Crew: Let seniors learn as interns (Miami-Dade)

Posted on Wed, Feb. 23, 2005

MIAMI-DADE SCHOOLS


Crew: Let seniors learn as interns

As part of his plan to integrate more career planning into middle and high school, Miami-Dade Superintendent Rudy Crew wants to eventually require all seniors to spend as much as six months in a career-related internship.

BY MATTHEW I. PINZUR
mpinzur@herald.com


Internships could become a high-school graduation requirement in Miami-Dade County, with seniors obligated to spend as much as six months in some kind of careeroriented experience, Superintendent Rudy Crew said Tuesday.

The workplace internships could replace all or part of the regular school day, Crew said, and could be required as soon as the 2009-2010 school year. The plan needs School Board approval, which could come as soon as March 17.

''Your senior year is nearly a waste,'' Crew told a group of high school journalists. ``For 180 days, if the only thing you get out of that is taking a couple more courses or passing another , that's insufficient.''

Crew is defining internships loosely; a variety of career-focused experiences would satisfy his plan. A student interested in becoming a lawyer, for example, could work at a law firm or sign up for dual-enrollment prelaw classes at Miami-Dade College.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/10966746.htm
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Senior year for a lot of students is a waste. I run across a lot that say they can fail a class since they have enough credits to pass without that class. What ends up happening is they drag the class down since they don't want to be there. I think getting some real life expirence would be useful.

It just happened that I hated my HS major - math - cause it bored the shit out of me. Had to have it, though, so I could get the nice honors diploma and a Regents (NY).

Senior year was almost entirely filled with electives and it was when I had *the most growth* as a student. For once I actually got to study things I had an interest in and get credit. My grades increased in proportion to my interest.

If we treat education only as means to a job/career, we don't learn shit.

on to the private sector. Pretty smart thinking. For a state who's educational system ranks near the bottom of all the states, anything would be an improvement. The citizens of Florida prize their pick up trucks and Cadillacs more than education. And it shows. I lived there for a few years and I must say there are some of the stupidest people in the world in that state. More than their fare share.

of courporate slime even earlier than they normally get indoctrinated. After all education is only about gettting a job right?

While I do think it is wise to get kids to apply school work to real world conditions, I fear a lot of this push is making indentured servants out of them. Forcing ALL of them to work as interns? Not a good plan.

I have seen work/study programs that have been very beneficial to students, but not all students are suited for them. And making ALL students do it is basically giving business even more cheap forced labor. Why not just put all the kids in prison so they will all work for a pittance?

There have been enough cuts in classroom time and academic requirements over the past 3 decades. Test scores show the result: American kids are NOT doing well. Kids need to be in school. Good to apply lessons to real world, but forcing them all to work for 6 months? That is letting business off easy. Business just doesn't want to do their own job-specific training on their own time. Think of college football as the training for the NFL. It is a huge subsidy to private business at taxpayer expense.

I took Advanced Placement English and Biology, had most of my important math classes, and went to summer school (it was a test program for our school district with two other districts that allowed you to take classes from other schools in the area) and took palentology and some English classes that would never have been offered at our school. I also did some solo and ensemble events in band, including playing in an octet at the state legislature. Anyone who thinks those classes were a waste of time for me is welcome to a knuckle sandwich.

Thanks!
I think internships are a great idea, if they can be found and if they're purely educational and wanted by the student.

Did a search for "disgust" to illustrate my reaction to this bright idea from _{Jeb Bush's} kingdom, Florida.

Loved that expression.

God, the pressure we put on kids makes ME exhausted and I'm not even a kid anymore.

Can't they just fuck around their senior year, enjoy some of the last youthful freedom, and enjoy themselves?

I did one of these in high school, the understanding was I would be working with the IT department, the closest I got to the IT department was stacking monitors in a storage room for $4 an hour and taking computers out of the offices of people who had been laid-off.

(the minimum wage didn't apply to these jobs)

My dad pulled me out of it after two months, it was awful, didn't learn shit, my time would have been better spent picking the dead skin from between my toes.

Cheap labor it is--just as you'd expect from Jebbieland.

And what if you're aiming to go to college? As I recall, my senior year was spent worrying about getting my SAT scores and my marks within scholarship range--hardly a waste! On the other hand, I wonder if starting a musical group would count toward "career-oriented work."

:headbang:
rocknation

Think of all the wonderful 'internship' opportunities they could offer!! Stocker, greeter, cashier...and they'd earn ALMOST as much as a full-time regular employee, while they gained valuable work experience.

Not acting as trade schools. If you have made your career decision then fine, take the classes that best apply. But, and I tell my kids this, a well rounded education is more important than learning a trade. If you know how to learn your more of an asset than those who only know a skill.