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 Uocationdl Quidance 
 
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 J. Tandu frroipn 
 
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Copyright 1922 bg J. Tandij Brown 
 
 ©C1A678499 
 

This Brochure is dedicated to 
 my Father in appreciation of his 
 Guidance in my youth. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 Twelve years of experience in the 
 field of Industry before entering- upon 
 my duties as a Trade Instructor, has 
 given me an insight into the problems 
 that confront those leaving school to 
 enter the work - a -day world. 
 
 Daily contact with boys, many of 
 whom social and economic barriers doom 
 to a life of toil with-out adequate prepar- 
 ation, information or counsel, relative to 
 their life's work, prompted me to delve 
 into the Science of Vocational Guidance. 
 
 This Brochure was written with 
 local problems and conditions in mind 
 and with the hope that its contents will 
 be helpful to others who are interested 
 in this most vital subject. 
 
 My hearty thanks are extended 
 to those who generously gave time 
 and valuable suggestions towards its 
 preparation. 
 
"Who can declare for what high cause this 
 Darling of the Gods was born." 
 
 The establishment of a Vocational 
 Bureau in Boston, Mass., in 1908, was 
 the first organized attempt in the United 
 States to bring into practice a move- 
 ment that since has become recognized 
 as the most progressive and helpful 
 agency in education launched in a de- 
 cade. The aims of this Organization 
 were to place before young men and wo- 
 men such advice and information as 
 would aid them in a wise choice as a vo- 
 cation; to publish and collect books, 
 pamphlets and other literature on indus- 
 trial, commercial and professional oc- 
 cupations; to carry on correspondence, 
 to give lectures, and interview persons 
 seeking counsel and advice concerning 
 matters of employment and employment 
 adjustment. The funds for the enter- 
 prise were furnished by persons inter- 
 
ested in public welfare movements. 
 The educational value of this work was 
 soon recognized by the public school 
 authorities of Boston, and a few years j 
 later the Bureau became a part of that J 
 public school system. 
 
 From the beginning the movement 
 has spread until at present every large 
 city that boasts of progressive public 
 schools has, as a part of its organiza- 
 tion, a Department of Vocational Guid- 
 ance. 
 
 Washington, until recently, was 
 among the large cities lacking a well 
 organized Committee or Bureau having 
 as its object the vocational advisement 
 of children in its public schools. In the 
 report of the Assistant Superintendent 
 in charge, of Colored Schools to the 
 Superintendent, July 1915, he stressed 
 the point that "The need of organized 
 vocational guidance calls for executive 
 action." His selection of a Central 
 Committee on Vocational Guidance in 
 
February 1919, further evidenced his 
 profound interest in the subject and his 
 knowledge of the moral, civic and eco- 
 nomic significance of this movement. 
 
 The selection by this Committee of 
 a "Vocational Counselor" for each of 
 the buildings in the 10th, 11th, 12 
 
 .1 13th Divisions was a most import- 
 ant movement, and the individual ef- 
 ts of ! Counselors will prove of 
 lasting 1 value to such pupils who are 
 fortunate to come under their observa- 
 tion. 
 
 Previous to the establishmenl of 
 this Committee on Vocational Guidance, 
 many and various have 
 
 made in the elementary and hi/h 
 schools, to bring into practice a wise 
 vocational guidance of children s:nd 
 youth. It was felt that the tim 
 come when these scattered efforts, 
 least in respect to pupils advancing 
 from the elementary to the high schools 
 or the vocational schools, should be cl 2 1 - 
 
nitely organized. Thus the schools of 
 Washington became identified in an or- 
 ganized way with the Vocational Guid- 
 ance Movement. 
 
 "Vocational Guidance is bound up 
 first with educational problems, and 
 second with economic questions." 
 
 Authorities on the subject are not 
 so much concerned with what Vocation- 
 al Guidance is, as, to what it attempts 
 to do. It has bean well agreed that its 
 aims are to give helpful advice to per- 
 sons in choosing, preparing for, entering 
 into and making progress in occupa- 
 tions. This is attempted by giving oc- 
 cupational information about commerce 
 and industry, and educational informa- 
 tion relative to courses of study, schools 
 and colleges best fitted to provide in- 
 struction for their chosen life's work. 
 Again it wcud assist in making oppor- 
 tunities for one to discover his voca- 
 tional bent, placement, and give such 
 help as would enab'e him to make pro- 
 
gress in his chosen Held. 
 
 "To work is the heritage of the 
 masses." The schools are concerned 
 h the masses.- The function of the 
 schools is to prepare the masses to en- 
 ter the work-a-day world equipped with 
 h mania- and physical abilities trrat 
 ie them to adjust themselv 
 to the many perplexing problems that 
 it them in the fields of in- 
 dustry. This the schools in the ful]: 
 have failed to do. 
 Until the establishment of vocai 
 al and trade schools no formal effort 
 had been made to prepare boys and girls 
 to meet the demands of industry in an 
 tcient manner. Statistics of school 
 leaving have proven that industry swal- 
 lows up a vast army of children ea 
 
 ' moulds I in t making 
 
 suit its own needs. The establish - 
 
 at of apprenticeship, vestibules and 
 
 other types of schools in factories and 
 
 merchantile establishments is evidence 
 
of the desire of industry and commerce 
 for more intelligent workers. The in- 
 troduction of vocational and trade 
 scliools was an attempt to supply the 
 demand for efficient workers in industry 
 and commerce. Considering there are 
 more than three thousand separate and 
 distinct occupations and that few if any 
 schools exist where an attempt is mace 
 to give instruction in more than twenty, 
 because of lack of facilities, space, cost 
 ol equipment and maintainance, it is ob- 
 vious that some ether scheme must be 
 devised to acquaint boys and girls with 
 an estimate of their abilities; further to 
 give such occupational information 
 will enable them to capitalize their I 
 ents in such manner as to make th 
 
 i.'Y-"^ 
 
 more efficient workers and render great- 
 er service to society. 
 
 This is one of the problems of Vo- 
 cational Guidance. Its value from an 
 educational standpoint is that it opens 
 the eyes of the pupil to the work of the 
 
world, helps him to find his place in it, 
 aids in preparing him to enter it, and 
 assists him in making progress in his 
 chosen field. Its moral value is in so 
 doing this, his future status as a good 
 citizen is secured. From an economic 
 point it enables him to enter adult life 
 equipped with keen tools and sharpened 
 s to earn his livelihood. 
 Since Vocational Guidance concerns 
 itself chiefly with young people found 
 in the public schools, and since its ef- 
 forts and results are closely related to 
 the economic welfare of the community, 
 it is advisable that the undertaking 
 should be a part of or closely related to 
 the publis school system. This would 
 enable such a department to coordinate 
 its activities with that of the attend- 
 ance and work certification offices, with 
 the department of mental and physical 
 measurement, school census, with those 
 conducting classes in occupations and 
 engaged in developing means for sup- 
 
plying school children with vocational 
 information, and with the output of the 
 vocational schools. 
 
 The machinery necessary for carry- 
 ing on such work is generally super- 
 vised by a central or advisory commit- 
 tee, a special department or bureau of 
 vocational guidance and a staff of coun- 
 selors. 
 
 The central or advisory committee 
 should be composed of school officers, 
 members of parent-teacher associations, 
 and representatives of civic, commercial 
 and industrial organizations whose as- 
 sistance and advice would be valuable 
 in planning vocational guidance activi- 
 ties and vocational courses of study to 
 fit the community, helpful in gathering 
 occupational information, and of valu- 
 able assistance when attempting to 
 make placements. 
 
 The Department of Vocational 
 Guidance should be directed by one who 
 has specialized in the Science of Voca- 
 
tional Guidance, possessing an ind 
 
 well as an academic point of 
 •v/. It should be a y engaged in 
 
 the gathering of occupational and edu- 
 cational information of particular inter- 
 est an Lie to the community a.*d pre- 
 ,re fcu< I lion for use to 
 . pupil and parent. It should assist 
 urses of study in occu] 
 
 • a source of infor- 
 ichers conducting classes. 
 In lieu ( 
 
 . of the school census and 
 have file cards bearing the nam 
 
 inforr 
 schools 
 grade. It should send out I:t- 
 ire and vocational inforr 
 nselors and keep them v 
 formed cone 
 t in 
 
 bringing the pupil, the 
 
cussing and planning the child's im- 
 mediate vocational future or for arrang- 
 ing its educational program. 
 
 The Counselors should interview 
 pupils brought to their notice for such 
 reasons as intent to leave school to go 
 to work, change of schools, le^jhig 
 school because of economic necessity, 
 arriving at the age when the law re- 
 leases them from being compelled to 
 continue, about to enter a vocational 
 school, and at such other critical times 
 as enter the life of the pupil. Case 
 methods should be applied in order to 
 fmd out the social life of the child and 
 arrange conferences with the parent to 
 obtain intimate knowledge of his en- 
 vironment, interests, talents and person- 
 al data regarding his problems. They 
 should be familiar with and make use of 
 mental and vocational tests to deter- 
 mine, (first) forms of intelligence, (sec- 
 ond) to detect subnormal or abnormal 
 children, (third) to select unusually 
 
bright children for special observation 
 and instruction, (fourth) to make a ten- 
 tative beginning of the guidance of the 
 vocational choice of children among la- 
 •, trades and professions. 
 Vocational Guidance should be pro- 
 vided before, during and after courses 
 vocational education if these courses 
 to be truly effective. 
 Students in vocational courses 
 >uld bo enrolled only after careful se- 
 lection on the basis of fitness and v 
 con d ehoice. 
 
 Course study in "Occupati< 
 
 Problems and Opportunities" in the 
 grades above the fifth and the establ! ;h- 
 ment of "Life Career" classes i 
 Junior and Senior High Schools, a 
 ctivities of the 
 
 of an efficient De- 
 ment of Vocation 
 
 iildren above the fifth grade 
 should be given specific informal 
 concer the various occupations 
 
carried on by persons in the industrial, 
 commercial and professional world for 
 economic gain. This can best be given 
 by arranging special courses of study 
 rather than attempting to give it in con- 
 nection with lessons in English, Geog- 
 raphy and other studies as is often 
 done. The subject matter should be 
 chosen with local needs and opportmr- 
 ties in mind, but broad and general 
 enough to give the pupil a knowledge 
 of the occupational world with the 
 civil, moral and economic point of view 
 ever before him. 
 
 Pupils of the Junior High School 
 who finish the ninth grade are confront- 
 ed with the problems of choosing be- 
 tween the academic course, the busi- 
 ness course, the secondary vocational or 
 the technical department of the high 
 schools. A "Life Career" class would 
 be the solution of that problem which 
 in all probability is the most important 
 decision a child would have to make 
 
in his whole school career. 
 
 The "Life Career" classes in the 
 Junior and Senior High Schools should 
 embrace studies that tend to widen the 
 students' experience, aid in discovering 
 and developing their talents, interests 
 and abilities, that teach the relation of 
 education to their vocational life and 
 such studies that enable them to plan 
 and prepare for their life's work. 
 
 Subjects of interest and concern to 
 students in such classes are those of 
 labor organizations, government control 
 of industry, collective bargaining, scien- 
 tific management, employment manage- 
 ment, time studies, job analysis, labor 
 turnover, wages, industrial rehabilita- 
 tion, closed shop, open shop, profit shar- 
 ing, bonus giving, and other coopera- 
 tive schemes. These are vital questions 
 of the day that every worker must 
 
 know. 
 
 In setting up a practice of Vocation- 
 al Guidance, the field in which it is to 
 
work must be surveyed to determine 
 what the community offers the youth 
 and adult for gaining educational advan- 
 tages and economic independence. 
 
 At a glance one is. disposed to feel 
 that 'Washington has a wealth of insti- 
 tutions for the educational advancement 
 of its Colored youth. 
 
 A more critical glance at the occu- 
 pational- opportunities, discloses the 
 [act that they are less fortunate in this 
 respect. 
 
 Due to the limited avenues of work 
 that are opened to the Colored youth of 
 Washington, the choice of an occupa- 
 tion should be given serious considera- 
 tion. The preparation for such work 
 should be carried out with great zeal in 
 !.er to meet and combat conditions 
 hic^i they have no control. 
 
 For the Colored youth who leaves 
 
 school at an early age, or one who has 
 
 d without taking into account 
 
 his unfitness for some specific occupa- 
 
tion, he finds the positions offered him 
 in the various government departments 
 paying a small salary and few if any 
 chances for advancement. On the other 
 hand he finds a number of the "street 
 trades" open to him with the attendant 
 small return for his labors and the ever 
 present bad influences that surround 
 such work. When age and size permit 
 he is onered such jobs as drivers, jump- 
 ers on delivery wagons, boot blacks, ele- 
 vator operators, porters, waiters, buss 
 beys, chauffeurs, dishwashers, pressers, 
 cleaners and dyers, gardeners, tub men 
 in iaunderies, firemen, workers in pack- 
 ing houses and markets, hucksters, but- 
 r s, footmen, attendants in banks, jani- 
 tors, firemen, watchmen, handlers in 
 auction houses, porters in terminal sta- 
 tions, street railway track workers, 
 teamsters and the whole geuntlet of un- 
 skilled occupations carried on in the 
 building industry and in the streets. 
 To a proportion of the girls who 
 
finish the Normal School, Washington 
 offers positions in its public school sys- 
 tem. For those who ar< le to pass 
 such examinations as aoo prescribed, 
 
 /tain p s in its g tment de- 
 
 partments and bureaus are obtains! 
 A number of Colored business houses, 
 nee companies, real estate firms, 
 law offices and financial institutions of- 
 fer them stenographic and clerical po- 
 sitions. The needle trades are carried 
 on extensively in dress making estab- 
 lishments, millinery shops, tailor shops 
 and private dwellings. Hair dressing 
 shops and beauty parlors enroll stu- 
 dents and employ apprentices who f 
 a profitable field for their work when 
 they have completed the course. 
 
 o the girls who leave school at 
 an early age to seek employment, the 
 
 d is limited to such occ 113 as 
 
 attendants in physicians' offices, dental 
 offices, switch board operators, eleva' 
 operators, maids in hotels, clubs, tr 
 
aters, stores and private homes, mani- 
 curists in barber shops, cooks, dusters 
 and stock carriers in department stores, 
 workers in laundries, cleaning and dye- 
 ing establishments, waitresses in tea 
 rooms and cafeterias, charwomen, care 
 takers, employment in box, overall and 
 apron factories, car cleaners around 
 terminals and street railway barns and 
 all manner of domestic service. 
 
 For those who have had the good 
 fortune to have chosen their life's work 
 and prepared for it, Washington and the 
 country at large offer unbound oppor- 
 tunities and compensation for services 
 rendered. 
 
 The youth who chooses a profes- 
 sional career, prepares for it, enters up- 
 on it and makes progress, is assured of 
 his social standing and economic inde- 
 pendence. The same may apply should 
 he choose an industrial, agricultural or 
 commercial career. The all important 
 problem for the youth is to choose and 
 
begin to prepare for his career at that 
 time in life when conditions are such 
 as will enable him to carry out his pur- 
 pose. It is at this point in the child's 
 school life that Vocational Guidance is 
 of inestimable value. 
 
 The lessons in occupations tend to 
 open the pupils eyes to the work of the 
 world and the problems which will con- 
 front them upon entry into it. At a 
 certain age, every youth has in his mind 
 some kind of worker he would like t?; 
 be. The lessons in occupations teach 
 him the tasks he would have to do, the 
 advantages and disadvantages of such 
 an occupation, how he might prepare for 
 this calling, the wages he might expect, 
 its value to society, his chances for ad- 
 vancement and how such work would 
 effect his social status. Undoubtedly 
 such information when given, sets the 
 child to thinking and his choice will 
 change as he goes further into the sub- 
 ject, until the thought of any one lire 
 
of work is lost, because of the interest 
 
 in the subject of occupations in general. 
 
 By the time he reaches the Junior 
 
 High School, he has a comprehensive 
 
 knowledge of .he world's work and may 
 
 make special studies of a number of 
 
 occupations under conditions that will 
 
 mil him to "try out 5 ' such as he has 
 
 i en consideration, for the specific pur- 
 
 i.g at least a tentative 
 
 ■xce of his life's work. 
 
 special advantages to be de- 
 rived by the Colored youth of Washing- 
 ten from t)\Q teaching of occupation.; 
 and the establishment of "Life Career" 
 sses, will come in his being made ae- 
 on, ainted with great strides made re- 
 illy by Negroes here in the District 
 g commercial and industrial lines. 
 In the establishment of banks, the 
 forming of cooperative stores, real 
 estate development companies, amuse- 
 ment enterprises, moving picture cor- 
 porations, apartment, hotel, business 
 
and theater building projects, insurance 
 investments, printing establishments, 
 stock companies financed by men of 
 color for the benefit and in the interest 
 of the Race, opens an entirely new field 
 of labor for the Colored youth of the 
 District. 
 
 The i lopme: such enter- 
 
 prises means that avenues of employ- 
 ment will be open to them which here- 
 tofore have been closed, and the know- 
 ledge of such employment should be 
 
 Light in the schools in a specific rather 
 than a general manner that they may 
 
 ow of these opportunities and prepare 
 lor them. 
 
 Vocational Education in the Colored 
 schools is undertaken in (first) two F 
 vocational schools, (second) one Normal 
 school, (third) one Business High 
 School, (fourth) one Manual Training 
 High School. None of these Vocational 
 Centers so far as is generally known, 
 save the Normal School has effected a 
 
definite, positive and systematic rela- 
 tionship with the vocations of the com- 
 munity. The vocational program of the 
 Manual Training High School is being 
 worked out to correct this evil along 
 a number of lines. A Business High 
 School divorced from connection with 
 the Academic High School will stimu- 
 late its activities in a like manner. 
 
 In the further establishment of Pre- 
 vocational Activities in the Junior High 
 Schools the various "try out" courses 
 offered will no doubt be established with 
 the purpose in mind of having a diver- 
 sified number of "short unit" courses 
 conducted in an intensive manner, the 
 same bein^ selected because of their 
 value to society. Pupils following these 
 courses would be followed up with a 
 system of cumulative record cards 
 showing in a brief but specific manner 
 their interest, abilities and fitness for 
 such work. 
 
 Data of this kind would be valu- 
 
able reference material concerning the 
 pupils for the Officials in charge of such 
 schools. It could find its way into the 
 hands of counselors and advisors and be 
 a gauge in advising the child vocation- 
 ally. 
 
 With the enactment of adequate 
 compulsory school attendance laws, 
 school census legislation along with the 
 development of continuation schools, a 
 Department of Vocational Guidance 
 would be of material assistance in carry- 
 ing out these provisions. 
 
 The proposed legislation is in keep- 
 ing with other progressive educational 
 movements and means the necessary at- 
 tendance in school of thousands of chil- 
 dren who otherwise at the age of four- 
 teen and fifteen would drop out to seek 
 work. Compelling these children to con- 
 tinue school, without some agency to 
 assist them in a wise choice of a voca- 
 tion when they are finally released, 
 would indeed be denying them the one 
 
thing that would make school going less 
 distasteful — that is, supplying an in- 
 centive for school attendance. Compel- 
 ling children to stay in school after a 
 certain age without an incentive is dead- 
 ing and productive of little good con- 
 sidering per capita cost for educating 
 them. 
 
 It is safe to say that no system of 
 continuation schools however highly or- 
 ganized could function properly with the 
 field from which it obtains its pupils 
 without some system of Vocational 
 Guidance as a part of its program. 
 
 t^ Washington has a wealth of agen- 
 cies where literature and information 
 may be obtained on matters concerning 
 the subject of Vocational Guidance and 
 the study of "Occupational Problems 
 and Opportunities." 
 
 The Federal Board for Vocational 
 Education, furnishes a number of ex- 
 perts on vocational advisement and 
 placement, and a vast amount of litera- 
 
ture concerning such subjects. The Bu- 
 reau of Education offers facilities for 
 reference, research and investigation. 
 The National Research Council supplies 
 information and welcomes conferences 
 on all matters pertaining to the Move- 
 ment. The American Federation of La- 
 bor is a source of supply from which 
 questions concerning labor and labor or- 
 ganizations may be obtained. The Bu- 
 reau of Conciliation in the Department 
 of Labor is a clearing house for the oc- 
 cupational problems and opportunities 
 for the Negro. The Congressional Li- 
 brary and the Carnegie Library's shel- 
 ves contain books, pamphlets and cur- 
 rent literature on the subject. The Cen- 
 sus Bureau will soon release its valu- 
 able data on occupations as it specifi- 
 caly concerns Colored workers. The 
 Junior. Division of the United States 
 Employment Service has worked out 
 tentative courses of study on occupa- 
 tions for use in elementary, junior and 
 
senior high schools, normal schools and 
 colleges; attempts placement and em- 
 ployment supervision for minors. The 
 Young Men's Christian Association of- 
 fers an extension course from Columbia 
 University to ex-service men, teachers 
 and others interested in the subject. 
 The Rotary Club has a program of Vo- 
 cational Guidance as part of its activi- 
 ties and a number of private schools 
 and organizations have recently evinced 
 great interest in the subject. 
 
 While Vocational Guidance tends to 
 do the practical thing for the youth in 
 the schools, it does not fail to attempt 
 the ideal. 
 
 The discriminating teacher who is 
 endowed with that uncanny faculty of 
 recognizing the spark of genius in chil- 
 dren, is compelled time after time to 
 relinquish the fond hops that the child 
 will some day blossom into an artist, a 
 great singer or some other gifted per- 
 son, because of the limited time the pu- 
 
 \ 
 
pil comes under her observation. The 
 special teachers of drawing and music 
 have in their charge boys and girls who 
 undoubtedly show rare qualities of abili- 
 ties along these lines. 
 
 There can be no doubt of the ar- 
 tistic tendencies of the Negro; which 
 have already found notable expressions 
 in Poetry, Music and the Fine Arts to 
 the point of unusual achievement. 
 
 In the first faint glimpse of human 
 civilization we see the African already 
 highly artistic, bringing from the land 
 of Punt a culture that flowers on the 
 banks of the Nile into the most sublime 
 examples of Sculpture and Architecture. 
 Throughout the centuries we find the 
 impulse crushed for a time, but at 
 length it bursts forth, now into an "Al- 
 hambra," a Dunbar, a Coleridge Taylor 
 and a Tanner. Our whole race history 
 bequeathes to us such a rich emotional 
 inheritance that many have prophesied 
 that from the Negro race must spring 
 
the artistic genius of America. Already 
 we have to a certain degree fulfilled that 
 prophecy in poetry and music. 
 
 A Department of Vocational Guid- 
 ance would ever be watchful for our 
 boys and girls who possess talents above 
 the average, inform parents of ttfieir 
 children's rare endowment, encourage 
 them to develop and cultivate these ten- 
 dencies and thereby save for the Race 
 numbers of boys and girls who might 
 otherwise lead mediocre l;ves. 
 
 V *P Hr "V V 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 019 643 806 3 £