A handbook to aid counselors in the vocational guidance of business education students in the C. K. McClatchy Senior High School

79 Pages·03.305 MB·English

by  Briggs, Herbert William

A HANDBOOK TO AID COUNSELORS IN THE VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE
OF BUSINESS EDUCATION STUDENTS IN THE
C. K. McCLATCHY SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
A Project
Presented to
the Faculty of the School of Education
The University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science in Education
by
Herbert W. Briggs
August 1950
UMI Number: EP46207
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This project report, written under the direction
of the candidate's adviser and approved by him,
has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty
of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science in Education.
7
.
/ .
Date.
Adviser
Dean
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE PROBLEM AND THE PROCEDURE.................. 1
Statement of the problem. 1
Justification of the problem. . . . . . . . . 1
Analysis of the problem....... .... *+
Scope of the study. ........... 5
Method of procedure * ................. .. 5
II. DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES OF BUSINESS EDUCATION
COURSES............... . . 7
Bookkeeping 11
Typing........................... ............15
Gregg Shorthand ........... 19
Transcription.............................. 20
Stenographic Office Practice. 20
Salesmanship . . . . . ...................... 22
III. DESCRIPTION OF CLERICAL AND STENOGRAPHIC DUTIES . 2k
Purpose of the chapter. ......... 2k
Duties commonly performed by general clerks . 25
Duties commonly performed by bookkeepers. • . 3k
Duties commonly performed by stenographers. . 37
Duties commonly performed by sales clerks . . ^3
IV. PROGNOSTIC AIDS FOR COUNSELORS.................^9
iii
iv
CHAPTER PAGE
V. IMPORTANCE OF PERSONAL QUALITIES . . . ............. 60
VI. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS......................... 66
BIBLIOGRAPHY................... ................ . 70
LIST OP TABLES
TABLE PAGE
I. Number and Percentage of Clerks Performing Each
Duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
II. Types of Duties Performed by 158 Clerks Engaged
in. Bookkeeping 36
III. Educational Prerequisites and General Informational
Requirements Needed by Secretaries . . . . . . . 39
IV. Business Forms Specified, Arranged in Order of
Frequency, Based on. the Number of Times Reported *fl
V. Filing Duties. . ....................... . . . . . M+
VI. Machines Used by Stenographers ..........
VII. Bookkeeping Duties **6
VIII. Duties Performed by Retail Sales Clerks............ **7
v
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND THE PROCEDURE
Statement of the problem. This study was made for the
purpose of compiling data which should inform counselors of
the C. K. McClatchy Senior High School of Sacramento of the
following:
1. The objectives of business education courses.
2. Types of duties performed by clerical and steno­
graphic employees.
3. Personal attributes necessary to success in the
business world.
Methods of predicting the student’s degree of
success in business education courses.
5# The need for closer relations between the school
and the sources of employment.
Justification of the problem. Students who are busi­
ness education majors in the senior high schools can be
placed in three categories:
1. Non-vocational.
2. Prevocational.
3* Vocational.
The first mentioned is composed largely of students with low
academic aptitudes, for whom a passing grade commonly
1
2
regarded as a reward for attendance: it is seldom evidenced
by any degree of achievement*
During the last five years, in the C. K. McClatchy
Senior High School of Sacramento, these non-vocational stu­
dents have increased in relation to the total enrollment in
business education courses* To some degree they are segre­
gated from the prevocational and vocational students, but
where such segregation does not prevail their presence
demands either that the vocational standards for the courses
be relaxed or that the number of failures be increased to an
embarrassing figure* The former alternative has been too
frequently accepted, with a resultant loss to the vocational
value of the courses taught.
The prevocational student differs from the vocational
student only in the extent of his preparation for employment.
The former regards his work in high school as preparatory for
instruction he will receive following graduation; the latter
anticipates gainful employment as soon as he finishes high
school.
Boys and girls in both of these categories suffer
from being treated as non-vocational students. This results
in bad classroom instruction and fallacious counseling. It
was the author's observation that a better informed counsel­
ing body could remedy the existing weaknesses. Certainly
the counseling of students, many of whom are hopeful of
3
beginning a career in the business world within three to five
years after they enter senior high school, is a task calling
for specific knowledge which the author has never found to
be possessed by the counseling office. A justification for
this study was expressed by J. Frank Dame -when he wrote:
One may ask why there is a need for guidance
in the business curriculum in particular, whereas
in most departmental fields we seem to make no
such claim. One possible answer is that the com­
mercial department is training for vocational
adjustment in terms of a job and that certain weak­
nesses are present in the average high school that
act as a hindrance to the attainment of this objec­
tive. Some of the weaknesses are as follows:
1. Lack of business experience on the part of
many teachers.
2. Traditional business courses traditionally
taught.
3. Little or no responsibility for placement
and follow-up.
*t-. Neglect by schools in their provision for
vocational failures.
5. Mixing vocational and nonvocational stu­
dents in the same classes.
6. Inadequate acquaintanceship with the occupa­
tional environment.
7. Desire for large department -^enrollments even
at the expense of training.
J. Frank Dame, Prognosis, Guidance. and Placement in
Business Education (Cincinnati: South-Western Publishing
Company, 19^), pp. 17-18.
3+
Analysis of the problem. An analysis of this problem
could be achieved by seeking honest answers to the following
questions:
1. Should vocational standards be maintained in
business education courses offered at the
C. K. McClatehy Senior High School?
2. Do these courses conform to the most widely
accepted vocational standards?
3. Can the lower ability students be successful in
courses which adhere to vocational standards?
*f. Do the counselors know what personal qualities,
academic attainments, and skills are necessary
for success in the various types of commercial
employment?
5. Can prognostic tests be used as an aid in counsel­
ing business education students?
6. Is there a desirable relationship between the
number of students enrolled in vocational courses
and the employment opportunities in the community?
7. Should the development of new courses be encour­
aged?
If the answer to the first question was in the affirma­
tive, and the answers to the second and third questions were
in the negative, and the answers to the remaining questions
were admissions of ignorance, this problem could find solution