Business Employments

pp . xi, 218, published by Ginn & Co.; The Shoe Industry, pp. 319, published by The Vocation Bureau of Boston; both by FREDERICK J. ALLEN, A. M., Dartmouth '89.

Appreciation of the fact that much the larger proportion of our youth leaves school at the end of the grammar school, and that of those who continue much the larger proportion leaves at the end of high school, in both instances to enter gainful occupations, has inspired new and significant ideals in secondary education. Two of these, distinct but complementary, are vocational training and vocational guidance. The motive of the latter is to supplement the traditional curriculum by instruction which will acquaint the pupil with basic information concerning the principal occupations, that his choice of occupation may be to some degree determined by a comparison of the demands and opportunities of each occupation with his personal tastes and qualifications. The first institution organized for the purpose of promoting the idea of vocational guidance was The Vocation Bureau of Boston, of which the author of these books is Investigator of Occupations. A number of useful descriptive pamphlets have been issued by the Bureau, but these volumes bear the distinction of being the first descriptive publications of that bureau of "book calibre."

These volumes are significant in that they represent a real beginning of the removal of some of the principal obstacles to the promotion of the vocational guidance idea. At present few teachers are sufficiently acquainted with occupational facts to impart the necessary information and arouse the desired interest of pupils; at present also most of the occupational literature is either too technical to be read with understanding and interest by pupils; or too superficial to be useful. These volumes should prove valuable guides for teachers to effective vocational guidance, and combine a simplicity and completeness of statement which should arouse the interest and understanding of the pupil.

H. S. P.