DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF EQUCATION BULLETIN, 191-8., No. 24 VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS BY W. CARSON RYAN, Jr. SPECIALIST IN INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND VOCATIONALGUIDANCE BUREAU OF EDUCATION" WASHINGTON I GOVF..RNMENT PRIMING OFFICE 1919 ADDITIONAL COPIER GI THIS PUBLICATION MAY DE PROCURED PROM THE SUPERINTENDENT Or DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING WASHINGTON, 1).U. HU COPY I CONTENTS. Pine. Letter of transmittal Introduction 7 1. The field of vocational guidance 9 Definitions Of vocational guidance_ a 9 Vocational 11!: eli ology .12 V4 WIII1011:II guilla nee In relation to general (4111(.0.611mi progress__ 15 Placement_ 21 II. The vocational guitlanCeInliventent 2:; Historical developMent 23 Spread of the movement 24 Youthandindustry 20 Vocational elIklattee in the nathmal associations, 27 Recent growth 30 III. Studies of schoolleaving 1111I1 employment 38 Miissachusetts cdnunission on industrial add tAnical education_ 40 Federal report on conditions antler which children tve school to go to work,. _ 41 Worcester, Cambridge, and Somerville, Mass 44 nurtford v0(101(0,11 guidance cotnIttee 4(1 Philadelphia 47 New York City 49 Cincinnati 50 > Other studies 51 IV:Material On the occupations _. 59 Statistical studies of ocentaitions_ ' On Vocational tiontpillets ea Special st mires of occupations ., 68 IntensWe studies of occupational requirements_ 70 The health aspects of occupations 75 Occupational material and newer hooks on guidance._ 75 V-School use of occupational materiel_ _ 77 In establishing vocational training' 77 In giving vocatintud Information. ..f. 78 ' A general guidance plan. 81 . VT. Organization of vocational wildfowl, In typical centers___.,..... __ ..._ 83 VII. Recent English experience and its stanitienhee for the -United States_ . t, . ft VIII. iSIumnary and conclusions 98 131bilography --- 12 , Appendix k Typical Job malyses - 132 Appentc B.Poblic high schools repOrting. vocation bureaus or similar . ..- . 'depattnepts . 1:37 I N DEX.....---....... _ -__ 1411 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. DEPAI:T.mEN ut rnr, INTERIOR, # lit:REA U or EnucArtort, 11.(f.shington, Octoher 3/,- .191g. Si,: The fundamental significance oft principtes involved in what has been known as the vocational guitilinceovement has come to be appreciated with special force under the:exigencies of war, and stjil more completely inolerstoothiPin the period of rcconstrucs.. titni that is. to follow. The part the, schools can play iii.thc mov$Itrtit for betteiatiliza- Lion of human resources. is an important one.-liy tucking know to all the children Of all the pet Wilit the world's work.is Raj what the ppportunities and obligations 'for serviet are, the schools can do no other agency could do so well. a . If the sehoolsare to lead in this movement,llie teachers will peed to be specially skilled in lthow)eklge of the vorhlwf oc;,:ppations; they must have a sympatlitic understanding of labor problems, alid they ust-be capahle of guiding public opinion intelligt:ntly-, The ticcompaying;slutly, made by W. Cat'son Ryan, jr., of the Bureau of EdUcation, brings together in accessible formforthe use of teachesthe contribution of the public schools tic theocational guidance movement in the past tekid,evears.I 'recommend that it be published mi ci bulletin of the Ihireitti of Education. Nncerely yours, , .P.1'. CLAvros, Commi,,xbwr. The SECRETARY 01 TUE INTERIOR; gtid r VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOI.S. INTRODUCTION.. The . problem of organizing human labor resources has suddenly emerged, like so many other social and economic problems, from the realm of the afademic into that of the immediate and practical, largely under the stimulus of .war necessity.Through the selective- draft act, the Federal employment plan, and specialized training under. the War Department, no less than through the vocational re- habilitation and vocational education laws, the United States has un- dertaken, as never before, to coittrOl the distribution of human service. In a senAe this task. that"the Nation has been'eng4d in, that of' training, enlisting, and selecting workers for the Army. for thc-as- sential industries, and for agriculture,, is a gigantic experirnyit.in vocational guidaAce.In authorizing. the selective service regula- tions President Wilson said:- 'ilhe time has COMP for ft more perfect organization of our,than power. The seleoti NV principle must he earths(' to Its logical conclusion. We must mike a effintlete Inventory of thelqualllications of ill registrants in order to determine, as to each mon not already selected for duty With the colors, Abe place In thp huhistrial, or agricultural rank's of the Nation la which,his experleueir and training can best hr Mae to serve the common good.This project In volves an inquiry into the donfetale, industrial. and 19luentIonal qualiticationeV o_ f nearly ten million mom . For'a decade oi more the vocal lanai gilidane movement has sought to make a contribution lo this task with which the Nation Was1/4sull- dimly Icon Wilted.It has sought in a piroach the problem through::: denioeracylt chief agent--the.publie school.Those concerned in the vocational guidance movement-have been siudying the eArly school- -- that has driven so many (Joys and girls too spon_ intojadus- triallife; they .hayetried to And Ivitys of. protecting the Tsrtitiiiir against the sacrifice youth to. economic detniiiiirs; they lute .qought to bridge the gapbetNycelyedtreation and-indu4ry. their efforts uport voluntary coopdatiOn,.the7y have appealed to boys and girls to ,cimtinne their education and to.make careful ch.ice of a :oentionN ; they bave aimed to counsel,- rather 'than to got jObs. or tasitaithey have tried to' prosent the whole world of.human 8 VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE AND THE hBLICScidOOLS. occupations, to the end that youth might choose for itself the path of . useful service. The prItent is a significant period in the vocational guidance movement. On the one it nd it must utili2e the present national 5nprest in the mobilizing o Tupations to drive home the impor- tance of proper guidance from the earliest-. days of childhood ; on the other it musee that selecting of the young for national service now is more than mere job getting; that tite 'rife of- temporary work .athigh pay does not divert a boy or.a girl from the higher duty of adequate training lie owes to himself .and to his country. On the basis of ghat is done now will depend the strength and value of the movement afte'r the war. It is the purpose of this study, therefore, to give nu account of the vocational. ginance movement its it has developZ4.1 in the past 10 years. particularly in relation to the public school; to firing together in summary form the investigations that have demonstrated the need for vocational guidince; t9. show the wealth of material nu the occupations that has recently been accumu- ;lated for the-use of the teacher who would be.a counselor: and to re- port on vocational -guidance work as it is'actually carried on in many American schools and. school systems.' 'A %umber of unpublished documents containing valuable information have been placed it the disposal of the writer in the pt.eparation of this report.For this and many other 'courtesies, particularly in critleni rearlIng of the bibliography. special thanksari tine to Mr. Meyer Bloomfield, Als.Jesse R. Davis. Mr. W. A. Whettley .Mr. Chart,: L. Jeicolis Pr! John M. Brewer. Prof. Frank M. Leavitt, Mr. B. C. Grueoberg, and Mn. s A. iced. 4 e. I. THE.FIELD OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE.' DEFINITIONS OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANgE. It is inevitable that thereshould be conflict of'opinionas to what constitutes vocational guidanceand just how and where 'it shall ho carried out. A critical examinationof the literature is re,assuring, however. in the evidence it furnishesof a developing agreement in aims and nvetboas. There are numerous definitions ofvocational guidance.It is sig- qiiticant that most of those whohave achieved something in the work confine themselves toa statement of what vocational guidance does or aims to do rather than what it is. The purpose of the first vocationbureau, that in Boston,was de-' Glared by its founder, Frank Parsons,to he To old young people in choosingan occupation, preparing themselves for it, finding an opening In it, and buildingup a career. of efficiency and success; and to help any, young or old, who seek counselas to opportunities and resources fin. the betterment of their conditionand the means of increasing theirm; nomic ffliclency. - Me3.er Bloomfield, who carriedon Parson's work. and whose name is perhaps better known in themovement than that ofany other worker, says: N Vocational guidance aims to make bothschool and occupation help bop}and- girls to discover andAeveiop theirpowers for service, through school programs in cluirgn of speciallPirsined vocational tonnselorsin schools and 'employment programs In charge of specially trained employmentsupervisors in the OCcupa Con. Brevier,Imother investigator in thefield, insists that "vocational guidance is bound up first of all witheducational problems, andsec- ond with economic and social questions.:" He stresses educational guidance and lays down aprogram that would include: (1) Laying a broad foundation of useful experiences; (2) studyingoccupational oppo tunities; (3) choosing an occupation; '(4') preparing,for the occ.npation; -(5) entering upon work; (6)securing promotions atol making adjustments. = Escept for the special material'Section VII (p. 92), this bulastin deals only with _ the rotted States.For