Change of vocational choice is frequent throughout the period of adolescence and youth. The nature of these changes is illustrated in the responses of college students to a question concerning the number of changes in vocational choices they had so far made.
Girls:
I have changed my mind quite a few times, but I don't know whether it was just a fad or a desire to be these things. I wanted to be an aviatrix once, but it would cost too much money, so I gave that up. Once I wanted to be a nurse, but my sisters talked me out of that. I've wanted to be a teacher for a long time--since I was in the eighth grade.
I've changed six times. At first I wanted to be a nurse. Quite a few of the girls who graduated with me decided to go into nurses' training. They were very enthusiastic about it. My sister and my family discouraged that. I wanted to be a schoolteacher when I was about twelve and a movie star, etc.
At ten I wanted to be a bookkeeper; at about fifteen or sixteen I wanted to be a math teacher--this was because I liked my highschool math so well; at seventeen I decided to take a commercial course since I could not major in math and then my father suggested that it would be more worth while to take commerce for stenographic purposes; at nineteen I decided I wanted to teach commerce.
I once considered majoring in clothing and design in hopes that I'd eventually be a style specialist, but the openings for such a position require so much experience and the cost of preparation is so great that I changed to education which offered sooner returns. I also thought of dietetics but my sister, who is a nurse, dissuaded me. As a child I had splurges of wanting to be a great singer, actress, and missionary.
First, I wished to be a nurse when quite small, but this was just an idea. Then I wished to be a secretary. Since giving this up, I have decided on the teaching vocation.
Four times I've changed. I have, after deciding on a vocation, had some experience in the chosen field and decided I did not like it. On the last one, I had the experience first and chose afterward.
Boys:
I've changed three times--once I made up my mind to be an M. D. (age eleven). Then I decided to be an engineer (age fourteen). I now believe that I should like to be an M. D. and a psychiatrist, but I will not decide until I have made a thorough investigation of my abilities and interests in the vocation.
Many times; it has been very difficult for me to decide this question. Lack of training has kept me from entering some fields. It has been a constant problem to know what to enter. Choices have ranged from a chemist to a psychologist, and from a captain of industry to a salesman. But the general aim has been toward business. If it were not for lack of funds for further education, necessity of earning a living, and a few other minor things, I would go on now and study to be a vocational director. I am very interested in this field and believe it to be one of great opportunity--this is my second choice. I will have to accept it as a hobby.
Many times. I have decided upon many vocations before arriving at this one. I have talent in music, art, and mechanics, so I naturally felt a desire for a vocation in all of these fields. The vocation I chose combines art and mechanics. Music can be taken up as a hobby.
A number of times. The longer I attend school, the less I know as to what I want to do.
At the age of six I wanted to be a painter. At the age of ten a trader and trapper. By the time I was fifteen I was torn between the desire to be an electrician, for which I had considerable aptitude, and that of being a piano player, at least equal to Paderewski, for which profession I had no talent whatsoever and less opportunity of instruction.
The thought of bringing a young woman out to live amid the dreariness and drudgery of farm life made me dread agriculture as a vocation, unless one could be a large "gentleman" farmer. I still want to do some writing. I believe that this is because of a desire for self-assertion and recognition to compensate for the feeling that the vocation of farming sets up the idea in the minds of other people that "one is a farmer because he cannot be anything else."
We have appropriately stressed problems of vocational choice. The unfortunate fact remains, in spite of the fact that adolescents and youths are always choosing, that many have no real choice. They have to take the only job that is available. In many isolated rural communities this means farming. The job is imposed upon them by the necessities of the parent. There is the farm job to do, and there is no way to escape from it. Urban youth more often have a choice, but even their choice is limited by ability, training, and available work opportunities. Sons and daughters of many poorly paid industrial workers must often leave school early to help provide for the family. Having little training and lacking experience and maturity, they are forced to take whatever job is available.
The perplexities of vocational choice so common in modern society are primarily a problem of the gifted and the privileged. For them it is difficult to narrow down interests to a limited range of activities, such as most vocations require. Moreover, such youth with a variety of talents or broad training are capable of doing many tasks with a reasonable degree of efficiency and skill. For them the problem of guidance is a major one.
But even these often choose wrongly. I suppose every teacher has had the experience of having a young person in high school or college come to him for a recommendation in a field in which he feels the young person will most certainly not succeed or in some cases even though he does succeed will not be satisfied. There is always the question of what to do and always the quandary as to how young people can arrive at this point and have so little appreciation of their interests and abilities. No doubt an adequate guidance program would cure this situation, but the situation must be recognized as a common one today.
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