1933 Cedrus Yearbook

3§Z wor tvc CHAPTER FOUR Vocations "PEACE AND PLENTY" "Peace and Plenty," an autumnal scene by the American land- scape painter, George Inness, shows the harvest, the reward gained by hard toil. Inness is considered the most prominent figure in early American landscape, by the excellence and scope of his art and the versatility of his treatment. OW we search in vain for the unconventional in writing on a subject of this sort! And how uniformly unsuccessful we are in attaining it. This whole matter of voca- tions is so far-reaching in its implications that to deal with it in afew hundred words con- vinces us at the outset that we are doomed to utter failure. Vocation in the common use of the term, means job. To the educator itmay mean a chosen job, a tailored position for an individual of definite measurements, or a tailored individual for a position of definite measurements. Yet our thinking during these pastfew years is so influenced by general employment conditions that we begin to wonder,if "choice of vocation," "vocational guidance,""what shall I be," and similar phrases have any real meaning at all. But upon deeper reflection, we conclude that, whether the supply of workers be too great or too small, the problem of putting the right man in the right place stays with us. We endeavor to solve this problem at college, but we must admit that our success is rather indifferent. Probably it is chance, in one form or another, not aptitude or merit, which determines what shall constitute our vocational niche in society. Our older brother becomes a school teacher. He makes a living, enjoys the association of interesting people and a few of life's luxuries; we conclude that we shall be school teachers. If deep down within our hearts we have a persistent suspicion that we would be a better doctor than teacher, and if we secretly decide that teaching shall be our stepping-stone in that direc- tion, then we must do one of two things: bear the brunt of being a "transient" if we make our secret known;or consider ourselves hypo critical toward the teaching profession if we keep our secret. N4, Page Thirty-one