPATHETIC
Do you love animals, children, nature ?
What pets have you had?
How did you make them do as you wished ? What kinds of people do you like? What kinds do you dislike, and how do you treat them ?
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 41
How do you act toward people who abuse you, or say mean things about you?
Ask yourself what you have done that might show kindliness and sympathy, and why you did these things.
HEARTY COLD
CORDIAL INDIFFERENT
AFFECTIONATE UNAFFECTIONATE
LOVING TENDENCY TO HATRED, DISLIKE, ANTAGONISM
DEMONSTRATIVE UNDEMONSTRATIVE
Do you show your good-will and affection, or are you keeping them bottled up for use in some future epoch, or on another planet, or after the funerals of your relatives or friends ?
RESPECTFUL DISRESPECTFUL COURTEOUS DISCOURTEOUS THOUGHTFUL OF OTHERS BOORISH
Or negative in attitude toward others, neither courteous nor discourteous ? Tact. — Can you manage people well? State the evidence.
Can you make people do as you wish by persuasion, or by leading them to adopt the suggestion as their own idea and act on it?
Do you make people feel comfortable and happy when you are with them?
Do they seek your society and seem anxious to have you with them?
If not, what do you think is the reason? Taste. — Do you know a fine picture when you see it?
Are you fond of pictures? Of music? What kinds?
Can you name some of your favorite pictures and pieces of music?
Can you tell an elegantly dressed person from one who is gaudily dressed ?
Can you tell whether a lady’s hair is becomingly put up or not?
Do you constantly ask yourself if your words and conduct are in good taste?
Temper. — Do you get angry easily ? What sort of things make you angry most quickly?
42
CHOOSING A VOCATION
How many times have you been provoked during the
last year?
What were the causes ?
What did you do?
What fights or quarrels have you had in your life and
UNSELFISH UNSOCIAL
why? General disposition and make-up. SELFISH SOCIABLE TALKATIVE
WELL-SPOKEN SELF-POSSESSED, CONFIDENT
MODEST
BOLD COURAGEOUS
GENEROUS FREE-HANDED BENEVOLENT GOOD-NATURED, CHEERY MIRTHFUL, MERRY, JOYOUS, LIGHT-HEARTED
CALM, SERENE
SELF-POISED
DELIBERATE, acting on sober judgment after consultation and reflection
OPTIMISTIC
BUOYANT
HOPEFUL
CONTENTED
TENDENCY TO LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
A SPIRIT OF BROAD HUMANITY
QUIET
GENTLE
REVERENT
DEMOCRATIC
TACITURN
GOSSIPY
SENSITIVE, EASILY EMBAR- RASSED
VAIN AND EGOTISTIC, CONCEITED
BASHFUL
TIMID, SHRINKING, ARDLY
AVARICIOUS
MISERLY
CLOSE-FISTED
ILL-TEMPERED, SOUR, PEEVISH
MELANCHOLY, MOROSE, FRET- FUL, FAULT-FINDING, SAR- CASTIC, BITTER
NERVOUS, EXCITABLE
EXPLOSIVE
HASTY, IMPULSIVE
SELF-
OR COW-
PESSIMISTIC
GLOOMY, FOREBODING
DESPONDENT, DISCOURAGED
DISSATISFIED, ENVIOUS
TENDENCY TO LOOK ON THE DARK SIDE
NARROW, CLANNISH
NOISY
STERN
IRREVERENT
AUTOCRATIC, SNOBBISH, DES- POTIC
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 43
COOPERATIVE COMBATIVE, AGGRESSIVE FINE AND STEADFAST IN UNRELIABLE, CHANGEABLE, FRIENDSHIP TREACHEROUS FRANK, CANDID, OPEN-HEARTED SECRETIVE, CUNNING, UNDER- HANDED TRUSTFUL, FORGIVING JEALOUS, SUSPICIOUS
Will, weak, yielding, vacillating; or firm, strong, self-willed, stubborn ? Judgment. — Are you hasty and impulsive ?
Or have you such mastery of yourself, such self- control, that you are able to act contrary to present inclinations for the sake of future bene- fit ?
This is where foresight, judgment, and will-power unite to form one of the most vital and important elements of a strong charac- ter. ‘To subordinate the present to the future and the lower nature to the higher, to form the habit of giving up a present pleasure for a greater future good, is one of the distinguishing marks of high type manhood and womanhood.
Purity in word, deed, thought.
No answer is asked for here, for one who is impure cannot usually be trusted to tell the truth about it except to his own con- science. But he should never allow himself to forget that as long as he is impure he is living a tainted life, sacrificing his best to his lowest nature, and that there cannot be two standards; if he is acting or thinking in a way he would not wish his sister to think or act, he is not fit to look her or any other good woman in the eye or associate with her.
Temperance in food, drink, work, and amusement ? Humor. — Are you fond of humor? What humorous books have you read ? Can you take a joke on yourself ? Can you make a joke? Do you fix funny incidents and stories in your mem- ; ory, and tell them to your friends ? Good fellowship. Do you like to be with people? And do they like to be with you? Public spirit, patriotism, civic interest. Are you a citizen? If not, have you taken the proper steps to become one?
44 CHOOSING A VOCATION
Do you always vote at primaries? At elections?
What means do you take to find out what men to vote for ?
Do you read more than one paper ?
Do you read any paper that is opposed to your party or political ideas ?
What public questions are you specially interested in?
What have you done that shows your interest in public affairs ? Temperament. — Phlegmatic, buoyant, bilious, emotional. Balance, or relative proportion of physical, mental, and emotional
life and activities.
Reputation. Ideals and theories of life and the world. Friends.
How many intimate friends have you?
Describe the closest.
Are you planning to form further friendships?
With what sort of people? By what means? For what ends? Personality. — Attractive or not, on the whole.
Have you observed why you are drawn to the men and women who attract you most? And examined to what degree you have the same qualities, and to what extent they are offset or nullified by unattractive or repellent qualities ?
V
THE METHOD IN OUTLINE
In brief outline the Method of the Vocation Counselor is as fol- lows: —
I. Personal Data.
A careful statement, on paper, of the principal facts about the person, bringing out particularly every fact that has a bearing on the vocational problem.
II. Self-Analysis.
A self-examination, on paper, done in private, under instructions of the counselor, developing specially every tendency and interest that should affect the choice of a life work.
III. The Person’s own Choice and Decision.
In a great majority of cases this will show itself in a marked degree before the work under I and II is finished. It must always be borne in mind that the choice of a vocation should be made by each person for himself rather than by any one else for him. The counselor can only guide, correct, advise, assist the candidate in making his own final choice.
IV. Counselor’s Analysis.
On the basis of the information obtained under I and II, so far as possible the counselor should test III by making an analysis under each of the following heads, seeking in every line for significance in the line of the main quest: —
1. Heredity and circumstance.
2. Temperament and natural equipment.
8. Face and character.
4. Education and experience.
5. Dominant interests.
V. Outlook on the Vocational Field. One who would be a vocational counselor should
46 CHOOSING A VOCATION
familiarize himself in a high degree with industrial knowledge, and he will need some knowledge, as we have indicated in Part III of this book, that is not at present easily obtained. Investigations to be un- dertaken at once are: —
1. Lists and classifications of industries and voca- tions.
2. The conditions of success in the various voca- tions.
8. General information about industries, up-to- date, the kind that is found in current maga- zines and papers rather than in books.
4. Apprenticeship systems now in practice.
5. Vocational schools and courses available in your city and state.
6. Employment agencies and opportunities.
VI. Induction and Advice.
This calls for clear thinking, logical reasoning, a careful, painstaking weighing of all the evidence, a broad-minded attitude toward the whole problem, tact, sympathy, wisdom.
VII. General Helpfulness in Fitting into the Chosen
Work.
PART IT
THE INDUSTRIAL INVESTIGATION
VI
THE CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY AND SUCCESS IN DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES
Fundamental Requisites and Special Aptitudes, Abilities, Interests, Ambitions, and Traits of Character, in their Relations to Efficient Service and Industrial Success.
I. FUNDAMENTALS, applicable in large measure to all industries :
HEALTH THOROUGHNESS PROMPTNESS RELIABILITY INTEREST ENTHUSIASM SYSTEM ForRESIGHT ENDURANCE PERSISTENCE ComMMON SENSE WiLL PowER ENERGY Honesty Memory JUDGMENT
Analytic method is an important factor, especially in intellectual pursuits, executive functions, and management.
A reasonable degree of codperativeness is also essential to first-class success in nearly all lines of effort, and love of the work necessary to the best and fullest success.
It is true that in some rare cases, like those of Herbert Spencer and Alexander Pope, men may win success by the force of extraordinary genius in spite of ill health or physi- cal disability. But such cases are very unusual, and for all ordinary cases it is substantially true that health is essen- tial to success, and must be cultivated and safeguarded with the greatest care, as a fundamental requisite for bodily or mental achievement and the attainment of success and happiness. Knowledge of and obedience to the laws of health will pay bigger dividends than any other equal investment of time and effort.
It is also true that a certain appearance of success may be obtained without a full equipment of honesty. The
50 CHOOSING A VOCATION
burglar, the maker and vender of quack medicines and adulterated foods, the man engaged in the organized traffic for the manufacture of drunkards, the gambler, the commercial pirate who captures the wealth of others by means of railroad rebates or other unlawful advantages, the political pirate who corrupts our governments for plunder, — such men may secure the sham success, the pretense of prosperity that comes with the mere possession of money; but they cannot attain a real and lasting suc- cess, for that is beyond the reach of dishonesty. The burglar, the grafter, the commercial pirate, and their kind are in partnership with danger. Fear is their constant companion. ‘The consciousness of evil and social disap-_ proval and possible punishment poisons their lives. They are incapable of the free, full, abounding happiness that comes with a life of efficient service in harmony with social well-being. Even where the business of the pirate is partly or wholly within the law, as in case of the licensed saloon, there is no telling how soon the moral sense of the com- munity may subject it to outlawry as well as ostracism. There is no true success, no success worth having, that rests on the dangerous and unstable basis of fraud and wrong. Even John D. Rockefeller, with all his millions, would have been a far happier man with an honest com- petence and the respect of his fellow men, than he can be now with the consciousness of the merited condemnation of all right-thinking people and the persistent hounding of the law that may at last bring him to justice for its violation, and compel him to pass his last days in ignominy and disgrace, if not in actual confinement. It is better to build a small house on the solid rock than to erect a palace on the quicksand.
II. The following particular conditions applicable to special industries or groups of industries are given, not as being comprehensive or necessarily accurate, but as illus- trating the method applicable to any particular case. Some
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY 51
of these special conditions arise simply from the fact that full success in the line indicated demands, in special amount or emphatic degree, one or more of the funda- mentals.
(1) Agriculture, Horticulture, Floriculture, ete.
Knowledge of soil, crops, processes, etc., best obtained by experience, linked with scientific study of the principles of the subject in a good school of agriculture, etc.
Knowledge of the market and adaptation to it.
Possession of a good area.
A good degree of business capacity.
(2) Stock-raising, Dairying, and other Animal Industries. Knowledge of the life and habits of the animals to be dealt with. Sympathy with them and love for them. Knowledge of the market and adaptation to it. Capital, or management, or lease. A good degree of business capacity. (3) Mining, Quarrying, etc. Prospecting: Rugged health. Knowledge of geology, metallurgy, and chemistry. Operating: Scientific knowledge of machinery and processes (or means to hire it). Knowledge of the market. Business ability. (4) Mechanical Trades, Manufacturing and Construction, Transportation, ete. (a) Journeymen:
Skill of hand and eye. Knowledge of the trade.
Care, accuracy, Ability to draw and to work quickness, loyalty, by drawings. hearty obedience to orders.
Making employer’s interest your own.
Working as if the business were yours, or recognizing that in a very important sense it is yours as long as you are putting your life into it and depending on it for livelihood, promotion, and development.
52
CHOOSING A VOCATION
(6) Foremen, Superintendents, etc. : Skill of hand and eye, and all essential qualities of
journeymen.
Making employer’s interest your own, etc. Executive power, system. Ability to get along with men and get the best out of
them.
Knowledge of human nature. Sympathy, appreciation. Firm, kindly, tactful discipline. (c) Owners, Managers, Heads of Departments:
All the qualifications of journeymen and fore- men.
Organizing ability in proportion to the size and weight of the enterprise.
Knowledge of the market and adaptation to it.
Foresight, breadth and clearness of view.
The money sense.
Resources, inventiveness or ability to recognize and adopt new ideas of others.
Tireless planning and effort for improvement and development, to keep abreast of the times, and up
to or ahead of competitors.
; j Aas Inventiveness i Location, capital,advertising, yalyable throug Hioilt te
inventiveness, construc- group, but is not essen-
tive, human, and artistic tial if the ability to re-
et : cognize and adopt new qualities of mind. ideas is persistent.
(5) Commerce: Wholesale and Retail, Buying and Selling.
(a) General sales force:
Knowledge of the goods. Tact and skill in dealing with people. Knowledge of human Absolute reliability both
nature. in relations to employers Care of stock and and customers.
perfect knowledge Attention, care, accuracy,
of its location. quickness, enthusiasm, loy-
A spirit of genuine alty. service.
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY 53
Extending to custom- ers the courtesy, consideration, and helpfulness = you would desire in their place. Pleasant manners, cordial smile, etc. Pleasant voice, well modulated. Good conversational ability. Attractive appearance, neatness, etc. Good disposition, codperative, good team-worker, patience, sympathy, good humor. (6) Floor superintendents, foremen and forewomen, etc. Knowledge of the goods, and all the accomplish- ments of salespeople in larger degree. Executive ability. System. (c) Merchandise people, Buyers and Assistant Buyers, etc. Knowledge of goods to a fine art. Knowledge of market. Judgment, foresight. Energy, push, enterprise, resource, inventiveness. Tact in dealing with people. (d) Owners, Managers, Heads of Departments: Skill of hand and eye. Knowledge of the trade. Care, accuracy, quick- . Ability to draw and to work ness, loyalty, hearty by drawings. obedience to orders. Working as if the business was yours, etc. Executive power, system. Ability to get along with men and to get the best out of them. Knowledge of human nature. Sympathy, appreciation. Firm, kindly, tactful discipline. Organizing ability in proportion to the size and weight of the enterprise. (6) Finance, Banking, Investment, etc. (a) Cashiers, clerks, etc. :
Absolute reliability. High character.
54 CHOOSING A VOCATION
Skill in special work. Prompt, accurate, cheer- ful service. (b) Owners, managers, etc.:
Broad knowledge of business affairs.
Good judgment, caution.
Foresight.
Good business connections.
Reputation for sound judgment, square dealing, honesty, reliability, etc.
Ability to pick out the right men and get good results out of them.
Organizing and executive power.
(7) Agencies, office work, etc. (a) General force: Reliability, skill in special work. Persuasive power, tact in dealing with people. (6) Stenographic Force: Technical skill, knowledge of English, care, accu- racy, common sense. (c) Managers: Executive ability, organizing power, energy, push, enterprise, tact, codperation. Knowledge of the business. Knowledge of human nature. Ability to pick out the right men and get good re- sults from them.
Throughout the Business Groups with which we have been dealing, executive power, organizing ability, system, energy, push, enterprise, inventiveness, resource, know- ledge of business and markets, knowledge of human na- ture and tact in dealing with it, judgment, foresight, the money sense, are all very important factors in achieving the highest success and efficiency in the highest positions.
The contrast in the conditions of attaining high success in professional life and in business is very instructive.
The professional man, as a The business man, as a rule, rule,
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY 55
1. Needs a great deal of Needs comparatively little book
book knowledge. knowledge. 2. Special training in his Must know things, goods, mark- business. ets, processes, etc. 8. And must understand And must understand people. people. But does not need He also needs organizing or executive abil- organizing and executive ability in ity in special measure, large measure, nor the money sense or and the money sense or financial financial judgment. judgment. Nor in most cases does he And the cooperative make-up as need either the codpera- well as the push essential to ag- tive spirit or competitive gressive competition.
push in so high a degree as the business man.
The professional man The business man is an independent individual must build a big machine, includ- power. ing many human beings.
(8) The Professions.
(a) Teaching:
Love of the work, enthusiasm, sympathy with and interest in young people, character that commands respect, knowledge of the subject to be taught; knowledge of human nature; knowledge of method.
Health, endurance, patience, common sense, judg- ment, tact, good nature.
Memory, imagination, inventiveness, humor.
(b) Preaching and the Ministry:
Consecration to high ideals and standards of action.
Capacity for sacrificing the lower to the higher im- pulses and motives.
Admirable character.
Lovable personality.
Sympathy, deep, alive, active, expressing itself in deeds as well as words.
Common sense.
Power of expression.
56 CHOOSING A VOCATION
Knowledge of human nature and life, its joys and sorrows, hopes and fears.
Knowledge of ethical literature, history, government, industry, and science.
Memory, imagination, and humor.
Attractive appearance and address.
Pleasant voice, smile, handshake, etc.
(c) Authorship:
Vital knowledge of important subject or life expe- rience.
Power of expression, skill in marshaling ideas in good order and attractive form.
Style, clearness, force, unity, inventiveness, sym- pathy, humor, earnestness, industry, knowledge of human nature, reputation, position, authority ' in reference to the subject, etc., location, friend- ship, etc.
Timeliness or adaptation to the age and interest of the people.
The news sense.
(d) Journalism:
Head line skill and inventiveness.
Power of expression, style, etc. (See Authorship.)
Common sense, good judgment, enterprise, push, assertiveness, knowledge of the community, poli- tics, business, public men, history, etc.
Business Management.
(e) Medicine, Surgery, Dentistry:
Skill in diagnosis, which depends on knowledge of the body, symptoms, diseases, ete.
Powers of observation and analysis.
Constructive reasoning, or putting all the facts together to make a valid working hypothesis or rational conclusion on the whole case.
Skill in treatment, delicate adaptation to the indi- vidual case.
Caution, resource, knowledge of remedies.
Memory — volumes of facts. Nerve.
Sympathy. Eyesight.
Pleasing address. Mechanical ability.
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY 57
Attractive personality. Inventiveness. Fine Character. Health. Love of the work. Resources to buy a practice or live while building one.
(7) Engineering: High scientific ability, mathematical, mechanical, analytic, constructive. Years of special scientific training. Organizing power. Ability to manage men.
(g) Architecture:
Constructive mind, inventive and adaptive power.
Sense of harmony and proportion.
Imagination and artistic bent.
Knowledge of principles and history of architecture.
Technical skill.
Travel and visual acquaintance with best examples of architecture in various cities and countries.
Wide culture, to develop power to express the best spirit of the time in architectural form.
(h) The Law: Understanding of human character and motives. Ability to deal with and influence men. Power of expression. Power of observation. Power of memory. Power of reason. Power of imagination. Common sense, clear thought, and forceful argument.
Integrity, reliability.
Humor, sympathy, kindliness, courtesy, combative- ness, persistence, indomitable will, resourceful- ness, inventiveness, knowledge of law, knowledge of business and industry, knowledge of history, science, literature, art.
Location.
Connections.
Resources.
Good appearance and address.
58 CHOOSING A VOCATION
(7) Statesmanship:
All the requirements for success in the law.
A knowledge of statecraft, diplomacy, political his- tory and machinery, public men, public questions, the principal movements of the time, and inter- state and international relations, etc.
Knowledge of men.
Memory for names and faces.
Organizing and executive power.
Constructive mind.
Codperative make-up.
Organizing and directing ability of the highest type.
Commanding character and attainments.
Tact, courtesy, attractive personality.
(9) Semi-Professional Work:
(a) Politics, Legislature, Council, Elective Office.
Distinguished service or ability.
Identification with wealth or representative of a popular cause.
Influential friends.
Oratorical power.
Interest in public affairs.
Effective pushing of some important movement.
Readiness to render small services.
Good fellowship.
Memory of names and faces.
Wide acquaintance.
Common sense.
Humor.
Attractive personality.
Fine appearance and address.
(b) Lecturing, public platform work.
Personality. — Distinguished service, fame, person people wish to see and hear on account of what he has done.
Popular cause or movement. — Vital knowledge of important subject. Attractive method of presen- tation.
Style. — Simple, clear, forceful, rapid movement,
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY 59
humor, appeal to the ideas and emotions of the average mind of the audiences.
Oratory. — Oratorical power, voice modulation, times of speech, vitality, earnestness, use of pause, gesture, facial expression, etc.
Novelty — advertising.
(c) Secretarial work:
Skill in correspondence.
Reliability, courtesy.
Care, accuracy.
Trustworthiness.
Knowledge of analytic method and research.
Knowledge of business, economics, public questions, etc., is also necessary in many cases, especially in employment by associations, corporations, trade unions, civic organizations, or leading men of affairs.
Organizing ability is frequently called for.
Tact, energy, push, and common sense.
(10) Artistic employments: (a) Illustrating: Technical skill. Imagination. Wide culture to give understanding and wealth of material. Common sense and judgment in choice of subject. Appreciation of reader’s standpoint. (6) Cartoon work: Technical skill and training. Knowledge of political affairs and current events. Imagination. Inventiveness. Humor. (c) Engraving: Long and untiring practice. Delicacy of touch, with firmness and certainty. Extraordinary skill of hand and eye. Perfection of nerve tone and control. (d) Photography: Ability to choose the best pose.
60
CHOOSING A VOCATION
Tact to get the “patient” in good humor, and bring out the best expression.
Skill to squeeze the bulb at the psychologic mo- ment.
Artistic sense of form proportion, light and shade.
Technique.
Courtesy.
(e) Painting:
Artistic temperament, passion for form and color.
Color sense, form proportion.
Ability to choose an artistic subject, a subject worthy of the skill of an artist.
Knowledge of composition.
Technical skill with the brush.
(f) Sculpture:
Form, idealism, technique.
Artistic temperament, passion for form and its expression.
Fine sense of form and proportion.
Power to symbolize life, motion, and emotion in form.
Mastery of technique.
(g) Landscape gardening:
Sense of form and color and proportion.
Ability to make pictures on a large scale, not on canvas, with real trees and grass, buildings, fountains, lakes, and sky.
Artistic sense, and a brain full of images of beauti- ful scenes.
Imagination, technique, experience.
(hk) Music: Vocal: Artistic temperament, natural gifts, musical memory. Persistent culture. Modulation and expression. Good appearance. Instrumental : Artistic temperament. Natural gifts — musical memory.
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY 61
Persistent culture.
Modulation of expression.
Good appearance.
Manual skill.
Composition :
Artistic temperament.
Natural gifts.
Musical memory.
Inventiveness.
Imagination.
Ability by natural training to express emotion in harmonious combination of sound.
Study of best music, methods of composition, etc.
(t) Acting:
The artistic temperament.
Emotional nature, and a passion for expression by voice and movement.
Naturalness, repose, control, ability to express without over-expression, or excitement that tears the passion to tatters.
Memory, confidence, tireless industry.
Health and strength to stand the tremendous strain of rehearsals and continuous performances.
Fine appearance.
Opportunity.
(7) Elocution:
Training and technique.
Good voice, musical, full of life, well trained.
Judgment in choice of selections interesting to audience.
Modulation, expression, sympathy, personal power.
Attractive appearance and personality.
(11) Public service:
Post Office — Memory, geography, ability to decipher handwriting.
Police — Courage, strength, knowledge of human nature.
Fire Department — Quickness, fearlessness, agility, etc.
Army and Navy — Physical tests, obedience, etc.
Government Clerks — Accuracy, mathematics, special training.
62 CHOOSING A VOCATION
Consular Service — Languages, law, love of travel, etc. Diplomacy, Ambassadors, etc. — Legal training, lan- guages, etc.
(12) Social Work:
Love of the service, enthusiasm, character commanding respect.
Power of expression.
Organizing ability.
Understanding of the people among whom the work is to be done.
Knowledge of human nature in general.
Knowledge of society, government, industry.
Sympathy, tact, humor, codperation.
Patience, kindliness, high ideals.
Good general education.
Special training in social problems, organizations, re- search, etc.
Attractive personality.
EFFICIENCY RECORDS
Employers of labor are becoming more scientific in their methods of judging the people who work for them. Snap judgments and guesswork are becoming a thing of the past. As indicating this tendency, I have secured permission to present here in part the schedules used in a certain large department store. There are three sets of record forms: one for executives, one for salespeople, and one for all other positions. ‘The record for executives is varied by specific tests for the different classes of executives. Its general terms are as follows: —
NAME I, PerRsonat DATA Date Entered Positions Held Previous Experience Education II. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Merits Date Date Date Date Date Date Date Rating by the Manager
Character 100 Health 100 Intelligence 100 Capacity for Learning 100
Every employee must stand at not less than 75% in each of these points. A health rating of 50%, if temporary, may be allowed.
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY
III. Resvutts
Rating by Head of Department
In Work Merits Date Work Well Organized 24 Work Done Promptly 24
Work Done Thoroughly 24 Proper Control of Expense 24
In Handling Employees Merits
Satisfactory Results from Subor- nates Satisfactory Relations with Subordi- nates 24
Subordinates Developing Efficiency a 2
Training an Understudy
In Executive Qualities Initiative Doing it without being told to. Jumping over red tape for results. Going ahead without waiting for the other fellow.
Responsibility Faithfulness, regularity, punctual- ity, accuracy, balanced, safe judgment. 20
Concentration Getting the thing done. No side tracks. Sticking to it. Capacity for work. Persistence. Will Power. Does he hit the nail on the head until it is driven. 20
Progressiveness Is he growing? Does he study? Open-minded? Is he devoted to things as they are or to things as they ought to be? 20
Knowledge Broad acquaintance among people. Human nature. His job. Our sys- tem. Other stores. Successful men and methods. Books.
Total
63
Date Date Date
Date Date Date Date Date Date
No rating carrying less than 200 merits is passable. Temporary allowance may
be made for merits under IV.
IV. OvurniooK ror Futurr Resvuuts
Merits assigned by Superintendent
Studies 24 Personal Sacrifices for Success 24 Temporary Handicaps 48 Intelligent Ambition 10 Sane Enthusiasm 10 Courage 10 Energy 10 Suggestions 5 Helpfulness to others 5 Total
The limit of merits allowable to each item is indicated in first column.
Rating marks indicate as follows : —
64 CHOOSING A VOCATION
(best) 100%; B (good) 75%; C (medium) 50%; D (poor) 25%; E 0%. Percentage ratings may be used to indicate finer dis- tinctions. The record for salespeople in addition to I and II above, is as follows : —
III. Specran QUALIFICATIONS Merits Date Date Date Date Date Rating by Superintendent Salesmanship Training 100 Manners 100 Voice 100 Physique 100 Dress 100 English 100 Speed 100 Accuracy 100 Energy 100 Taste (Buyer) 100 Love for the Work 100 Capacity for Work 100 Average
Every salesperson must have an average of at least 50% in Special Qualifi- cations.
IV. Resvutts Rating by Floor Manager Filling Quotas 20 Average Rating 20 Service to Customers 16 Selling Profitable Merchandise 12 Merchandise Calls 10 Travelers 4 Stock Keeper 8 Stock Display (Buyer) 4 Punctual 2 Regular : pe Cheerful Compliance with Orders 2
Total No rating of less than 75% in Results is passable, unless offset by mz or v. All over 75% average under 1, and all merits under v, may be temporarily added to the total under rv.
V. OurTLook For Fururr® Resu.ts Merits assigned by Head Floor Manager
Studies
Personal Sacrifices for Success Temporary Handicaps Questions about Goods
Sales Class Work Suggestions
Helpfulness to Others Executive Qualities
— OWWanS Odor
j=
100
The limit of Merits allowable Spa item is shown in first column.
The record for persons in non-executive and non-sell- ing positions is similar in general terms to the foregoing, and is varied for the different positions according to the judgment of the superintendent.
Vil
CLASSIFICATIONS OF INDUSTRIES
Eac8 vocational counselor should make a thorough and detailed classification of the vocations. As no such list of vocations can be permanent, and as any list will prob- ably be incomplete, I shall not attempt to present one here. On broad lines I would group the different industrial pur- suits as follows : —
. Agencies and Office Work.
. Agricultural.
. Artistic.
. Commercial.
. Domestic and Personal Service.
. Fishing.
. Manufacturing.
- Mechanical, Building, and Construction. . Professional and Semi-professional. 10. ‘Transportation.
11. Miscellaneous Industries.
© CO kD OS OO DO
One of the first tasks for a vocational counselor is the making of as complete a list under each one of these head- ings as possible.
One of the most serious limitations under which young people unconsciously live is their lack of an outlook upon the industrial world. It is of first importance that the appli- cant should know as much about the various fields of in- dustrial pursuit as possible, and the first step is that he be given a comprehensive view of the field itself.
Vill
INDUSTRIES OPEN TO WOMEN
FoLLowInc is a list of women’s ways of earning money, at home and away from home, indoors and out of doors, skilled and unskilled. It is not exhaustive, and is given here for its suggestive value only.
Plant Culture Growing flowers — floriculture rs fruits
plants, vines, etc., to sell
trees — horticulture
vegetables — market- gardening
mushrooms
seeds, bulbs, etc., for market
Tending other peoples’ flowers at home or at their homes — flower doctor
Collecting flowers, making herbariums, etc.
Food Products Putting up fruits, jellies, pickles, etc. Making butter, cheese, etc.
4 bread, pies, cakes candies, popcorn Preparing stuffed prunes
: salted almonds seeded raisins
«é
“é
Animals Raising chickens, eggs, etc. Keeping bees and selling honey ** silk worms Dairy work
Raising cows The better they
“ horses. ate bred, etc., the more they are trained, the
ty sheep higher the
“dogs price they will
- sell for.
cats us rabbits ix birds
Caring for other peoples’ ani- mals, — pet cats, dogs, etc.
Collecting butterflies to sell
Care, training, and exhibition of wild animals.
Textile Work
Plain sewing
Mending — darning for laun- dries, ete. Making buttonholes ‘** clothing for stores and factories aprons, neckwear,
«6
INDUSTRIES OPEN TO WOMEN 67
Cooking and selling meats, in slices or sand- wiches, etc.
vegetables, etc., ready for the table
Putting up box lunches to sell to passengers on trains, or for clerks and work- ers in stores and facto- ries
Getting up light lunches for parties
Catering for clubs, etc.
66
Board and Lodging Keeping boarders Renting rooms
Miscellaneous Home Manufac- tures
Making tops “* pincushions “baskets
leather goods
chairs
picture frames
perfumery
Artificial flowers
Bead ornaments, purses, etc.
Boxes
Belts, etc.
Upholstery
Domestic Service Cooks Waitresses Chambermaids Laundry girls All-round servants Housekeepers Companions
wash rags, laundry bags, show bags, etc. Making infant booties, sacques and underwear tidies and sofa cushions patchwork quilts rag carpets, rugs, etc. rag dolls cloth animals, Teddy bears, elephants, dogs, etc. Battenberg doilies and centrepieces Knitted and crocheted slippers, shawls, scarfs, mittens, wristlets, heavy socks, ete. Lace - making, handkerchiefs, etc. Embroidery, collars, cuffs, ete. Making tapestries Dressmaking
Millinery
Store Work Salesgirls Bundlegirls Cash girls Bookkeepers, and other office
girls
Serving girls, repairers, etc. Models, guides, ete. Floor superintendents Window dressers Stock girls Buyers and assistants Managers Welfare work
Factory and Shop Work Shoe factories Cotton and woolen mills
68
Hotel and Restaurant Cooks Waitresses Chambermaids Laundry girls Office girls “The pleasant boarder”’ Housekeepers
General Work Washing and ironing Scrubbing Dusting carpets House cleaning
Independent Commercial Call-
ings, ete. Storekeeping Running employment office ““ _ typewriting office
Dressmaking
Millinery
Hairdressing
Chiropody
Manicuring
Massage
Cleaning gloves, ribbons, ete.
Keeping clothing or apartments in order for bachelors, or fami- lies who wish such service
Packing trunks for guests at hotels, etc.
Emergency maid
Chaperoning
“Children’s Club” work — playing with little children to relieve their mothers some hours a day
Matrons of Homes and Institu- tions
CHOOSING A VOCATION
Box factories Canning “ Clothing “ Laundries Typesetting Printing Proofreading Bookbinding Etc., etc.
Office Work Stenography and typewriting Bookkeeping Telegraphy Telephone service
Agencies, etc.
Selling books — Canvassing ** bonds and stocks
goods on commission
Demonstrating
Advertising
Life Insurance
Real estate
Officers of trade unions and other organizations having paid officials
6é
INDUSTRIES OPEN TO WOMEN 69
Professional and Semi-Projfessional Teaching in general Kindergartens Governess Public Schools Academies Colleges Special - § Vocal has Instrumental Dancing Calisthenics Means of health and beauty } ‘? 8YMNastuln suit or private classes Teaching by correspondence Authorship — Writing books, magazine articles, etc., science, art, poetry, fiction Journalism — Writing stories, etc., for newspapers Writing Advertisements
Interpreting
Translating
Lecturing
Elocution Ministry
Drawing Mission Service
Painting Medicine
Sloyd Nursing
Modeling Dentistry
Sculpture Law
Domestic Science Library work
Dressmaking Private Secretaryship
Plain sewing and fancy Traveler’s guide
Millinery Manager or Director of gym- Cooking teacher nasium or other institution Salesmanship teacher Reading, singing, acting, etc. Ktc., etc. (see next division)
Artiste Occupations Illustrating Photography Drawing patterns for embroid- Retouching negatives ery, etc. Coloring photos
70 CHOOSING A VOCATION
Making designs for tiles, wall papers, carpets, etc. Painting china Landscape work Portraiture Arranging flowers for entertainments Window decorating
Singing A ones Whistling Private’ Dancing Entertainment. Acting
Acrobatic exhibitions
Posing
Civil Service Post office Customs house Factory inspection Government clerks, etc.
Enlarging photos in crayon, In- dia ink, etc.
Making articles of carved wood or burned wood, ete.
Sculpture
Architecture
House decorating
Landscape gardening
Beauty culture
Conducting orchestra
Playing the piano, violin, and other musical instruments
Exhibitions of magic
Social Work
In College settlements
“* Charity organizations, etc.
Club work
Class work
Investigation, education, visita- tion — ministering to the civic and social life and economic development of the less for- tunate, and enlightening, ed- ucating, organizing, and as- sisting the more fortunate in respect to their relations to the first group
Welfare work (see also store work)
Organizing codperative enter- prises and associations for mutual help, and civic and social betterment.
IX
THE USE OF STATISTICS
THE vocational counselor should be a careful student of industrial history and industrial geography. He should know how not merely to get the statistics, but how to use them. We have prepared and found useful a number of schedules throwing light on our problems in Massachu- setts.
1.
A list of the workers in the different industries per thousand of population (ten years of age, and over), in the chief cities of Massachusetts in 1900. (Information can be obtained from the special report on occupations, Twelfth Census, Table 42, page 428, etc.)
. Capital invested in the various industries in Massachusetts,
showing the number of establishments, number of workers, capital per employee, salaries paid managers and high offi- cials, ete. (Information from U.S. Census, 1905, Manufac- tures, Part II, Table xix; and 1902, Mines and Quarries, page 234, etc.)
. Table on earnings, also taken from the United States Cen-
sus Report, shows for each industry the total amount af wages paid, the average number of workers, and the average paid by the day.
. Table showing the sex, color, and nativity of persons en-
gaged in various occupations in the ten largest cities of Massachusetts.
. Table showing the movement of demand from 1860 to
1900 in each of 199 vocations.
. Table showing the movement of demand for females, giving
the number of females engaged in different industries in 1870, 1880, and 1900.
. Table showing the death rate per thousand workers in 150
occupations in Massachusetts.
12 CHOOSING A VOCATION
A few of the facts brought out in these tables may be of interest. For instance, the increase in the number of persons engaged in agencies and office work has been fifty per cent since 1860, while the population has only a little more than doubled itself, and there are thirty-two times as many women thus occupied as there were in 1870. At present there are twice as many men as women thus engaged.
In agriculture the figures of 1900 show a decrease of over one thousand persons since 1860. There were, how- ever, ten times as many women in this work in 1900 as in 1870.
In domestic and personal service there were three times as many people employed in 1900 as in 1870, with only — twice as many women.
The proportion of persons engaged in fishing remains about the same. The 1900 Census gives forty-four wo- men so engaged.
In manufacture of food products, the proportion of workers increases slightly over the increase in population. The number of women engaged in this industry increased twenty times in thirty years, although men still greatly outnumber women in this field.
In the leather and shoe group of industries the propor- tionate number of workers has not kept up with the in- crease in population.
The operatives engaged in the different textile factories were not half as many more in 1900 as in 1870, although the population has almost doubled itself in that time. Even the number of women in this industry did not keep pace proportionately with the population.
In the professional and semi-professional group there were about five times as many persons in 1900 as in 1860. And here again women have increased their numbers in the largest ratio.
Turning to the question of earnings, we find that on the
THE USE OF STATISTICS 73
average in manufactures the highest wages are paid to those who are in the trades in which the trade unions have been most active.
Malt and distilled liquor workers average “ 90 a day.
‘Tobacco workers 2.10 Printers and bookbinders et es tthe The lowest earnings are to be found in
Confectionary trades.................... ee 04 a day. Broom and brush-makers................ 1.07 Paper-box makers...........-.......0+% Ligases Knitting mill operatives .......-....-... LilGhia ee BEMETEODETALIVES 2. sc faeces eee vcs 1 BES te te Cotton goods operatives................. A Fe
Coming to the question of salaries, we find the highest average salaries also in the
Malt and Distilled liquor business.......... $1933.33 Barer and paper POOdS 2.0... ce eee ces 1777.46 MUNNAR VOPIETS 0 oc ks dsc ced cle ces estes 1771.39 or EASES BPE A SR Bae Bnei a far 1767.70 ERTEELNILGTY a UP iin a gs ik Cos a kd cee 1770.70
The United States Census of 1900 does not state the earnings in many of the fields of industrial life. The prac- tice of the various state statistical bureaus varies in this regard. If the vocational counselor cannot find the in- formation that he wants from any of these sources, he can easily get a basis for a safe induction by selecting a group of individuals in any industry and getting his facts from them.
xX
THE MOVEMENT OF THE DEMAND FOR WORKERS IN THE DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES
(Unirep Sratss, 1870-1900")
In considering the movement of demand, two things are of importance. First, by finding the increase or decrease in number of persons gainfully employed during the past ten, twenty, thirty, or fifty years, to discover the increase or decrease in the demand for workers in the different occupations during that time. Second, by reckoning the increase in proportion to population, to find whether this demand has grown with the population or fallen behind it.
To illustrate, the following table has been prepared. This shows that though the number of persons employed in agriculture has almost doubled since 1870, the num- ber in proportion to population (the number per thousand) is less now than then; while all the other classes have grown, not only in actual numbers, but also in proportion to the total population.
General figures such as these, however, are of less value to one choosing a vocation than figures ré...ting to specific occupations. We find, from the table given, that in 1900 about sixteen out of every thousand persons in the United States were engaged in Professional Service, while only about twelve in every thousand were thus engaged in 1870. But of more practical value is the knowledge of the de- tails of the movement of demand, such as the fact that
1 ‘The figures given in the following pages for the United States apply
to “Continental United States only.” ‘The figures given for 1870, 1880, 1890, and 1900 include all persons ten years of age and over.
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76 CHOOSING A VOCATION
between 1870 and 1900 the number of dentists increased almost fourfold, the number of “engineers (civil, etc.) and surveyors” and the number of journalists almost sixfold, the number of literary and scientific persons tenfold, while the demand for physicians and surgeons, lawyers and clergymen, though it had doubled during that time, va- ried little in proportion to the growth of population.
Often a general class of occupations will grow greatly while certain occupations included under it decline, or the reverse may occur. Thus Trade and Transportation has grown more rapidly than any other class, employing in 1900 sixty-two out of every thousand persons, whereas in 1870 it employed but thirty-seven. ‘The number of boat- men and sailors, however, under ‘Trade and ‘Transporta- | tion has fallen from 105,072 in 1850 to 78,406 in 1900.2 On the other hand, though Agriculture employed eighteen less per thousand in 1900 than in 1870, the number of stock raisers, herders and drovers (included under it) increased from 15,359 in 1870 to 84,988 in 1900, showing an increase of threefold in proportion to population.
One of the most interesting features in the growth of industries is the increasing number of women employed. In 1850 no women were entered in the occupation returns of the United States Census. In 1870, 1,836,288 out of 12,505,923 persons, and in 1900, 5,319,397 out of the 29,073,233 persons gainfully employed, were women.
Some occupations in which there was an increase in the per cent of women employed and a corresponding de- crease in the per cent of men employed are as follows : —
The percentage of women teachers to the total number of teachers rose from 67.6 in 1880 to 73.3 in 1900.
The percentage of women “musicians and teachers of music” rose from 43 in 1880 to 56.4 in 1900.
1 This fact becomes more significant when we discover that in 1850 only free males, fifteen years of age and over, were included in the occu- pation returns, while in 1870, 1880, 1890, and 1900 all persons ten years of age and over were included.
DEMAND FOR WORKERS (i
The percentage of women employed as government officials from 3.1 in 1880 to 9.4 in 1900.
The percentage of women “artists and teachers of art” from 22.5 to 43.8.
The percentage of women employed in “literary and scientific pursuits” from 11.9 to 31.8.
The only occupation in 1900 in the professional class in which there was not an increase in the per cent of women employed, was that of “actors, professional show- men, etc.,” in which the increase in the per cent of men employed was from 72.5 in 1880 to 79.1 in 1900.
“In the cases of architects, clergymen, dentists, lawyers, and physicians and surgeons, the percentages of women in 1900 were small, but showed a marked advance as com- pared with the 1880 percentages.” *
For further changes in the per cent of men and women employed in the different occupations, see the United States Census for 1900, volume on Occupations, Table xivim and pages cxxxvil to cxxxix.
Two tables are appended to this chapter; one (Table 11) giving the twenty occupations which in 1900 employed the greatest number of persons of both sexes, the twenty occupations employing the greatest number of men, and the twenty employing the greatest number of women. The other table (Table mr) gives the occupations in which the total number of persons has increased most, and the occupations in which the number of women employed has increased most.
1 See United States Census, 1900, volume on Occupations, p. exxxvii.
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82 CHOOSING A VOCATION
Sources for the Movement of Demand
For fuller information on Table 1 refer as follows: —
U. S. Census, 1900. Volume on Occupations, Table xxn. Number of Persons Engaged in Gainful Occupations and in Each Main Class by States and Territories, 1880, 1890, and 1900. Also volumes on Population, Part I, Table vu. Popu- lation of States and Territories Arranged Geographically, 1870- 1900.
For Tables 1 and 111 in this chapter, refer to the Census Tables i and rv in the volume on Occupations. Figures for 1850 are found in Table v in the same volume.
For summaries of the most marked changes shown in the per cent of men and women employed in the different occupations, see volume on Occupations, pp. cxxxvii to cxxxix. See also Table - xLvu. Per cent Distribution of Men, Women, and Children of Persons Engaged in Specified Occupations, 1880, 1900.
Further references which may prove of interest are the follow- ing from the volume on Occupations: —
Table xxxiv. Distribution by Specified Occupations of Males and of Females in each Principal Element of the Population Gainfully Employed, 1890-1900.
Table xiv. Distribution by Sex of Persons Engaged in Speci- fied Occupations in 1900 with per cent Distribution for 1880 and 1890.
Table yxxxvui. Number of Males in Specified Occupations Unemployed during any Portion of the Census Year, compared with the Total Number of Males so Occupied, 1890 and 1900.
Table txxx1x. Number of Females in Specified Occupations Unemployed during any Portion of the Census Year, compared with the Total Number of Females so Occupied, 1890 and 1900.
XI
THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF WORKERS IN THE DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES AMONG THE STATES, TERRITORIES, AND CHIEF CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1900
In finding the geographical distribution throughout the United States of workers in the different industries, two sets of figures will be found useful. First, figures showing the actual numbers employed in the different occupations in the various sections of the country. These will be useful chiefly in such industries as manufacturing, where the de- mand for workers in a particular section is not necessarily in proportion to the population, and where the chances of the prospective worker are perhaps greater in a section in which already large numbers are employed. In such occupations it will be useful to know the chief geographi- cal centres. This can easily be done by finding, from the figures already mentioned, what state, city, or section of the country employs most workers in the given industry. For instance, we find, in the United States Census for 1900 * that the chief centre of the glass industry in 1900 was Pennsylvania, where there were 15,765 workmen em- ployed. Indiana, with 10,590 glass workers, came next. Again, in the same way, we find Pennsylvania to be the chief centre of stove, furnace, and grate manufacturing.
Another set of figures would be more directly useful in the case of occupations where the demand for workers is more or less in proportion to population, e. g. in the case of doctors, lawyers, servants, house-painters, etc. In the
1 Volume on Occupations, Table xxxm.
84 CHOOSING A VOCATION
case of those seeking employment in such occupations, it is obviously well to know what sections are overstocked, and in what places their services are likely to be most in demand. This is one object of the second set of figures, which gives us the number of persons employed in the different occupations per thousand of population in the states, territories, and chief cities of the United States. Unfortunately, as the: Census is published only once in every ten years, and these figures therefore cannot be kept up to date, much of their value is lost. They are still of use, however, in showing to what extent a city or state has specialized in any industry, that is, in showing what proportion of the city or state population is employed in — the industry given.
The table on pages 86, 87 has been prepared to summa- rize briefly the geographical distribution of demand, and to illustrate further the purpose of the two sets of figures mentioned. It will be noticed that the South Central and the South Atlantic Division of states employ more persons in agriculture in proportion to their population than any other sections specified (the South Central Division em- ploying 234.4 per thousand, and the South Atlantic 194.6 per thousand). ‘The North Central Division employs only 133.2 per thousand of its population, yet contains actually a greater number of persons in agricultural pursuits than either the South Central or the South Atlantic Divisions.
Thus from the two sets of figures we obtain two kinds of facts. From the figures giving the actual numbers em- ployed, we find to what extent an industry is “localized ” ; that is, to what sections of the country, to what states, territories, or cities it may be more or less confined, and what per cent of the total number is employed in these geographical centres. Again, we discover from the second set of figures to what extent a given section of the country, a state, territory, or city, may have specialized in certain industries, that is, what proportion of the state or city
DISTRIBUTION OF WORKERS 85
population gainfully employed is engaged in the industries given.
The figures in Table rv are intended to illustrate these points. Of course, in geographical distribution, just as much as in the movement of demand, figures relating to specific industries are of more practical value.
The following are a few striking instances of localization in specified industries. In 1900 turpentine farming was confined wholly to these Southern states, — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, which employed all the turpentine farmers and laborers in the country. Georgia, Florida, and Alabama together employed 85.1 per cent of the total number. Georgia alone employed 43.9 per cent.
The silk manufacturing industry was localized chiefly in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 1900, 71.1 per cent of the total number of silk mill operatives in the United States were there employed, while 38.3 per cent of the total number were in New Jersey alone.
The states employing the greatest number of quarry- men were Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Vermont, In- diana, and Massachusetts; 56.1 per cent of the total num- ber of quarrymen in the country were employed in these states, and 22.4 per cent of the total number in Pennsyl- vania alone.
The manufacture of boots and shoes, we find, centred chiefly in the following North Atlantic states, — Massachu- setts, New Hampshire, New York, and Maine, which to- gether employed 71.4 per cent of the total number of boot and shoe makers and repairers in the United States. Massachusetts alone employed 50.3 per cent.
An instance of specialization in industry is found in Brockton, Mass., where almost one half of the total num- ber of persons gainfully employed come under the head- ing of “‘ Boot and shoe makers and repairers.” Again in Lawrence, Mass., more than one quarter of the total
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88 CHOOSING A VOCATION
number of persons gainfully employed are woolen mill operatives. Sources
For specific information on these subjects, consult the United States Census for 1900, the volume on Occupations and the vol- umes on Population, Part I.
For Table tv in this chapter, the following Census Tables were used : —
Volume on Occupations, Table xxu. The Number of Persons Engaged in Gainful Occupations and in Each Main Class by States and Territories, 1880, 1890, and 1900.
Volume on Population, Part I, Table vir. Population of States and Territories Arranged Geographically, 1790-1900.
For all facts regarding specific industries, consult the volume on Occupations, Table xxxu. States and Territories — Total , Persons ten years of age and over, engaged in each of 303 speci- fied occupations, 1900.
Table xxi, Principal Cities. Total Males and Females, ten years of age and over employed in each of 140 groups of occupa- tions, for cities having 25,000 inhabitants or more, 1900.
Further references which may prove of interest are as follows : —
Volume on Occupations, Table xxx. Total Males and Females, ten years of age and over Engaged in Selected Groups of Occu- pations, classified by General Nativity, Color, Conjugal Condi- tion, Months Unemployed, Age periods, and Parentage, by States and Territories, 1900.
Table xin the same for cities having 50,000 inhabitants or more. Volumes on Manufacturers, Part I, pp. exe, cex, Localization of Industries (determined by value of products).
Table tv, pp. 66-464. Specified Industries by States and Ter- ritories, giving facts for each Industry, regarding Number of Establishments, Capital, Power, Number of Proprietors and Firm Members, Number and Salaries of Officials and Clerks; Greatest Number of Wage Earners Employed at any one time during the year; Least Number Employed at any one time dur- ing the year.
PART ITT
THE ORGANIZATION AND THE WORK
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XII
THE VOCATION BUREAU
Tue Vocation Bureau of Boston was founded in January, 1908, by Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw, on plans drawn up by the writer. More than a dozen years ago I stated the essence of the matter in a lecture on “ The Ideal City.” That lecture was repeated in Boston before the Economic Club a few years ago, and soon after Mr. Meyer Bloom- field and Mr. Philip Davis, on behalf of the Civic Service House, invited me to speak to the graduating class of one of the evening high schools on the choice of a vocation. After the talk a number of the young men asked for personal interviews, and the results proved to be so helpful that Mr. Bloomfield requested me to draw plans for the per- manent organization of the work. ‘These plans were sub- mitted to Mrs. Shaw, who heartily approved the idea, and immediately established the new institution with sufficient resources to enable the work to be begun as a new depart- ment of the Civic Service House in the North End of Boston.
Although the work is very young and a good deal of time in these few months has been consumed in the pro- cess of organization, a large number of men and women from fifteen to seventy-two years of age have come to us for consultation, and, according to their own statements, all but two have received much light and help, some even declaring that the interview with the counselor was the most important hour of their lives. Among the applicants have been Harvard seniors, students from Dartmouth and other neighboring colleges, a number of college graduates,
92 CHOOSING A VOCATION
young men in commercial and business life, and some older ones, including an ex-bank-president of splendid ability, and a traveling salesman who at one time made sales amounting to two hundred thousand dollars a year.
The majority of applicants, however, have been boys and girls from the high schools or working boys and girls of high school age.
A Vocation Department has been established by the Boston Young Men’s Christian Association as a branch of the Bureau, and the counselor has kept regular appoint- ments at the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union and at the Twentieth Century Club.
The Bureau does not attempt to decide for any boy what | occupation he should choose, but aims to help him investi- gate the subject and come to a conclusion on his own ac- count, that is much more likely to be valid and useful than if no effort were made to apply scientific methods to the problem. Our mottoes are Light, Information, In- spiration, Codperation.
XIIil
THE SCHOOL FOR VOCATIONAL COUNSELORS
Tue Vocation Department of the Boston Young Men’s Christian Association has established a school for voca- tional counselors, to train men for carrying on vocational bureau work in connection with Young Men’s Christian Associations, schools, colleges, universities, social settle- ments, and business establishments. The employment department of the Y. M. C. A. acts in coordination with the vocation department.
The demand for vocational counselors able to do the kind of work described in the preceding sections is growing very rapidly. The present staff of workers is wholly in- adequate to the need of this city alone, and the widespread practical interest in the new institution justifies the belief that the movement will soon become a national one. The prospects are that vocational guidance will be made a part of the service of the Y. M. C. A.’s and other edu- cational institutions in all our principal cities, as fast as competent men can be secured.
To fit men for this new vocation, this pioneer school for the training of counselors has been established.
The work consists of lectures, research, practice by the laboratory method, reports of results, conferences, dis- cussions and special tests subject to the criticism of the instructor and the members of the class. At least three hours a week are given by each member to this laboratory practice, examining applicants for vocational advice, and formulating the counsel believed to be appropriate for the solution of the specific problem presented by each case.
94 CHOOSING A VOCATION
Members are called upon from time to time to examine applicants in the presence of the class, and then (after the applicant has retired) they analyze the facts obtained, and state the points of counsel and suggestion they think the case calls for. The presence of the instructor and the class, and their observations, questions, and criticisms, upon the proceedings, give this sort of practice the highest educational value. Practical talks by leading business and professional men and representatives of important in- dustrial interests will also constitute an important feature of the course.
To enter the vocational course a man must have excel- lent character and ability, good manners and address, at least a high school education or its equivalent, and a satisfactory experience of two years or more in teaching or business or social work, or a satisfactory equivalent for such experience. And he must have attained the age of twenty-five years, unless very mature at an earlier age.
The time required will be one, two, or three terms, ac- cording to the ability and previous preparation of the stu- dent. A certificate of proficiency will be given at the end of any term in which the practical results achieved by the particular student justify his enrollment as an expert, qualified to test the abilities and capacities of young men, apply good judgment, common sense, and scientific method to the various problems a vocation bureau has to deal with, and give appropriate counsel with the insight, sympathy, grasp, and suggestiveness the service calls for.
In addition to mature judgment, a character and per- sonality that invite respect and confidence, and a good general education, including some knowledge of history, civics, and economics, a vocational counselor should pos- sess: (1) A practical working knowledge of the fundamen- tal principles and methods of modern psychology. (2) An experience involving sufficient human contact to give him an intimate acquaintance with human nature in a con-
SCHOOL FOR VOCATIONAL COUNSELORS 95
siderable number of its different types and phases; he must understand the dominant motives, interests, and ambitions that control the lives of men, and be able to recognize the symptoms that indicate the presence or ab- sence of important elements of character. (3) Ability to deal with young people in a sympathetic, earnest, search- ing, candid, helpful, and attractive way. Sympathy, can- dor, and agenuine desire to be of service are the primary elements here; but tact, intellectual grasp, and a sort of in- ventiveness, or suggestiveness that is near of kin to it, are also essential factors. (4) A knowledge of requirements and conditions of success, compensation, prospects, advan- tages, and disadvantages, etc., in the different lines of in- dustry. (5) Information relating to courses of study and means of preparing for various callings and developing efficiency therein. (6) Scientific method — analysis and the principles of investigation by which laws and causes are ascertained, facts are classified, and correct conclu- sions drawn. ‘The counselor must be able to recognize the essential facts and principles involved in each case, group them according to their true relations, and draw the conclusions they justify.
XIV
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS
Most of the material which has hitherto been used by the Bureau has already been given and described in these chapters. Much additional help will occur to any inventive or inquiring person who undertakes this work.
It is important to have abundant material relating to apprenticeship methods of training. ‘lhe counselor also’ should have full information about the vocation schools of his own and other states. He should tabulate all the day and evening courses given in his community that have a vocational bearing, noting the opportunities for self- support while studying, so that young men and women can see at a glance all the educational advantages that bear upon their problems. Local and class employment agencies should be thoroughly studied, and the “help wants” of newspapers should be practiced upon until the counselor is thoroughly familiar with their general nature.
If the counselor finds the memory of the applicant be- low the standard, he gives the youth a printed analysis of the means of developing the memory and securing the best results from it, with a little talk to emphasize the importance of memory and method as the foundations of mastery, grasp, and efficient performance.
A leaflet called “Suggestions for a Plan of Life” is also given in many cases, with oral instructions sufficient to make it vital to the recipient. It is intended to direct at- tention to the elements essential to an all-round, symmet- rical development, and the value of making a good plan
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS 97
and living up to it instead of drifting through life like a rudderless boat. |
Not less important is the work done in the direction of developing civic interest. 'The boy is impressed with the fact that he is, or soon will be, one of the directors and rulers of the United States, that his part in civic af- fairs is quite as important as his occupation, vital as that undoubtedly is, that all-round manhood should be the aim, that making a living is only one arc of the circle, and that he must study to be a good citizen as well as a good worker.
The Bureau’s leaflets entitled “Civic Suggestions,” “Lincoln’s Message to Young Men,” and “ Analysis of Parliamentary Law,” are very useful in this connection. The latter enables the young man to fit himself with very little effort to join in the discussions of a town meeting, young men’s congress, or debating society, or preside over a meeting with credit to himself if called to the chair. Very often the youth can be led to read and analyze a series of good books on government and public questions, be- ginning perhaps with Dole and Fiske on Citizenship and Civil Government, or with Bryce’s “ American Common- wealth,” and continuing with the works of Albert Shaw, Zueblin, Howe, and _ Steffens, the famous speeches of Wendell Phillips, and the: messages of Lincoln, Washing- ton, and Roosevelt, the important problem books, such as “The Truth About the Trusts,” “Wealth against Com- monwealth,” “ Labor Copartnership,” “'The Story of New Zealand,” etc.; and some of the principal books on his- tory, economics, and sociology.
To those who are just starting a vocation bureau the four leaflets, “To Young People,” “'To Workers,” “'To Employers,’ and “Instruction to Those Desiring the Service of the Bureau,” will be helpfully suggestive.
Copies of some of these supplementary helps are printed herewith : —
98 CHOOSING A VOCATION
TO EMPLOYERS
The percentage of inefficiency and change you may experience in your working force, and the cost it entails in employment expense, waste of training, and low-grade service, are largely due to the haphazard way by which young men and women drift into this or that employment, with little or no regard to adaptability, and without adequate preparation or any definite aim or well-considered plan to insure efficiency, devotion, and development.
This Bureau constitutes the first attempt to take practical steps to remedy these conditions through expert counsel and guid- ance in the selection of a vocation, the preparation for it and the transition from school to work.
In its efforts to aid workers develop their efficiency and im- prove their condition, and assist those about to select a voca- tion to choose wisely, prepare carefully, and find opportunities of employment in lines of industry to which they are adapted, this Bureau invites your codperation.
The principal methods employed in our work are: —
1. Self-Analysis. The applicant is made to realize clearly his aptitudes, abilities, ambitions, preparation, resources, and limitations, and to see their relation to the requirements and conditions of success in various callings. As it is, few ever sit down with pencil and paper, with expert information and coun- sel, to plan a working career and deal with the life problem scientifically, as they would deal with the problem of building a house, taking the advice of an architect to help them.
2. Information in respect to the conditions of success in dif- ferent industries, the initial requirements, compensation, immedi- ate and prospective, and the means of preparation and develop- ment, is an important part of our work; as is also specific information as to opportunities in various lines of work, so that young people may be aided in placing themselves rightly, and employers may be aided in securing the type of ability and char- acter they need for specific work. The social and industrial bene- fits of a more careful correlation of opportunity and ability are incalculable. We are just drifting to-day with planless methods of adapting and distributing labor, both skilled and unskilled.
3. Stimulation is equally important. There are fine ambitions
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS 99
in every youth, which if sought out and fed with knowledge and sympathy will grow strong and clear enough to control the life. Show a man how to improve his efficiency and social and econo- mic value, and the benefits that will result, and give him appre- ciation in his efforts, and he generally needs no urging to adopt the means of self-development.
4. Codperation. 'The Bureau will actively codperate with the applicant in his efforts to secure the training he may need, and to find employment for which he is fitted or shall fit himself.
5. Systematic Guidance and Help, which ordinarily do not extend beyond the school life, are continued by the Vocation Bureau into the working life, so that there may be no break or gulf between the school and work, but a smooth, clear path from one to the other, with a definite plan for the future, more ade- quate preparation for the work to be done, and more efficient performance of it. We care for the children with great solicitude till they are out of the grammar or high school and then drop them into this complex world, with practically no industrial information or foresight, to sink or swim, as the case may be. There is really no time of life when more careful counsel and in- struction are needed than in the transition from school to work.
In short, the aim of the Bureau is intelligent, well-directed, scientific choice of occupation and adaptation to it, so far as cir- cumstances permit, instead of haphazard, planless choice, by chance or whim, or uninformed selection, and needlessly imper- fect adaptation in many cases, resulting in a great number of misfits and a large degree of inefficiency.
The Bureau specially asks the codperation of employers in securing as full and definite information as possible regarding the opportunities offered by different industries and the conditions of success therein, and in affording opportunities for the Secretary or other representatives of the Bureau to speak to groups of em- ployees and make appointments with them for individual confer- ence and consultation.
TO WORKERS
If you wish expert counsel in the analysis of your possibilities and the conditions of success in your line of effort, and in the selection and adoption of the best means for achieving the full- est success of which you are capable, this Bureau will gladly aid
100 CHOOSING A VOCATION
you for the good that will come to you and to the public from the development of your economic value and the improvement of your industrial condition. Its services are free. It is part of the social work of the Civic Service House in codperation with the Young Men’s Christian Association, the Economic Club, and the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union.
If you find that you are not adapted to the work in which you are engaged, the Bureau will aid you in determining what occupation may be better suited to your capacities and powers, and in selecting the best available means of preparing for it and building up a successful career.
TO YOUNG PEOPLE
STUDENTS AND OTHERS CONSIDERING THE QUESTION OF THEIR LIFE WORK ;
The wise selection of the business, profession, trade, or occu- pation, to which you are to devote yourself, and the building of a successful career in your chosen vocation, are matters of great moment to you and to the public. These vital problems should be solved in a careful, scientific way, with due regard to your aptitudes, abilities, ambitions, resources, and limitations, and the relations of these elements to the conditions of success in different industries. Definite knowledge of yourself and of the opportunities, requirements, compensation, immediate and prospective, etc., in various callings, is essential. Systematic in- formation as to the best means of preparation within your reach, and the methods by which others have succeeded, is also most desirable.
This Bureau was established to help you in all these matters by counsel, guidance, information, and codperation. Its services are free.
Many have already been greatly helped in the ways suggested — helped to find their true vocation, — the business or occupa- tion to which their abilities and resources best adapt them, and to find an opening in that vocation and the means of attaining efficiency and success; and the experience of each of these young men and women helps to light the way for others.
The guidance given in school days generally ceases when the
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS 101
student leaves the grammar school or high school or college to begin work. Yet there is really no time of life when wise counsel and expert assistance are more needful than in the transition from school to the new life of labor.
No one would think of building a dwelling or a business block without carefully selecting an appropriate and advantageous site and drawing a well-considered plan with the help of an architect or expert builder. And in building a career it is quite as im- portant to make a wise location, lay the foundations properly, and work up by a well-considered, scientific plan.
It is better to sail with compass and chart than to drift into an occupation haphazard or by chance, proximity, or uninformed selection; and drift on through it without reaching any port worthy of the voyage.
SUGGESTIONS FOR A PLAN OF LIFE"
Study the LAWS and CAUSES of things and of human action, grasp PRINCIPLES as well as FACTS, and attend most carefully to METHOD, SYSTEM, PROPORTION, and DEVELOPMENT in relation to the various life values noted in the following analysis.
Health : Fresh air, life is combustion; the furnace blast, deep breath- ing, open windows. Good food, well chewed; in due quantity and variety. Hzxer- cise; moral duty to perspire each day. Bathing. kest. Clothing warm and easy. Good society; good nature; clear conscience ; earnest purpose.
Activity: Amount and quality. Pro- portion of different varieties; differences between nations and individuals.
Development of power, ability, and character, by systematic, per- sistent effort under the laws of habit and reflex action.
Mind: Memory, reason, imagination. Observe, read, converse, an- alyze, and digest. Search for laws and causes. Learn the methods of discovering truth, and arriving at correct con- clusions. Test your results again and again. Absorb the best books. Study psychology and the laws of human nature so as to understand yourself and others. Organize your knowledge. Marshal your facts and principles in com- panies and battalions under your command. Reduce what you learn to its lowest terms, master it anduseit. Cultivate imaginative power and invent- iveness. Watch the inner light. Keep curiosity alive, and avail yourself of scientific method.
Character; Truth, sympathy, justice. Be honest, truthful, reliable, prompt, effective. Keep your engagements. Be just, recep- tive, open-minded, and toler- ant, but do your own thinking. Be reasonably consistent. Be candid, kindly, sympathetic, coéperative, progressive, good natured, cheerful, industrious, methodical, persistent, hope- ful, modest.
Longevity Power
Growth of body, mind, and soul.
Education life-long, for power, not for exams.
Enthusiasm tempered with moderation and self-control.
Simplicity, Certainty, Breadth.
Symmetry, proportion, adaptation, emphasis.
Coordination and balance. Regard substance and
cause more than form and circumstance.
Keep sweet and do right. Morals summed up in the Golden Rule.
1 Copyright, 1905, by Frank Parsons.
Don’r
be too
familiar
with ice water, tea, coffee, tobacco, or alcoholics. Avoid excess, dissipation, and disease; and
be very careful | about drugs and doctors.
Don’t be
idle, sluggish, inattentive, non-progressive.
AVOID
ill-logic,
prejudice
bigotry,
empty-minded- ness,
hasty conclu- sions,
wrong methods of observation and reasoning.
Don’t read
trash.
Don’t be
stubborn, surly, pugilistic, unruly, careless, unreceptive, unreliable, dishonest.
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS
Avoid in yourself what you do not like in others. Develop desirable elements of character by daily practice, just as you develop your muscles and your mental faculties. And get your friends to help you by calling your attention to defects in your character.
Occupation. Choose your occupation carefully and master it thor- oughly. Make money, but don’t worship it or be a slave to it. Money is for life, not life for money.
Recreation: Make it a balance to your work.
Manners. Repeat C. Z. here, chang-
ing “character” to ‘man- ners.’ Accomplishments. Conversation as a
fine art. The tunes of speech. The beauty that shines through from within.
Relationships: Friendship, marriage, family life, citizenship, busi- ness and social life.
Exercise good judgment, care, common sense, and sys- tem, as well as emotion, in them all. Care is quite as ne- cessary in choosing a wife ora husband as in choosing a horse. And bringing up a child is quite as complex and difficult, and needs quite as much pre- paration, as running a locomo- tive. Citizenship also demands your best thought; understand the movements of your age and the questions of your day, and do your duty as a civic part-
- ner,
Ideals: Individual and social, quies- cent and active, subordinate and dominant.
Ideals have power to mould our life and the laws and institutions of your country. Every great movement in his- tory was an ideal before it be- came a fact. Be careful to form true ideals, and help others to do likewise, — ideals in harmony with justice and humanity,—and apply your ideals as far aS you Can in business, politics, and social life as well as in your home.
Happiness,
— the pleasures of sense,
— “the joy of do- ing,’
’
—the pleasures of possession, —the pleasures of
the intellect, —the joys of sym- pathy and love, —the delights of devotion to high purpose.
Not self-sacrifice, but sacrifice of the lower self to the higher self is the secret.
Power Service Love Beauty Humor Lofty aim.
History Biography Fiction Poetry Oratory Music and Art Work Play Children Animals Men and Women Nature Science Home, Business School, Gov’t Church, Society Theatre, Travel.
Service in sympathy, love, and devo- tion.
Not aggressive
individualism but ennobled cooperative individualism.
Brotherhood and Mutualism, not conquest and mastery.
103
Don’t be unjust, unkind, thoughtless, stupid, pessimistic, grumbly, cruel, unsympathetic, overbearing, discourteous, hasty, intolerant, unreasonable, untrue, silly, conceited, intemperate, double-faced, avaricious, snobbish, bombastic, dudish, dissipated, over-critical, unmannerly, mean, despondent, dogmatic, despotic, rash, ungenerous, selfish, slow, disorderly, deceitful, destructive, disobedient, tardy, inefficient, cowardly, vacillating, over-confident, over-aggressive, hypocritical, self-deceived.
104 CHOOSING A VOCATION
MEMORY’?
LAWS AND METHODS OF ITS USE AND CULTIVATION
Physical Basis. Physiological retentiveness, gray matter of reasonable con- sistency. Quality improved by attention to conditions of health and strength and by specific exercise. Selection, Can’t remember everything. Substance; vital facts and principles. Condensation; reduce substance to lowest terms, and label with - Analysis. key words. Form; arrange according to relations of sequence, cause, subor- dination, etc.; make an analytic digest, diagram, or picture. Association. The physiological law of memory. 1. Tie the new thought with some other idea or ideas already firmly fixed in the mind, or of deep interest to you. 2. Classify, link with like facts, or with contrasts; tie your facts in bun- dles. Registration. 1. In best centre. : 2. Multiple registration in visual, auditory, speaking, and writing centres. 3. Time and method. Attention. Focus the mind on the things to be memorized; concentrate. Emphasis. Physical tension to deepen impression. Repetition. To wear a deeper channel and form a habit in the gray cells. Reflection. Let the mind DWELL on the matter, roll it over and over, look at it on all sides, draw inferences from it, etc.
Use, Expression, Exercise at high temperature or in emotional atmosphere,
Tell what you wish to remember to some one in whom you feel a strong interest, or under circumstances stirring youremotions. Use it in your business or play. Build on it a course of study or conduct, or some undertaking.
Have companionship in your studies and memorizing, etc.
SPECIAL HINTS
1. Don’t wash out ideas and diminish retentiveness with a flood of transient impressions.
2. Don’t exhaust the bloom; German language method.
3. Don’t cram.
4. Take advantage of the law of unconscious cerebration,
Bed time, meal time, etc,
6. Take advantage of the psychologic laws of interest, habit, reflex action — the increase of power and pleasure with practice.
Ata given time each day if possible run over valuable analyses in thought till they FLASH through your mind in volumes.
6. Form or join magazine club or culture club to divide labor of selection and analysis and secure the stimulus and emotional emphasis of companion- ship.
7. Use key words constantly in sets.
8. Use memoranda — make paper memory save the mind on non-essentials, and back up the brain record with unchangeable written records of essen- tials.
1 Copyright, 1904, by Frank Parsons.
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS 105
CIVIC SUGGESTIONS
No matter how successful a man may be in business, no matter how much money he may make, nor how honest and efficient he may be industrially, if he is not a good citizen, fully alive to all his civic rights, privileges, duties, and responsibilities, he is no more than half a man at best. A man who exerts himself only to get his bread and butter, and not at all for the social good, has not de- veloped much beyond the oyster stage of civilization, although in outward appearance he may resemble a real human being.
Your part in civic life is quite as important as your occupation, vital as that undoubtedly is. All round manhood is the true aim. Making a living is only one arc of the circle. You must be a good citizen as well as a good worker. You do not want to be alive only on one side and dead on the other. You are one of the directors and rulers of these United States, or soon will be, and you should know how public business is transacted, understand the great questions that are before the people, and do your share in secur- ing good government and civic improvement, and promoting true solutions of the vital problems of the day. A few specific sug- gestions on these lines may be of use to you.
1. Visit the Legislature now and then, and the City Council or Town Meeting, to observe the process of manufacturing laws and ordinances. Attend the hearings on important measures be- fore legislative committees. The legislators are your servants, and you should know how they do their work, and whether they are doing it right or not. Get the Municipal Register at City Hall and the Manual of the General Court at the State House.
2. Go to the Superior Court and see a jury trial in a civil case. Then visit the Supreme Court and hear a case argued before the full bench. The sessions of the Federal Courts in the Post Office Building should also be visited. After you have seen the process of enforcing the law by judicial procedure, you may be interested to go to the Law Library at the State House and read some de- cisions rendered in famous cases by the Massachusetts Supreme Court or the Supreme Court of the United States.
3. Attend important lectures and discussions of political and economic problems, and if possible join some organization where public questions are discussed, — the Economic Club, City Club, Twentieth Century Club, Civic Service House Forum, Y. M. C. A.
106 CHOOSING A VOCATION
Congress, or any good debating club, — and take part in the discussions.
4. Read the summaries of current events and political opinion in some of the best magazines, such as The Review of Reviews, The Arena, The Outlook, The Literary Digest, The Public, The World’s Work, etc. Study the collections of cartoons in the first two. And read the civic editorials in at least one good newspaper representing each of the great divisions of political thought and organization.
5. Send letters to the press expressing your views on public affairs. Write also to the Mayor and Governor and other city or state officials, and to your representatives in City Hall, at the State House and in Washington, so that they may know you are watching them and may have at hand a record of your views for or against important measures, and the reasons for your attitude. , The greater the number of citizens who will do such civic work as this in patriotic and enlightened performance of their duties as national, state, and municipal directors, the more complete will be the record of public sentiment available for the guidance of legislators and officials, and the greater their incentive to honest and energetic action for the public good in the light of the watch- ful interest of an enlightened citizenship.
6. Notify the Board of Health of any stagnant water, rubbish heaps, unsanitary buildings, contagious diseases, impure foods, or other unhealthful conditions you observe. True patriotism begins at home, with care for our own neighborhood.
7. To form a solid basis for your own independent thinking and usefulness as a citizen, study some of the best books on citizen- ship, government, economics, and the principal public questions of the day. Take also, if you can, a course in political science, economics, and sociology. There are evening classes for those who cannot study in the daytime.
Select some good books from the following list in consultation with the counselor, and begin a systematic course of analytic reading on government, economics, history, and the leading prob- lems that are before the people for discussion and solution.
“The American Citizen”: Charles F. Dole.
“The Young Citizen”: Charles F. Dole.
“The Spirit of Democracy”: Charles F. Dole.
“Civic Reader for New Americans”: Meyer Bloomfield, C. F. Dole, and others.
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS 107
‘Civil Government in the United States’: John Fiske.
‘** Advanced Civics” : Forman.
“The Government”: S. S. Clark.
“Civil Government”: George H. Martin.
** American Political Ideals”: John Fiske.
“The American Commonwealth”: James Bryce.
“Municipal Government in Great Britain”: Albert Shaw.
“Municipal Government in Continental Europe”: Albert Shaw.
“The State”: Woodrow Wilson.
“Democracy and Social Ethics”: Jane Addams.
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Washington’s Farewell Address. The Messages of President Roosevelt.
A powerful presentation of progressive measures, trust and labor legislation, control of corporations, industrial arbitration, income and inheritance taxes, postal savings banks, ete.
“World Politics”: Paul S. Reinsch. “World Organization”: Raymond Bridgman. “Organize the World”: Edwin D. Mead.
**Patriotism and the New Internationalism”: Lucia Ames Mead.
“General History”: Myers. “Modern History”: Myers.
United States History: John Fiske’s volumes. “Short History of the English People”: Greene. ‘Europe in the Nineteenth Century”: Judson. “The Wonderful Century”: Wallace.
An inspiring account of the great inventions and achievements of the nineteenth century.
“Great Movements of the Nineteenth Century”: Parsons. “Story of New Zealand”: Parsons.
How New Zealand established industrial arbitration, old-age pensions, public coal mines, _ progressive land-value, income and inheritance taxes, postal savings banks, government loan offices, public ownership of the money system, government railroads, a national employment bureau, public insurance, etc.
108 CHOOSING A VOCATION
“How England Averted a Revolution”: Flower.
A campaign of education by pamphlet and platform in the corn law agitation, saved a resort to force.
“The Federalist”: Senator Lodge’s Edition.
Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Sumner, and others in American Statesmen Series. “*Speeches and Lectures”: Wendell Phillips. “Short Life of Abraham Lincoln”: Nicolay. ‘Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.” “Theodore Roosevelt”: Jacob Riis.
“Outlines of Economics”: R. T. Ely.
“Principles of Economics”: E. R. A. Seligman. “Political Economy”: Francis A. Walker.
“Principles of Economics”: Alfred Marshall. “Institutes of Economics”: Andrews.
“The New Political Economy”: Parsons.
‘Labor Copartnership”: Henry D. Lloyd. “Distribution of Wealth”: John R. Commons. ‘Economics of Distribution”: John A. Hobson. “Evolution of Modern Capitalism”: John A. Hobson. “The Truth About the Trusts”: John Moody.
“The Trust Problem”: J. W. Jenks.
“Wealth Against the Commonwealth”: Henry D. Lloyd.
The Story of Standard Oil.
‘History of the Standard Oil Trust”: Ida M. Tarbell. ‘Chapters of Erie”: Charles Francis Adams.
“The Railways, the Trusts, and the People”: Parsons. “The Strategy of Great Railroads”: Spearman.
“The Railway Question”: Stickney.
“The Railroad Question”: Larrabee.
“National Consolidation of Railways”: Lewis.
“A General Freight and Passenger Post”: Cowles.
“Municipal Monopolies”: Bemis, Commons, Parsons, and others. “The City for the People”: Parsons. Public Ownership, Direct Legislation, Direct Nominations, Pro-
rtional Representation, Preferential Voting, Home Rule for ities, The Ideal City Charter.
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS 109
Public Ownership Report of National Civic Federation Com- mission, especially the summaries in volume i.
“The Shame of the Cities”: Lincoln Steffens.
“The City the Hope of Democracy”: Frederick C. Howe.
“American Municipal Progress”: Charles Zueblin.
** How the Other Half Lives’? : Jacob Riis.
“The Battle with the Slum”: Jacob Riis.
“The Improvement of Towns and Cities” : Charles M. Robin- son.
“The City Wilderness”: Robert A. Woods and others.
**Americans in Process”: Robert A. Woods and others.
“Up from Slavery”: Booker T. Washington. “Progress and Poverty”: Henry George. “Looking Backward”: Edward Bellamy. “Merrie England”: Robert Blatchford.
“An Inquiry into Socialism”: Thomas Kirkup. “Socialism and Social Reform”: Richard T. Ely. “Bi-Socialism” : Oliver Trowbridge.
“Social Unrest”: John Graham Brooks.
“New Worlds for Old”: H. G. Wells.
“The Foundations of Sociology”: Edward A. Ross. “Social Control”: Edward A. Ross.
‘Practical Sociology”: Carroll D. Wright. “Dynamic Sociology”: Lester F. Ward.
To find articles in leading magazines for any subject you are studying, refer to ‘‘ Poole’s Index” and ‘‘'The Reader’s Guide” in the periodical room at the Public Library.
For reference purposes you should also acquaint yourself with —
The World Almanac.
The Statesman’s Year Book.
The Municipal Year Book (English).
The Australian Handbook.
The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
Science. Reports of the National Municipal League, the League of American Municipalities, and the National Civic Federation. Bliss’s ‘‘Cyclopedia of Social Reform” (Edition of 1908).
110 CHOOSING A VOCATION
Mulhall’s “Dictionary of Statistics.”
Poor’s ‘‘ Railroad Manual.”
Interstate Commerce Commission Reports.
Bulletins of the U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor.
The Congressional Record.
Proceedings of the House and Senate and Reports of Com- mittees.
““Who’s Who in America.”
The Century Dictionary.
The Universal Cyclopedia, and
The American and English Encyclopedia of Law.
XV
SAMPLE CASES
EXPERIENCE is the great teacher. I shall be glad if my experience in this line of work can become valuable to others. I keep a record of each case. If it is not worth putting down on paper, it is not worth doing at all. Not until I have written out a summary of the case can I feel that I have done it anything like adequate justice. The following selected cases illustrate the wide variety of method and treatment : —
Case 3
A CARTOONIST IN THE BUD
A working boy of eighteen, graduate of a Boston high school, said he wanted to be a cartoonist. He was strong, healthy, energetic, and enthusiastic. He had a fine, expres- sive face, clear, keen eye, and pleasing manners. He stood the memory test excellently well, showed some imagination and inventiveness, and a good deal of skill with his pencil. He had done some good reading on his own account, solid books of history and science.
The counselor saw no reason why he should not be aided and encouraged in the pursuit of his ambition to become a cartoonist. ‘The suggestions of the counselor, therefore, related chiefly to method.
Suggestions.
1. Get large scrapbooks, or make them for yourself out of manilla paper.
2. Get your friends to give you copies of The Review of
112 CHOOSING A VOCATION
Reviews and other magazines and newspapers that publish the best cartoons. Cut them out. Classify them according to the principles involved, just as naturalists classify ani- mals and plants. Paste them in your scrapbooks, putting those of each class together. Mark each one with a word or phrase which will be to you the name of that cartoon. Make a list of these words and phrases that you can carry in your pocket.
Turn over the leaves of your scrapbook every day, and two or three times a day if you can. Study the best car- toons carefully, and after each study shut your eyes or look at the ceiling and see if you can recall the picture. Sketch the cartoons from memory, taking one at a time, drawing it over and over again, comparing your sketch each time with the original, and correcting your work until you can make a good sketch of each of the best car- toons from memory.
When you are in the cars or anywhere else, with a few moments’ leisure, take out your list of words and phrases representing your cartoon specimens and try to flash be- fore your mind rapidly the pictures corresponding to the words and phrases on your list.
In other words, master your collection of good cartoons; put them in your brain and at your fingers’ ends. ‘They constitute for you the a b c of your profession, and you must make them a part of yourself, master them as thoroughly as you did the multiplication table when you studied arithmetic.
3. Look at the headlines of the leading papers every day, and every two or three days, or once a week at least, select some subject that interests you strongly, and try to repre- sent your thought of it in cartoon form, using pictures of men and animals, etc., to express your meaning, as the cartoonists do.
If your thought does not readily flow into picture form, turn the pages of your cartoon books, looking at each pic-
SAMPLE CASES 113
ture with the thought you wish to express clearly in your mind, and see if you do not get a suggestion from some of the cartoons in your books.
Draw your cartoon and compare it with those in your books, especially those of the same class, principle, or method of work. Then see if you can improve your draw- ing; and when you get it so that you are satisfied with it or believe it to be the best you can make it at that time, take it to some artist friend and get him to criticise it. Correct it in the light of his suggestions if you think they are well founded, and then send it to some newspaper or magazine that prints cartoons and see if they will publish it. If not, send it to another, and another, keeping on until you get it published, or are pretty sure you cannot place it.
Do this every week, or as often as you conveniently can, and after a while, with careful and persistent and well- directed effort, you will be practically sure to succeed.
The counselor will be glad to see your drawings from time to time and make such further suggestions as may seem best, and also help you get acquainted with some artist competent to criticise your work.
4. While you are studying and working on the direct lines of your intended vocation, do not neglect the ad- vantages to be secured by continued reading of the best books, especially those on history, economics, and natural science, with Emerson’s “ Essays” and some good poetry. Such reading will not only help you to develop into a first- class man all round, a good citizen and respected member of society, — which is quite as important as being a good cartoonist, — but it will also help you in your profession by filling your mind with vivid images of many kinds, and giving you the power to appreciate the significance and relationships of public questions and current events. A man cannot be a first-class workman at any trade or pro- fession unless he knows a good deal more than the special matters involved in his business. He must master the
114 CHOOSING A VOCATION
technic of his profession, and he must also know a good deal about the world in general, and human nature in par- ticular, in order that he may understand the relations between his special work and the varied interests of his fellow men.
Case 6 A WOULD-BE DOCTOR
A boy of nineteen said he wanted to be a doctor. He was sickly looking, small, thin, hollow-cheeked, with list- less eye and expressionless face. He did not smile once during the interview of more than an hour. He shook hands like a wet stick. His voice was husky and unpleasant, and his conversational power, aside from answering direct questions, seemed practically limited to “ss-uh,” an as- pirate “yes, sir,’ consisting of a prolonged s followed by a non-vocal uh, made by suddenly dropping the lower jaw and exploding the breath without bringing the vocal cords into action. He used this aspirate “yes-sir” constantly, to indicate assent, or that he heard what the counselor said. He had been through the grammar school and the evening high; was not good in any of his studies, nor especially interested in any. His memory was poor. He fell down on all the tests for mental power. He had read practically nothing outside of school except the newspapers. He had no resources and very few friends. He was not tidy in his appearance, nor in any way attractive. He knew nothing about a doctor’s life; not even that he might have to get up any time in the middle of the night, or that he had to re- member books full of symptoms and remedies.
The boy had no enthusiasms, interests, or ambitions except the one consuming ambition to be something that people would respect, and he thought he could accom- plish that purpose by becoming a physician more easily than in any other way.
SAMPLE CASES 115
When the study was complete, and the young man’s record was before him, the counselor said : —
“Now we must be very frank with each other. That is the only way such talks can be of any value. You want me to tell you the truth just as I see it, don’t you? That’s why you came to me, is n’t it, — not for flattery, but for a frank talk to help you understand yourself and your pos- sibilities ? ”
“Ss-uh.”
“Don’t you think a doctor should be well and strong? Does n’t he need vigorous health to stand irregular hours, night calls, exposure to contagious diseases, etc. ?”
“Ss-uh.”’
“And you are not strong.” |
“Ss-uh.” (This was repeated after almost every sen- tence of the counselor’s remarks, but will be omitted here for the sake of condensation.)
“And you have n’t the pleasant manners a doctor ought to have. You have not smiled nor shown any expressive- ness in your face the whole time you have been answering my questions and telling me about your life and record. Your hand was moist and unpleasant when you shook hands. And you put your fingers in my hand without any pressure, or show of interest. I might as well have shaken hands with a stick.”
(The counselor’s criticisms were very frank and forceful, but he smiled at the boy as he spoke, and his tones were quite gentle and sympathetic, so that the young man was not offended or repelled, but seemed attracted and pleased, on the whole, by the frank and kindly interest of the counselor in his welfare.)
“You might cultivate a cordial smile, a friendly hand- shake, and winning manners, and you ought to develop good manners no matter what business you follow, but it will take much time and effort, for manners do not come natural to you.
116 CHOOSING A VOCATION
“You should cultivate your voice, and use smooth, clear tones, with life in them. Your voice is listless, husky, and unpleasant now.
“And read good solid books, — history, economics, government, etc.,—and talk about them. Develop your conversational power. At present you do not even seem able to say, ‘yes, sir,’ distinctly.
“You want to win respect, to be something your fellow men will admire. But it is not necessary to be a doctor in order to be respectable.
“Any man who lives a useful life, does his work well, takes care of his family, is a good citizen, and lives a clean, true, kindly, helpful life, will be respected and loved,, whether he is a farmer, carpenter, lawyer, doctor, black- smith, teamster, clerk, or factory worker.
“People will respect a carpenter who knows his business and does his work well a good deal more than they will a doctor who does n’t know his business. It is a question of fitness, knowledge, skill, and usefulness. A bad doctor is one of the least respectable of men. Think of the blunders he is likely to make, the people he is likely to kill or injure through wrong medicines or lack of skill in diagnosis or treatment.”
The counselor then painted two word pictures sub- stantially as follows : —
“Suppose two men are trying to build up a medical practice. One is tall, fine looking, strong, and healthy, with a winning smile, a cordial way of shaking hands, pleasant voice, and engaging manners. He is bright, cheery, whole- some. People like to have him visit them. His presence in the sickroom is a tonic worth as much as the medicine he gives. He has a good education, has read a lot of good books, keeps posted in the leading magazines, and under- stands the public questions of the day, so he can talk to all sorts of people about the things that interest them. He has a good memory, so he can carry in his mind the volumes
SAMPLE CASES 117
of symptoms and medical data a doctor ought to know, and can tell a case of smallpox, scarlet fever, diphtheria, etc., etc., without running back to his office to study the books. He has friends to help him get patients, and money enough to live in good style three or four years while he is building up a practice. ’ “©The other man is small, thin, hollow cheeked, sickly looking, with poor memory, little education, practically no reading, no resources, undeveloped manners, husky, un- pleasant voice, no conversational ability, — nothing to attract people or inspire their confidence, and with mental handicaps that would make it very difficult for him to master the profession. No memory to hold the books full | of symptoms and remedies,— a patient might die while he was going back to the office to study up what was the matter.
“Which of these two men would have the best chance of success ?”
“The first one.”
“And which most closely resembles your own case?”
“The second.”
“Do you really think, then, that you would have a good chance to make a success of the medical profession ? ”
“TI don’t know that I would. I never thought of it this way before, I just knew it was a good business, highly re- spected, and that’s what I wanted.”
“But there may be other highly respectable lines of work in which you would not be at so great a disadvantage.
“Suppose a lot of races were to be run. In some of them you would have to run with a heavy iron ball tied round your leg, while others ran free. In other races you could run free as well as the rest of them, and have something like a fair chance. Which sort of race would you enter?”
“I’d rather run free, of course.”
“Well, your hands appear to be just as good as any- body’s. You can exercise care and industry. You can re-
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member a few things, and can be successful if you don’t attempt too much. If you go out into some sort of work where you won’t have to meet so many people as a doctor must, nor remember such a vast mass of facts, — something where the memory and the personal element will not be such important factors, so that your handicap in these respects will not cripple you, — you may run the race on fairly equal terms and have a good chance of success. Some mechanical or manufacturing industry, wholesale trade where you would handle stock, care of poultry, sheep, cows, or other out-door work, would offer you good op- portunities and be better for your health than the com- paratively sedentary and irregular life of a physician.
“T suggest that you visit stock and dairy farms, carpenter shops, shoe factories, wholesale stores, etc., see a good many industries in the lines I have spoken of, read about them, talk with the workmen and managers, try your hand if you can at various sorts of work, and make up your mind if there is not some business that will interest you and offer you a fairly equal opportunity free from the special handicaps you would have to overcome in pro- fessional life.”
The counselor also made specific suggestions about the cultivation of memory and manners, and a systematic course of reading and study to prepare for citizenship, and to develop economic power and social understanding and usefulness, that would entitle the young man to the esteem of his fellow citizens.
As the youth rose to go he wiped his hand so it would be dry as he shook hands with some warmth and thanked the counselor for his suggestions, which he said he would try to follow. He smiled for the first time as he said this, and the counselor, noting it, said : —
“There! You can smile. You can light up your face if you choose. Now learn to do it often. Practice speaking before the glass, till you get your face so it will move and
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not stay in one position all the evening like a plaster mask. And try to stop saying ‘Ss-uh.’ When you want to say * Yes, sir,’ say it distinctly in a clear, manly tone, and not under your breath like a steam valve on an engine. A good many times when you say ‘Ss-uh’ it is n’t necessary to say anything, and the rest of the time you should say “Yes, sir, or make some definite comment in a clear voice full of life and interest. Watch other people, and imitate those you admire, and avoid the things that repel or dis- please you in people you do not like.”
“Ss-uh — yes, sir,” said the boy, with another faint smile, “I'll try.’ And he was gone.
He told another young man a few days later that “the Professor” said he would go through him with a lantern, and he had certainly done it, and he was glad of it, for he learned more about himself that evening than in all his life ‘before; and though part of it was like taking medicine at the time, it was all right, and he knew it would help hima great deal.
Case 12
FROM BOOTBLACKING TO SIGN PAINTING
Boy of nineteen; small, thin, weak; grammar-school education; very little reading; memory poor. His father drives an express wagon. Went to work at fourteen. Suc- cessively, office boy at $3 a week, florist’s helper at $4.50 a week, and driver of delivery wagon for provision store at $5 and $6 a week. Got sick and lost his job. Went to work blacking boots at a stand in a billiard hall. Loves music and drawing. Spends spare time with pencil and cornet. Saved $63 to buy a silver cornet and $38 for lessons, while he was making $4.50 and $5 a week. Gave his mother half and saved the rest for cornet and lessons. Thought of studying to take civil service examinations for clerkship in post office.
Counselor asked him to bring some of his sketches. He
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did so. They showed considerable ability in outline work and lettering. Best points evidently in drawing and music.
Suggestions.
“Tf all the boys in Boston were to be divided into classes according to their special aptitudes and abilities, in what class would you belong? Is there anything you can do that most of the boys could not do so well?”
“Most of them cannot play the cornet, or draw as well as I can, I think.”
“How would you like to use your ability for drawing and lettering by getting to be a sign painter?”
“TI would like it very much.”
“Well, practice a little every day or several times a day if possible. Watch the signs on the streets and copy the best ones. Study the advertisements in good magazines. Copy the lettering. Reproduce it from memory over and over again till you have mastered several good alphabets, plain and ornamental, and can use them at will in making signs and designs of your own. Borrow an engraver’s book to get all the letters of each style in a complete group. When you have mastered a few kinds of letters so you can do plain and fancy lettering easily and rapidly, try to get a place in one of these sign-making shops and work up. If you do well and save your money as you did for the cornet, you may be able in a few years to start a shop of your own. Don’t drop your music; you may get into a band some day, though it is doubtful if you are strong enough to rely on that as a business.”
Some weeks later the counselor met the young man in the subway. He had followed the suggestions made to him,