VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

Hokitika Guardian, 2 September 1930, Page 7

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

SCHOOLMASTER’S VIEWS. DUNEDIN, Aug. 29. Some of the fundamentals of the highly intricate problem of vocational guidance were discussed by Mr L. E. de Derry.. before the University Club to-day. Mr de Berry hfw just been appointed, headmaster nf the West Christchurch School, Dealing briefly with the requirements of any system designed to direct young people in the matter of their life work, Mr de Berry said that too often the schoolmaster was not sufficiently a man of affairs to advise a youth on such a subject as his vocation in life. Another essential was the inclination of the youth. The speaker said he considered the greatest weakness of the educational system to-day was its failure to recognise a youth’s gift of creation. Having learned what a youth’s inclination's and aptitudes were, it remained for the guide to bring the youth and the work together. That was a task in which business men and organisations such as the Manufacturers’ Associations and the Chambers of Commerce could assist, greatly, but he personally considered that the Department of Scientific and industrial Research would be accomplishing much more for the Dominion if it concentrated on vocational guidance instead of devoting the whole of its time to 'inflect pests and manufacturing and producing problems. The human problems of industrial life should come first.