Frank Parsons, the Father of Vocational Guidance - Essay Example

Frank Parsons, the Father of Vocational Guidance Frank Parsons was an American educationist and reformist who became very influential due to his grasp of public ownership problems as well as municipal affairs. He was a son to Irish-Scottish and English parents. He was born on the 14th November 1854 in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Being very bright, he joined Cornell University aged only fifteen. Three years later, he graduated with a degree in civil engineering, having been first in his class. He worked for a railroad, which later went bankrupt. He then became a teacher at Southbridge in Mass before deciding to pursue a degree in law. Instead of the normal three years required to complete this degree, he did it in just one year. He passed the bar exams in the year 1881. This great effort severely damaged his health, leading to his relocation to New Mexico for renewal. Parsons got into practicing law in Boston. However, he found this not satisfying. He joined a publishing firm where he assisted in preparing textbooks of law. He formulated a philosophy that resulted to impeccable outpouring of writing works as well as other community activities. He then developed a liking for reading and making contacts with people. This had great effect on his career later. He lectured on English literature for a long time the YMCA in Boston. He later had his lectures published under the title, "The World's Best Books" in the year 1889. He became a lecturer at Boston University between the years 1892 and 1905. In his work published in the year 1894 and titled "Our Country's Need", Parsons made a formulation of his views of mutualism. He made an attempt to integrate socialism with individual liberty. He was under great influence by Herbert Spencer and Edward Bellamy from England and the United States respectively. Another notable influence on Parson was "Christian socialism." Parson's aim was to come up with ways to control essential firms like the railroad as well as the telegraph but at the same time honoring the private sector and personal initiatives. He made a good combination of conservatism and radicalism. Most of Parsons' great works confirmed him as a competent social critic. They include "Rational Money", published in the year 1899 and "Direct Legislation", published in the year 1900. Others are "Telegraphic Monopoly" and "Cities for the People" that were both published in the year 1899. Between the years 1897 and 1899, he served as a professor at Kansas Sate Agricultural College but still maintained his connections at Boston. During this period, he became extremely radical due to the Populists' Party greatly succeeding in Kansas. This administrational change led to his sacking together with his associates. This led to their founding of the Ruskins College of Social Sciences. He took up the position of a professor as well as the dean. However, the undertaking did not succeed, leading to his return to Boston. While in Boston, Parsons became seriously involved in various reform causes, traveling across the country and beyond. For instance, he persuaded the owners of Filenes Departmental Stores in Boston to add cooperative principles to their human resources policy. He also took part in the construction of the Civic Service Home. This home was to settle the immigrant groups. He assisted in organizing the Breadwinner's Institute, offering a diploma education to the less fortunate in the society. Parson's writings such as "The Trusts", "Stories of New Zealand", "Railroads", "Heart of the Railroad Problem" and "The People", together with his many articles made him a respected voice progressivism. This however played a big role towards his death on 26th September 1908. "Choosing a Vocation" was published in 1909. This was the first such writing in the career guidance. "Legal Doctrines" and "Social Progresses" followed in the year 1911. Frank Parsons is widely referred to as the "Father of Vocational Guidance." Despite being trained as an engineer, he authored many books on the social-reform movement. He also wrote on education, taxation and women's suffrage. In addition, he was a teacher of French, math and history. He also had a job at the railroad and passed Boston's bar exams in Massachusetts, 1881. Moreover, he taught at the Boston University and Kansas Agricultural College among others. However, Parson's fame revolves around his great interest in helping people in making career choices (Zunker, 2002). In a move meant to offer educational opportunities for the youth and immigrants, Quincy Shaw started the Civic Service House in 1901 in Boston. In the year 1905, he was made the dean of a major Civic Service House program known as the Breadwinners Institute. Later on, Parsons established the Bureau of Vocational Guidance. In just a few months, he used it in training the youth to be managers and counselors for YMCA-affiliated companies, schools and other institutions. Later, Boston's Schools Committee established a counselor certification program, being the first one ever (Zunker, 2002). Harvard University adopted Parsons' curriculum as their first ever counselor education program. Later, Boston schools' superintendent assigned one hundred primary and secondary teachers as career counselors. It was later baptized the "Boston Plan". A short while later, school's systems countrywide, and then worldwide, followed this trend. On 1st May 1908, Parsons gave a talk that greatly revolutionized the vocational guidance movement. He presented a report describing systematic procedure for career guiding that were used for counseling eighty women and men using the bureau for help. He died a few months later. Parsons' contributions to career development Frank Parsons made a great contribution to the field of vocational guidance. Through his book titled "Choosing a Vocation," he outlined the steps towards career choice and development. His theories have also been the foundation of many that came after him. For many decades, writers and scholars have been working very hard to develop theories and design strategies to help in finding and maintaining a meaningful vocation. Parsons was a notable figure and pioneer towards this objective. His contributions have not only come to be respected worldwide, but also very useful for those who need to make career decisions. He established a frame work for helping people make career decisions. It contained a formulation that was in three parts. They included the following: 1. Clear understanding One needs to clearly understand himself. This includes clearly identifying one's ability, power, limits, interests, aptitudes and many more qualities. This also involves identifying and taking note of one's weaknesses. 2. Knowledge of the requirements One must know what is required in the particular career and the conditions for succeeding in it. One must seek knowledge of its compensations, its merits and demerits, opportunities and any prospects as he progresses in the career. 3. True reasoning One needs a right understanding of the relationship between the two categories of information. That is, a proper comprehension of oneself and knowledge requirements of the vocation. Parsons asserted that ideal career decisions base on personality traits and job factors. Personality traits include resources, abilities, aptitude and personality while job factors comprise of comprise of the environment and wages (Parsons, 1909). Matching these concepts produces the best conditions for success in a career. This framework later developed to become the foundation modern traits and factor theories of vocational advancement. Frank Parsons is the founded the first movement for career guidance. His great contribution in this field can be summarized as follows: He helped in furnishing the idea of a vocational bureau and started its execution. He influenced the inception of career guidance in schools and other institutions by advocacy of their role in their careers. He also offered methods that they could use towards this objective. He introduced counselor training in institutions He made use of all scientific tools within his reach at the time. He developed the procedure to follow in an individual's career progress He put some organization in Vocation Bureau's work, laying foundation for modeling in schools, and other agencies. He realized his work's importance and ensured it is properly publicized, financed and endorsed by influential educators, employers and others Parsons helped in laying the foundation that led to the continuity and expansion of the career guidance movement. He involved friends and its associate to prepare the manuscript titled "Choosing a Vocation." By his great vision, advocacy, organizing ability and elucidating sound principles and methods, Parsons' movement has had great achievement in inspiring devotion and contributions of many people ever since. Collectively, they have brought vocational counseling to its current level. Half a century after Parsons Theories, various scholars and writers confirmed and even strengthened them. One key contribution was by Ginzberg & Herma and another by Donald Super. Ginzberg & Herma undertook an examination of "vocational stories" of people from various ages, and established that career choice is not a one-time activity. It occurs over numerous stages. They discovered that during childhood, up to eleven years, people live in a "fantasy stage." They believe in their capability of doing anything. They do not consider such important factors as the economy, skills and training requirements. They do not believe that anything is impossible. From twelve to eighteen years people enter the "tentative stage." They develop interests, gauge their capacity and values and make tentative career decisions. The third stage is usually referred to as "the realistic stage". People begin to zero in and develop a sense of exploration as the picture gets clearer. This is in total agreement with Parsons' theories. The Career Development Theory, which borrows heavily from Parsons' theories, consists of five main stages. These concepts clarified that developing a vocation is a dynamic process that requires one to evaluate, re-evaluate and make changes. Growth Exploration Establishment Maintenance Disengagement Additionally, Parsons' theories helped in understanding the following concepts: Choice of one's life-long vocation is not a one-time event Career include more than just work Courtesy of Parsons' contributions, career guidance and counseling took root in schools. There was a strong emphasis for one to develop personally, socially, and morally. At first, various schools were against Parsons' movement terming it anti-educational. They insisted that schools should only concentrate on teaching the basics of education. They later came to see its usefulness and adopted it fully (Schmidt, 2003). Today, people are increasingly recognizing that career development skills can assist them in meeting the ever-changing labor market needs. This has helped them in maintaining their employability in order to achieve their goals and contribute to the community. Just as Parsons had envisioned, many people require support in order to make good use of the numerous opportunities presenting themselves in the course of their vocation. Many governments worldwide have developed a set of career and vocational education policies and programmes to make sure that their citizens, especially the youth access these services during school and even after. These skills have enabled them in the following ways. Making informed decisions in the selection of courses and post-school opportunities Connecting training and education with vocational choice and employment prospects Accessing a wide range of specialist support services Various organizations comprising of education providers, community organizations, government and businesses are partnering to assist people in making sound career decisions (Kussy, 1994). Generally, from Parson' theories a career development follows the model below: Personal assessment Skills and career goals The purpose of learning a new skill Learning objectives There is therefore no doubt that Frank Parsons contributed immensely towards career development. His theories have stood the test of time. Even modern career development models draw their basis from his theories. Indeed he is the father of vocational guidance. References Hall, D. (1994). Career Development. Dartmouth Publishers. Kussy, M.(1994)Introduction to Human Resources Development-St. Thomas University Press. O'Hara,R. et al (1963). Career Development-Choice and Adjustment; College Entrance Examinations Board. Parsons, F.(1909).Choosing a Vocation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Schmidt, J.(2003).Counseling in schools-essential services and comprehensive programs. Allyn & Bacon: Boston Stout, D. (1995). Performance Analysis for Training. Niagara Division of Consolidated Papers Inc. Studer, J(2005)The professional school counselor-An advocate for students. Thomson Brooks/Cole: Belmont. Zunker, V(2002)Career counselling; Applied concepts of life planning; Pacific Grove Read More