Careers Bureau
A
T last we seem to he emerging from the trough of despondency. This is reflected in the relief of the congestion in the Upper Forms. It is now certainly easier to find posts for the boys who are leaving than it has been in the past. It is a moot point, though, whether the right posts are being filled by the right boys.
Unfortunately, Aberdare, like many other towns in South Wales, is out of the main current of the tide of prosperity.  Years ago, in the hey‑day of the Iron and Coal Industry, the local demand absorbed most of our boys. Now that age has gone. So even though there are more posts open, our boys are handicapped by a limited knowledge of what posts to apply for.  This is especially true of the newer industries which have sprung up in England since the war—such as the various branches of the aeroplane, textile, and building industries, and so on.  For years the boys of Wales have played for safety and taken up the black-coated profession, and tried to find posts in South Wales; but now economic adversity has roused the spirit of adventure latent in our race, and there is a strong flood‑tide flowing over the border.
We are producing, as in previous days, Teachers and Preachers—though, fortunately for a congested profession or calling—fewer of them,—but of such, more of them are going to the English Colleges.
Aviation and Engineering—kindred Trades—and the Services present a new avenue and are attracting more of our boys.  The Civil Service in pre‑war days was recruited from our ranks; then came the stagnation of the war years and its aftermath, and that door was closed.  Now that closed door is opening, and once more our boys are entering upon a career already adorned by the school contemporaries of their fathers.
The British Empire, with its far‑flung Colonies, has been for years an eldorado for Scotch and Irish boys—they have marched eagerly to their goal.  Cannot the same spirit be emulated by the youth of Wales to‑day?  Some have already blazed the trail.  Welsh boys built up the railways of the Argentine, sank the pits of the Bengal Coalfield, planted the tea plantations of Assam, organised the Pearl Fisheries of Broome Gulf, and were famed as the finest deep‑sea sailors in the world.
We are of the same people as those who formed the spearhead of the crusading armies, fought at Crecy and Agincourt, and won equally glorious victories in the mission fields of Madagascar and China.  Proud we should be when the Americans and Chinese openly say that the Greatest European who ever came to China was Timothy Richards—the son of a Welsh hill farmer, near Newcastle Emlyn—acclaimed the Father of Modern China.  Is there a Timothy Richards in this School ?  We wonder!
A.R.