CHOICE OF CAREER

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 133, 2 December 1929, Page 13

CHOICE OF CAREER

ADVICE FOR BOYS

BUSINESS, FARMING, TRADES

What shall wo do with our boys, what is there for a boy to do, and how shall ho decide what calling in life to follow, were tho main questions dealt with by representatives of different vocations—commerce, farming, trades —who addressed a large audience of secondary schoolboys and their parents at Canterbury College the other night. The boys were about to leave school and launch nut into the world. It was announced that an Advisory Committee is to be set up to meet once a week at Canterbury College, in. order to. help boys to-find the employment most suited fo them.

Professor J. Shelley, who presided, told how, for many years, there had been a gap between the time a boy left school and the time ho entered cni-1 ployment. This progress ought to be a gradual climb, not a jump, and it was the purpose of the meeting to supply information which might make 'the transition from school to industry easier. BUSINESS MAN'S ADVICE.""" "There is nothing 'infra dig' in any job that you take on, so long as you do that job thoroughly; ability and energy will succeed in almost any occupation," said Mr Norton Francis, president of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, who spoke with special reference to a commercial career. The Chamber of Commerce, lie said, was very much interested in the problem. The question of what was the best job for a boy was indeed a' difficult one, because the answer varied so much according to the individual's ability and inclination. He did not hesitate to advise all his audience .to consult Professor Shelley and Dr. Beeby, who would put them through psychological tests which would tend to throw valuable light on individual aptitude. Mr Norton Francis dealt with the ease of where there was an opening for a boy in his father's or relative's business, but where the boy had no taste for the vocation. His advice in these cases always was that the boy should make perfectly sure that his taste was overwhelmingly against this pursuit before he turned the chance down.

Tho greatest maxim for the conduct of life in any calling is that honesty is the best policy," added tho speaker. "Then you must remember that your education does not end with leaving the classroom. I thoroughly recommend a few evenings a week sc"t apart for close study after you leave school. You who are leaving school remember that when you start on your vocation you must start at the bottom and go right through the mill just as you did at school; I pity you if you don't. Finally, always be courteous: always be tactful; always be polite."

ON THE LAND.

There was an impression-—a relic of tho time when all our ancestors wore farmers—that farming was a simple vocation which anyone could undertake, said Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf, of Jjineola College, who summed up the prospects of a farming career. But that impression was far from true Another common misconception was that, farmers . were well-to-do. Fortunes had been made in farming it was true, but' not easily. Boys who took up farming' could look forward to .long hours and hard work Wages for a start were low, probably not .mere than lus or £1 a week. Then, why did men go farming? asked Dr. Hilgendorf. The main reason probably was that men in the country lived full lives even if they did not have full pockets. The farmer was constantly struggling w itli Nature, in an endeavour to wrest something from her instead of from his f]- clowmen. The farmer enjoyed the pride, denied to some callings, of beimr a producer. h

Agam, it must be admitted that farming offered infinite possibilities in these days, and mixed farming provided plenty of variety. Perhaps the greatest benefit of all was th 0 Pf oelh£ of independence which the farmer enjoyed. Even if the mortgagee stood over Inm he was not his landlord and the farmor was able to do what he lilted and how he liked so long as he paid

o/ln" I?^^ £t W years the amenities oi country.life had increased tremendously. One of the great advance™ ad been lv electric light and .power for the tarni. In country life the boy was learning while he earned and then though his earnings might be small his savings were considerable.

HOW TO START.

-The problem for the boy was how lie should_ start. It was not hard for him to begin by getting a position in the harvest field during the season winch was now drawing near. H© could instance scores of farmers in good portions who, by aint of hard work as larm labourers over a period of eight or ten years, had saved enough to set up as farmers themselves. ' In this country they had an added advantage because there were a certain number of stock and station firms who were willing to help-a man to establish himself and who always placed the character of tho man above everything else. If a boy or his parents had £100 ho would advise them to spend it on a course at Lincoln College before the boy took up farming permanently. If the money could not be found straight away then tho boy could work on a farm_for a couple of years ancl save sufficient to take a course at tho College. The especial advantage of such a course was that, at the College, a boy could get practice in the whole gamut of farming whether he was good or bad at tho particular operations If a boy has a taste for farming he cannot look on it as a means of getting rich in a short time, but he can look forward to a healthy, happy life in tho open air in communion with Nature " concluded Dr. Hilgendorf. ' SECONDARY INDUSTRIES. The prospects of a life spent among New Zealand's secondary industries were assessed by Mr. E. H. Marriner organiser of the Canterbury Manufacturers' Association. In New Zealand, he said, there were 5000 factories and seventy or eighty different industries from which they might choose. In New Zealand there was plenty of cheap power, the wages were high, and tho working conditions good. If boys with a taste for this class of work were-- prepared to work hard then there wevo good prospects in the secondary industries.

Mr. E. T. Bailey, who is in charge of the Labour Department in Christchurch, said that his Department was always pleased to try to find work for boys. He enumerated the various trades, the conditions and duration of apprenticeship in them, and the wages offering. These, he explained, were ixed by the Arbitration Court. MISTAKES OF PARENTS. ' Professor Shelley said that Mr. G. T. Lancaster, headmaster of the Boys' High School, who was unable to 'be present that night, had had many years' experience With boys and their parents, and from this he has been able to formulate three general rules about their attitude to employment. They were- these: (1) Thero is a tendency on the part of parents to rate too highly "black-coated" occupations. People often apologise to me when they tell

mo that their boys aro going to bo carpenters, for example. (2) Parents commonly have the idea that immediately a boy leaves school ho should enter employment—no matter what—and start to earn right away. (3) There- is a tendency for a boy, onco ho is in an occupation, to stay there. Change of occupation may be good, provided it is made with proper reasons.

Commenting on tho second of these statements, Professor Shelley said he looked forward to tho time when there would be a special institution to which everyone would go while waiting for a job, and from'hero they would go out to thfi particular employment for which they were best suited, no matter what period of the year it was.

Tho third statement, he added, was especially true. Interest and capacity were two of tho cardinal principles on which the choice of a career should be based.