In the selection of an occupation for his children, the parent should
consult their taste and talents and circumstances, and choose for them a
pursuit adapted to these. If his child is better suited for a mechanical
pursuit, he should direct his attention to it, and educate him for it. And
thus in all respects he should obey the great law of correspondence between
the taste and capacity of the child, and the occupation to be chosen for
him.
The violation of this law does great injury to the child and to society,
inasmuch as it prevents his success and contentment, and floods the state
with quacks and humbuggery. The parent should never compel the child to
learn a trade or profession which he dislikes, and for which he shows no
talents. Many parents, through a false pride, force their children into a
profession for which they have neither inclination nor capacity. While the
parent has a right to interfere in the choice of a pursuit, his
interference should not be arbitrary, neither should it run counter to the
will of the child unless for special moral and religious reasons, or on
account of inability to gratify him. However, this is often done. Even
though they acknowledge their unfitness for a profession, yet their
misguided pride prompts them to drag their children into a calling which in
after life they disgrace.
Some parents, on the other hand, through a penurious spirit, refuse to aid
their sons in their preparation for a profession for which their talents
eminently qualify them.
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