Work Placement has been a course at my highschool for ages (well... at least since I went there). Most of the kids who took it were in Special Ed, or the kids who were scrambling for credits to graduate (not having taken a math or science since it was required).
It was good for the Special Ed kids to have an option other than SarCan after highschool, and I imagine it was good for the other kids who chose Work Placement to learn you can't cut work like you cut class and other such important real world lessons before they get out on their own.
I wonder if the alarm is over the fact that it's WalMart, the fact that there apparently aren't any other Work Placement options, or the phrase "the program will allow students an opportunity to ... be exposed to people from different cultures -- since all of the stores are in the suburbs." (emphasis mine)
Work Placement, as far as it went in my highschool, was for skilled labour. You'd learn a trade and be ready for full-time employment at a good job when you graduated. This is simply "training" to work at a job which requires no specialized knowledge or experience.
Not at my highschool. Work Placement was A&W, or Dairy Queen... one of the fast food restaurants usually. I'm working at Tim Hortons while I'm on the waiting list for post sec, and we had a Work Placement student from one of the highschools here in the city.
That's really depressing to hear. I'm from another area where we were sent to be interns/step-and-fetchits for a trade or at an office. The office work was usually database entry/filing/photocopying type stuff and I understand the trade positions were "hand me that hammer" sort of things, so hardly skilled positions - but we were supposed to be exposed to skilled positions. I did database entry and "Why the hell haven't you returned our hardware" calls to techs for four months. Long distance. To Texas.
I think they made me do the calls because the techs didn't know what to do when a 16 year old girl called them up to shake them down for our goods :D
Well... there's a reason only Special Ed kids and slackers took Work Placement at my school. Everyone KNEW it was a bullshit credit. So yeah, it's still depressing, but... well, it's not like anyone was going into it expecting a career or anything.
I'm glad other schools have real Work Placement courses. I imagine it has something to do with the fact that I come from a really small town, and there wasn't much in the way of skilled labour that would be looking for part-time student help. I guess that's why I didn't see the problem with the WalMart thing. I didn't realize it's not the norm.
First of all, I really dislike Wal-Mart for all of the standard reasons. But I feel like this work placement could be a good opportunity for students.
I was able to get my first paid jobs in high school because I had done a bunch of volunteer work previously. My references were all people who had worked with me in volunteer situations about could speak to my work ethic, timeliness, etc. from those. Honestly, I don't know how people get jobs if they do not have either volunteer experience that they can reference or somehow know the owner of a small business.
My high school didn't offer this, but the high school that my sisters (and mom, many years ago) went to did. My mom had enough credits to qualify for early graduation but choose not to. She had a half day of work placement (at a local florist's shop) during her final year of high school.
When I initially heard about this, the article mentioned that the students may be paid less than minimum wage due to a loophole in the law. Now, if that is true then that is a serious problem, but the problem is with the law not with Wal-Mart or the school system.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-28 07:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-28 07:53 pm (UTC)It was good for the Special Ed kids to have an option other than SarCan after highschool, and I imagine it was good for the other kids who chose Work Placement to learn you can't cut work like you cut class and other such important real world lessons before they get out on their own.
I wonder if the alarm is over the fact that it's WalMart, the fact that there apparently aren't any other Work Placement options, or the phrase "the program will allow students an opportunity to ... be exposed to people from different cultures -- since all of the stores are in the suburbs." (emphasis mine)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-28 08:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-28 08:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-01 09:34 am (UTC)I think they made me do the calls because the techs didn't know what to do when a 16 year old girl called them up to shake them down for our goods :D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-01 09:28 pm (UTC)I'm glad other schools have real Work Placement courses. I imagine it has something to do with the fact that I come from a really small town, and there wasn't much in the way of skilled labour that would be looking for part-time student help. I guess that's why I didn't see the problem with the WalMart thing. I didn't realize it's not the norm.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-01 03:23 pm (UTC)I was able to get my first paid jobs in high school because I had done a bunch of volunteer work previously. My references were all people who had worked with me in volunteer situations about could speak to my work ethic, timeliness, etc. from those. Honestly, I don't know how people get jobs if they do not have either volunteer experience that they can reference or somehow know the owner of a small business.
My high school didn't offer this, but the high school that my sisters (and mom, many years ago) went to did. My mom had enough credits to qualify for early graduation but choose not to. She had a half day of work placement (at a local florist's shop) during her final year of high school.
When I initially heard about this, the article mentioned that the students may be paid less than minimum wage due to a loophole in the law. Now, if that is true then that is a serious problem, but the problem is with the law not with Wal-Mart or the school system.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-01 10:34 pm (UTC)Those are some depressing job prospects right there. I feel like we are just watching Detroit crumble day by day...