School to Work, Training and Educating
...tes, “To train means to cause a person or animal to be efficient in the performance of tasks by responding to discipline, instructed and repeated practice.” (Schlafly 83). That is not what is taking place in school-to-work programs. The students that are involved in these programs are still taking their core classes such as; math, English, history and the mandatory science courses. Students will also be receiving credits for attending school-to-work programs. In school-to-work programs, the students are able to get more knowledge in the field of study that they plan on excelling in. They are not being trained like animals. They simply are being informed and taught skills that will help them in the future. According to Schlafly, “rather than receiving their high school diploma, students will have to get a Certificate of Mastery – they won’t be able to get jobs unless they have one” (Schlafly 84). Contrary to Schlafly’s claims, students in this program are receiving a proper high school diploma. They have chosen which area of trade best suits their own personal interests. They are not forced to enter into the school-to-work programs. It is wrong to say, as Schlafly does, that the government forces them to choose a certain predetermined career (84). It is not even mandatory that the students participate in the program, let alone that they follow a career that someone in the authority has chosen for them. They still need to reach the academic standards that are set in order to graduate from a public high school. If the students decide to go into a different field of study they are able to change what they want to do and will not be confined to one career. The goal of this program is to teach the students what they need to know to help them in their future. This differs from Schlafly’s statement, “The goal is not to produce highly literate individuals but to turn out team workers to produce for the global economy” (Schlafly 84). The people that are involved in these programs are a step ahead of everyone else in a certain trade because they have more knowledge on the topic. The primary goal is still to produce a highly literate and well-educated student. It is also true, as Schlafly observes, companies benefit from the school-to-work programs because the applicant has previous experience (84). But it is not true, as she claims that the benefit comes at the expenditure of the students. The companies are happy that students who are educated in their field of business are applying to jobs and using their skills resourcefully. The employer, therefore, does not have to do as much job training. It is a mutual relationship: the student benefits as much as the company because he or she will already have a strong foundation of knowledge in the field of work and will only need a little bit of more advanced training. The student will not need to waste their time going through the job training program. Some trades in school-to-work programs do not allow the students to go directly to the work-place after high school. In nursing, for example, a student would have to go through the school-to-work program and graduate from high school. Following high school he or she would need to attend college for nursing. In this ca...