TURNING UP

In the days of Martin Luther and King Henry VIII there were but three professions which a gentleman might enter--the army, the church, and the diplomatic service. Between these he was free to make his choice, unless his parents had already declded for him. If the boy was the son of a commoner, he almost always followed the trade of his father, and became a farmer, a cobbler, or apothecary as the case might be. He was never embarrassed by riches from which to choose his circumstances or his ancestors pointed him the way.

Since then professions have become more and more numerous. Universities and the idea of a "liberal education" have complieated the choice, until very few complete their college work with any definite ideas of what they want to do when they graduate. They go on with the notion that something evenfually will "turn up", and regard the whole question in the light in which they look upon the selection of a field of concentration. It the field first chosen prove unsuited, it appears a matter comparatively simple to change to another division, for the rules on that point are not very strict. But in later life it is harder to "get out of a rut", and the experience gained is very seldom worth the time spent. The man who has "tried his hand at everything" is generally to be found among the "aristocracy of the road".

Since the College gives training of a general nature, it has come to see the need of some further guide to the student in making his selection of future work. The "University Appointment Office" finds positions for men who intend to teach, and the "University Employment Bureau" gives opportunity for summer and incidental work. In another section of the CRIMSON there appears a notice from the "Alumni Association Appointment Bureau", covering a still different field. But the work of these three is practical and immediate, and cannot concern itself with guiding a man to his best-suited career. The primary need of each undergraduate is rather for personal advice to meet individual cases, and for general advice from men who know intimately their own fields. This is to be filled by a new series of six lectures, given by the Harvard Union, but open to all members of the University.

These are not offered for the purpose of "spreading propaganda", nor of rccruiting men for the various professions, but of giving information. In their ideal form they would be conferences between groups of students and the heads of different corporations and institutions. For the present they are merely lectures, supplemented as largely as possible by personal discussion.

The law of supply and demand will eventually work out a solution to the whole problem. The professions may set on foot an organized campaign for the recruiting of men. Appointment Bureaus of all kinds may unite to provide the best possible advice. A course may be offered on the subject, "open only to juniors and seniors". But meanwhile the present plan is the best that disinterested effort can contrive.