The girl who terminates her formal education with her graduation from high school may find herself not very much better placed, apparently, than the girl who has dropped out of school farther back.  Many openings into desirable occupations are still closed to her.  Often her opportunities, however, are much greater than they seem.  All facts go to show that the high-school girl makes more rapid progress in efficiency, and therefore in pay, than the younger girl, even when she seems to begin at the same work.  Some fields, too, are open to her that are not usually possible for the grammar-school girl.  In office work the high-school girl who has specialized in her training may make a very creditable showing.  Many thousands of high-school graduates are received into telephone exchanges where with a brief period of practice they become efficient workers.  A very few high-school girls become teachers in country schools without further training, but the number is decreasing every year.  If she meets the age requirement, the high-school girl may enter a training school for nurses, gaining her specialized training in return for her services to the hospital.

The high-school girl who can spare time and money for some further training finds a larger field open; but, to make the most of what high school has to offer, her plans should be made as early as possible in the high-school course—­at the very beginning if it can be managed.  The girl must know what further training she is making ready for, must choose electives in high school to help her make ready, or possibly to offset the specializing of this later work by some general culture she may otherwise miss entirely.  Vocation study, therefore, and vocational guidance must be quite as much a part of the course for the girl who will “train” for her special work as for the girl who goes directly from the secondary school to her vocation.

One high-school Senior writes:  “My special vocation has not yet been chosen, but if it becomes necessary for me to earn my own living I should like to be either a nurse, a teacher, milliner, or director of a cafeteria.  I would probably choose the position that was open at the time.”

Here we have the girl who is in no hurry to choose, and who probably has a more or less vague notion of the comparative conditions, requirements, and rewards of the four vocations she mentions.  In contrast to this, listen to a high-school student who has been studying herself and her possible vocation in much detail in class work.  She says:  “I find that I have made good school records only in subjects where I had materials I could see and handle.  I have never done well in arithmetic or mathematics, but in drawing, physics, elementary biology, and domestic science I made good marks.  I do not like to sew, because it tires me to sit still.  I enjoy cooking and marketing.

“I like to plan meals and to make up new recipes.  I hear that hospitals and institutions employ women at very good salaries to buy all the foodstuffs used in their kitchens.  The expert dietitian also plans meals and arranges dietaries.  I learn that Teachers College, Columbia, has courses of study leading to this profession, and I have written to ask for full information.”