=

PHOTO — J. TESTER

in deciding her future career this young woman has access to coun-
selling which provides trained specialists who will co-operate with her,

her teachers, parents and industry.

GDR APPRENTICES

What to do upon graduation?)

By JIM TESTER

Among parents who have chil-
dren in the Ontario secondary
school system, guidance counsel-
ling is considered something of a
grim joke. Little wonder. Gui-
dance teachers have few contacts
with the world of work. They can
only advise students in a general
way, basing themselves on.
academic records and some gues-
sing as to the requirements of fu-
ture job markets. It’s a sort of
crystal-ball gazing, at best.

When I talked to Dr. Otto
Mulkau, director of the career
guidance centre of the City of
Magdeburg in the GDR, it was a
different story. During my two
hour discussion with him last
spring I learned something of the
key role played by the more than
2,000 career guidance centres in
various parts of the country.

Middle-aged Dr. Mulkau, like
many other guidance leaders, is a
practising psychologist. When I
asked him about psychological
testing for careers, he replied,
‘‘In the main, we don’t believe in

An eyewitness report from Managua

Building, fighting continues

By LLOYD MATTSON
MANAGUA — Across the
street from my room is a corru-
gated wall. A shredded portion
marks the spot where police of the
former dictator Somoza cut a boy
‘in two with machine gun fire.

Behind the wall is a now de-
serted building that was a cuartel,
or police station. Inside, before a
pock-marked wall, lime is spread
over the area where another boy
was machine-gunned.

A sign printed on the front wall
of the jail warns that anyone de-
stroying the building will face se-
vere revolutionary punishment.
The building is to become the July
19th School.

A month after liberation (this is

written on August 24), Managua ~

is still far from peaceful. Every
night there is some shooting, with
fanatics sniping or machine gun-
ners firing from racing cars.

Maintaining order in the city
districts are the defence commit-
tees and military posts manned by
youthful defenders, (muchachos)
mostly young boys in, or nocd
out of their teens.

Two nights ago there was
sporadic shooting in the streets
outside the house. One right-wing
terrorist was killed, another cap-
tured. Some 10 blocks away, the
same night, former . National
Guards positioned themselves
atop the earthquake damaged
former palace of justice, with
machine guns of 50 and 30 calibre
and three Galils, Israeli automatic
weapons. The ‘‘muchachos”’
climbed up and got them, killing
two and capturing two. One had
papers in his pocket identifying
his association with the fascist
White Hand gang.

The “*muchachos’’, from their
command posts, serve a number

"

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — SEPTEMBER 21, 1979- Page 6

of functions besides that of peace
keeping. Yesterday, for example,
while I was visiting the post here,
an emergency arose —a small girl
of the district had drunk some
kerosene. The ‘‘muchachos’”’
provided ambulance service.

These boys, raised in a barrio
described as ‘‘one of the most
corrupted in Managua,’ now
tend to many of the ills of the
community. They haven’t been
paid. Some of their homes have
little food. They are the fascists’
prime targets.

Yet, their morale is excellent,
their spirits high. ‘‘We are hap-
py, they say, “‘to be able to
serve a free Nicaragua.”

The Tribune received this
eyewitness account from Canadian
Lloyd Mattson who is now in Man-

Top left: one of the plane loads
of food, clothing and medical
supplies sent by the Canadian
Labor Congress to CUS, the
Nicaraguan labor central. Below
left: Citizen committees gather
bricks from bombed buildings to
begin reconstruction. Above:
Burying one of the many victims of

the Struggle.

Sixth in a Series

it. We rely on a student’s record
of achievement, on his interests
and his attitudes.” ~

He said that there were some
differences of opinion on this
question at a recent’ series of
seminars and discussions held in
Prague, among the various
socialist countries’ guidance per-
sonnel. ‘“The Czechs put a lot of
emphasis on aptitude testing, the
Soviets less so, but we rely heav-
ily on demonstrated perfor-
mance.”’ He said that in the GDR
aptitude testing was limited to
the about 5% of the students who
were having learning difficulties.

In his view, career guidance
was mainly a question of talking
to parents, whom it was found
were the main psychological fac-
tor in the student’s career choice.
‘*The chief obstacle to girls be-
coming machinists, mechanics
and building trades workers is
opposition from their parents.
We have to convince them that if
their daughter has the aptitude
and the desire, these vocations
are just as dignified, important
and rewarding as say, anurse ora
typist.”

Dr. Mulkau’s staff consists of
14 employees on a full-time basis.
Ten of them are qualified:
teachers, each of whom visits 15
to 20 schools on a regular basis.

Each school also has one teacher .

who has been assigned to gui-
dance counselling.

The bulging filing cabinets in
Dr. Mulkau’s office not only con-
tain the academic and conduct
record of every student in the
city, but also the detailed re-
quirements of each industry’s
apprentice requirements. In fact,
the various industries have to
plan their apprentice program
three years in advance, so the
schools and guidance people can
dove-tail their activities accord-
ingly. It’s a co-operative effort

“between students, teachers, pa-

rents and industry — all brought
together by guidance personnel
who report directly to the gov-
ernment ministry.

In short, guidance worké s)
know how many school grads)
they are going to have, “they F
know how many apprentidy
openings are available in whal/
trades, now and in the future. It's)
a matter of putting it together in4)
carefully planned process d/
career guidance, which has as its}
aim the free choice of an occup#
tion for all students. As the mal)
said, ‘‘This has to.take into a)
count individual inclinations, if)
terests, talents and wishes, 4
well as objective possibilities a and
necessities.’

Besides meetings with parent :
of students in the Grades 6 to Il
levels, which outline the varioW
trade possibilities, there are vis,
its by students to different fat)
tories, ‘talks in the schools 0),
leading workers, TV_ special
showing various trades, exhib!)
tions with booths from variov}
companies — with illustrate?
booklets on apprenticeships aY
ailable, wages, working cond!
tions and fringe benefits. |

It’s a real selling effort, pal
to offset the fashionable ee ;
trades of auto mechanic and ele
tronic technician for boys, ant
nurse, teacher and beautician 10)
girls: Mostly though, it is
overcome the problem of 225,0 U
students for 450,000 availabl
apprenticeships; the ia y
‘double the available supply! ~ |

Does that mean everybody fil!
into the right job slot? Not al
ways. Nor are the apprenticé! :
doomed, if they discover laté)
they have made the veal
choice. Many adult sutdents 9
evening classes are studying ©
change their trades, such as fro#
a hairdresser to a secretary, oF?
machinist toa bricklayer. ac ;
rial leaders know it is best for |
productive effort to have worl)
ers who are satisfied with thei
job. A sound, basic educatio!
provides the flexibility for
tering a number of trades, if &)
changing technology or the 2
sonal inclinations require it. _ |

Still, career guidance in ™

_GDR has real meaning and Pp

pose. For sudents, teachers
parents it puts teeth into pi
ning, for now and the ful

Cuban aid appreciated

Under the heading: Sister

. Cuba, Present in the Reconstruc- -
\- tion, the official organ of the San- .
* dinista Liberation Front,

Bar-
ricada, published on Aug. 23, this
tribute to fraternal aid from Cuba.

The people of Cuba are always
present in the most critical times
confronting Nicaraguans, and
their material and fraternal sup-
port is on an every-increasing
scale to our Sandinist people who
have at last gained our sovereign-
ty.

When the earthquake de-
stroyed the central core of the city
of Managua and international aid
was channelled by corrupt lead-
ers into the coffers of the Somoza
regime, Cuba aided us by sending
doctors, nurses, a hospital and
medicine, aid that the dictator
couldn’t capatilize on.

Now, with our new regime, and
with the country materially and
economically prostrate, Cuba is
once more present. The Cuban
Government has sent a medical
brigade and field hospital.

One-hundred-and-fifty Cuban

doctors are located - roa 9
Nicaragua, and their service
be expended to other areas
those already served. They ha
a close relationship with
people, and their service ee
to hitherto neglected rural &
The Cuban medical team inclu
specialists from all fields
medicine, who are likewise work
ing in the different regions.
Now, together with the mini
try of health, the Cuban doct |
are preparing an analysis that
form a basis for long-term ie
planning. The brigades are
"

nishing technical aid.

The Cubans are sending s
two to three hundred caseS 4
condensed milk daily, w which |
being distributed by the Nico
guan government through the i
fence Committees. This aid tv? :
continue on this scale for ~ |
months. sce

The Cubans will give 600 nwa
larships, through the Social
fare Ministry, to members
families who have lost someone
the liberation atrugge :

have