Occupations for the mentally handicapped

Abstract

Of 2,755 positions held by graduates of the ungraded classes for mentally deficient pupils in the San Francisco public schools and similar groups in other parts of the country, only one in eight of those held by men and one in fourteen of those held by women rise above the level of unskilled labor. Workers in factories of various sorts, including canneries, constitute the largest single group (21.4% of the males, and 39.5% of the females). With 19.0% of the women employed engaged as domestics and nursemaids, and 15.7% in sewing, kitchen and laundry work, not to mention the even greater number helping about their homes, training in household arts is a practical vocational objective for these girls. Except for household arts, the occupations represented are so diverse and skills demanded in any one position so simple that it is doubtful whether public schools can provide specific vocational training on any extensive scale at these levels. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)