Thesis Approved By Jjfi.2m ¿¿¿ ?... or f-A' > — A V ______De an PRESENT AND PROPOSED GUIDANCE PRACTICES IN POUR-YEAR CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOLS OP THE ARCHDIOCESE OP DENVER BY SISTER ALPHQNSA MARIE BOCNE, S.L. A THESIS Submitted to the Faculty of The Creighton University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Education OMAHA, 1945 A OKU CWLEDGMBN T For their kindness in making this study pos­ sible the writer is indebted to Reverend Hubert Newell, Superintendent of Schools of the Archdiocese of Denver, who permitted the questionnaire to be sent tnrough his office and who gave helpful suggestions; to Doctor Daniel C. Sullivan of the Education Department of the Creighton University for his assistance in planning and criticising the complete report; to the administrators of the secondary schools for their prompt and valuable cooperation; to Sister Mary Rebecca, Supervisor of Loretto high schools in Colorado, who not only sug­ gested the study but aided in formulating the question­ naire . Many of my friends have been extremely helpful, partly because of their experience in personnel work but even more because of their continued interest in the project. I should like to thank especially Sister Mary Dominica, who rendered invaluable aid in reading and correcting the manuscript. TABLE OF GOT TENTS Page LIST OF TABLES........................................................................... i INTRODUCTION...................................................................................i i i Chapter s I. THE RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION OF STUDY . 1 Organization and Administration of Guidance program ................................................. 4 Religious Guidance ............................................ 11 Educational Guidance ........................................ 14 Social Guidance ................................................. 18 Health Guidance ................................................. 20 Vocational Guidance ........................................ 22 Miscellaneous Guidance P ractices .... 24 C ou n selin g ...................................................................25 Placement and Follow U p .....................................27 Personnel R e c o r d s ............................................ 28 II. CONCLUSIONS ABOUT GUIDANCE PRACTICES . 31 III . RE COMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVED GUIDANCE SERVICES.................................... 39 APPENDIX..............................................................................................59 Letter and Questionnaire Used in This Study BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................................................66 LIST OF TABLES T a b le page 1. Types of High Schools C lassified According to E n rollm en t.............................................................. 1 2. Types of High Schools and C lassifica tion of Pupils ........................................................................... 2 3. Frequency of Types of School Administrators 3 4. Frequency of Time A llotted to Guidance . 5 5. Frequency of Types of Training of Personnel Workers ........................................................................... 6 6. Frequency of Factors Used in the selection of Personnel Workers ............................................ 7 7. Frequency of Faculty personnel Meetings . 8 8. Frequency of Factors Used to Interest Faculty in Guidance Program ............................... 8 9. Frequency of Schools Using Published Materials for V ita lizin g the Guidance Program ........................................................................... 9 10. Frequency of Guidance Magazines Listed . 10 11. Frequency of Schools Having Active S o d a l i t i e s ............................................................ 12 12. Frequency of Boys’ and Girls’ Sodalities in Coeducational Schools ................................... 12 13. Frequency of Schools Having Active Units o f C.S.M.C................................................................ 13 14. Frequency of Schools Using Aptitude Tests . 15 15. Frequency of Schools Making provision for Individual Differences ........................................ 15 16. Frequency of Schools Making provision for Handicapped Children ............................................ 16 T a b le Page 17. Frequency of Activities Encouraged as Education for Leisure T im e ............................... 17 18. Frequency of Schools Having Regular Course in How To S tu d y ......................................................... 18 19. Frequency of Factors Promoting Social Life of Students.................................................................. 19 20. Frequency of Factors Constituting the Health Program .......................................................... 20 21. Frequency of the Years in Which a Formal Course in Vocational Guidance is Offered . 23 22. Frequency of Techniques to Impart Vocational Inform ation ........................................ 23 23. Frequency of Group Counseling Period . 26 24. Frequency of Student Participation in Group C o u n s e lin g .................................................................. 26 25. Frequency of Techniques Used in the Placement and Follow Up program ...................... 28 l i INTRODUCTION Guidance as an organized movement is s t i l l in its infancy. This does not mean that there has not been a need for guidance before the twentieth century. In fact, this need was recognized and met with informal guidance since the dawn of h istory. I t has been work­ ing hand in hand with other teaching procedures in fur­ thering the needs of the individual and society. 3y our very nature as social beings we cannot reach our goals without some assistance from others. If this fact is true for human beings in general, how much more is it true for adolescents? Their judgments are immature; their knowledge of educational and voca­ tional opportunities, very narrow; and the conscious­ ness of their own abilities and limitations, in the ma­ jo r it y of cases, an unknown quantity. Adequate guid­ ance, therefore, during the period of adolescence is perhaps more essential than elsewhere in our school sys­ tem. During the past half century many factors have added to the complexity of an adolescent’ s life and thrown new responsibilities on secondary schools. Changes in both the numbers and types of population, the specialization in industry, higher standards of living have been responsible for unprecedented increase in enrollment. Surveys show an increase of' 650 per cent in the enrollment in secondary schools in the first three decades of this century.1 These, together with wartime a ctiv ity , have brought to the fore a very press­ ing need for organized guidance. V/hen speaking of guidance in a broad sense, we may divide it into two fields. In the primary field we place religious guidance, which has for its ultimate end the adjusting of one’s life for eternal relationship with God. Intimately connected with religious guidance are social and civic. For, in attaining happiness here­ after an individual must perfect his relationship with his fellow beings. In the secondary field are the vocational, edu­ cational, and health phases of the organized guidance programs. Again one hinges on the other. After deter­ mining through aptitude, in terest, and health tests the vocation for which a pupil seems to be fitted, an educa­ tional program best suited to the accomplishment of his chosen work should be mapped out for him. Pi. Shirley A. Hamrin and Clifford E. Erickson, Guidance in the Secondary School, p. 28. New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1939. iv Dr. Daniel 0. Sullivan maintains that vocational guidance is the weakest phase of the guidance program in the secondary schools, both public and private. He af­ firms that while preparing a child for hereafter vie can also fit him for life on earth. There is no reason why the adolescent who a t­ tends secondary school should not be assisted in discovering that work for which he is fitted, thereby making his path to his final salvation a little easier, if not a little surer.* 2 Drastic changes between the methods of teaching in elementary and secondary schools shift the responsi­ bility on us to help the student to meet this change through educational guidance. The variety of courses in the present day cur­ riculum presents another problem. The student needs di­ rection in choosing those courses which will not only be a help in later life but also bring him satisfaction and happiness in high school. Father Raphael McCarthy in speaking of educational guidance in his book, Training the Adolescent, stresses the necessity of this point. The purposes of educational guidance have been reduced to two: (1) to a s sist young peo­ ple in the choice of their educational careers; and (2) to aid them in the building up of that o 2. Daniel C. Sullivan, Ph.D., "The Case for Vo­ cational Guidance," Catholic School Journal, XLIV (1944), 217. v morale which is required for successful learn­ ing. 3 This study resulted from the expressed desire of Sister Mary Rebecca, Supervisor of the Loretto high schools in Colorado, to investigate current guidance practices and to adopt a unified plan in the Catholic high schools of the Archdiocese of Denver. Studies of guidance practices of most large public school systems are available. Material along these lines in the Cath­ olic field is very limited. An investigation of the status of vocational guidance in 274 large