DALY DISCUSSES STUDENT COUNCIL VOCATION REPORT

The following article discussing the Student Council Committee report on vocational training was written specially for the Crimson by W. W. Daly '16, Secretary for Student Employment.

Any discussion of the report on Vocational Counsel which has recently appeared in the CRIMSON, must be prefaced by the statement that the committee has done an excellent piece of work they have analyzed not only the problem but the method of an attempted solution in an extremely sound manner. Furthermore, they have obtained a clear insight into the needs of undergraduates and have made a penetrating study of the possibilities of meeting those needs.

Harvard Men Need Advice

The age-old theory that Harvard, because of its location or some tradition at individualism, has less need for vocational guidance than other universities, is entirely out of date. Harvard seniors in this age of manifold interests, are less and less able to determine which offers submitted by numberless business concerns, are adapted to their abilities or to their tastes. It is increasingly clear to me, after discussing vocational questions for the past three years, that the great majority of Harvard seniors have no idea which held of business activity they wish to enter. They have seized eagerly any information in the form of pamphlets booklets or monographs which would serve as a genuine source of information regarding the various fields which are open. Vocational guidance is necessary at Harvard and it must be made available as soon as possible.

Vocational Information Needed

As the Council has pointed out, the question of the exact nature of this service must be faced squarely. I believe that vocational information is of much greater value than vocational guidance. As I have tried to suggest in the articles I have written for the CRIMSON during the past months, the Vocational Counsellor should indicate the essential features of various businesses so that the student would be either attracted or repelled by the picture thus presented. If the student is interested, he will probably investigate the matter further; if repelled, he can cross off one branch of business from his list and devote his attention to those which remain. As Douglas Fryer points out in his book, Vocational Self Guidance, the essential need is not for guidance but for stimulation, for thinking on the basis of accurate information. The report has stressed this point and I am in hearty agreement with its recommendation.

The committee has also suggested that the problem should not be ap- proached from the quasi-scientific point of view but should be attacked from the human angle. Vocational guidance charts, in many cases, the course which the man will sail for the rest of his life. Therefore, there should be no barriers between the man and the guide. Everything possible should be done to make the seeker feel free to talk in detail about his private life and his future hopes. To further this end, I believe that guidance should be done not in any bustling office, with its paraphenalia of efficiency, but in a comfortable room with comfortable chairs, across cigars or cigarettes. In an environment which bespeaks leisure and intimacy. In stressing the value of the human quality, the committee has done a wise thing.

Guidance is not Mechanical

This need for leisured intimacy has some bearing. I believe, on the question of the status of the director of vocational guidance. There is much discussion of the official standing of such a man and questions concerning his alliance with the faculty or with the Alumni Association are paramount. I believe that, whatever his standing, whether or not he be a member of the Faculty, he should not be surrounded by such a blaze of glory or honor that the humble fear to approach his throne or open their hearts to him. They must not be frightened by his title, and for that reason, I should suggest that he should not rejoice in the title of professor.

What is more pertinent, however, in this question of the political allegiance of the director of vocational guidance are his qualifications. I cannot help feeling that, if a faculty member is detailed for this work there will be a great danger; his business experience would be, of necessity limited, because, if he is a good teacher, he cannot have afforded to divide his allegiance between the cloister and the market-place. To discuss vocations intelligently, one must have a detailed knowledge of the subject. The vocational guidance director must be as much an authority on his subject as the professor is on whatever subject he may be discussing. I do feel, however, that the holder of this position should be thoroughly acquainted with the work of the Committee on the Choice of Electives for, as long as Harvard is a liberal arts rather than a vocational college, courses should be selected for ther own value rather than for the possible benefit which they would give in the way of training one for a vocation. This the vocational director must realize in order that he may not encroach on a field that is not his.

The great weakness of the organization of the employment offices at Harvard today lies in their lack of co-ordination. I believe the committee might have stressed this point: the director of vocational guidance must not be merely another isolated unit