Kinsley
High School
Kinsley,
Kansas
Teacher:
Dr. Galen R. Boehme
Banking
As a Possible Youth Apprenticeship
Program
By
Joni Habiger
Even
though the drawbacks of scheduling and accountability exist, a youth
apprenticeship program focusing upon banking would benefit the students of
rural communities at least three ways: Understanding basic principles of
economics, seeing various career options, and learning to be a better
consumer.
A
youth apprenticeship program is sometimes referred to as a two-year program
for high school juniors and seniors who are interested in specific
occupations. The purpose of this program is to provide high school students
with state-approved, work-based learning based upon industry-driven skills.
The program is to expose the students to broad occupational clusters. Students
gain their training at the work place from mentors. Students are taught three
essential components: Academic instruction, occupational instruction, and
work-based instruction. Academic instruction will help lead to a high school
diploma. Instruction that teaches the student to learn the basic concepts is
called occupational instruction. Work-based learning is when the student
actually works and learns.
A
rural community has limited options in banking. With two financial houses, two
accountants, and many insurance companies within walking distance for the
school, the apprenticeship program should be brought into effect. Many
students entering their senior year have enough credits to graduate. Another
way to utilize the extra time is for the senior to be involved in a youth
apprenticeship program in the community. Local students need the opportunity
to gain more knowledge about real life financial management.
This
program helps prepare the student for the financial world. The program
involves courses in personal finance, banking, financial services, insurance
and taxes. The banking/finance apprenticeship would be a two-year program that
combines academic instruction and occupational instruction. A student works
10-15 hours per week with financial compensation.
Through
participation, the student gains many benefits, including learning more about
responsibility. The apprentice sets personal goals that the apprentice wants
to achieve. They take classes in high school that follow industry standards.
Second, a student will better understand the cash flow within the community.
Basic knowledge of the system will help the students to become a better
consumer. Students will learn that in order to keep the economy in good
standing the patrons of the community must pay money into local businesses.
Third,
the student will gain an understanding of how the banking institutions
function in the total economic picture of the country. Students will choose a
particular area such as a loan officer or teller and study that field. It is
said that the benefits for the student are limitless. The more that is learned
the better it is to arrive at the student’s own solutions. Fourth, students
will learn to budget more carefully. By learning how to budget money the
student will learn more responsibility from managing his or her own checking
account. Observing the mistakes that other people make with their money will
help the student to learn responsibility.
Many
drawbacks face this proposed youth apprenticeship. First, scheduling is a main
factor for the student and the mentor. Learning all the basic information of a
certain task takes longer than an hour a day. Employer accountability is
another drawback to this program. An employer must be willing to give the
apprentice the attention that is necessary. Any individual assistance from the
employer will help the student gain personal knowledge. The student’s
accountability could be another drawback.5
The third drawback may deal with demand.
The
local banks may lack the necessary help to devote to mentoring. Many employers
do not want to take the time and/or the effort to train students to work in
this field of study.
Responses
To Question
1.
Solutions do exist. Concerning
scheduling students need to make his/her school schedule as flexible as
possible to work as an apprentice. This may mean to schedule work at the end
of the school day. Scheduling the work at the end of the day allows the
student to work longer. This gives the student an opportunity to learn and
earn more money. With
accountability, student and employer must take time to keep the communication
open so everyone gains. It is vital that the student and the employer keep
open communication. This lets both the apprentice and the employer know what
is needed to be gained from this program. In conclusion, establishing a youth
apprenticeship program in banking will benefit the local students. This
program will take hard work and dedication, but the participants will gain
much insight. We
have some businesses in our community that gives our students the internship
opportunity. An internship program is a program that benefits the student and
the employer. This opportunity introduces the student to skills needed to
succeed in a real job-like situation. An area of internship that we have in
our community is at the local Duckwall’s store. The student works every
morning until 10 a.m. and then comes to school. With the student interested in
business management this program helps her to gain information that will help
her earn that degree. Learning from hands-on experience helps her to fulfill
her personal and occupational goals. The high school principal works closely
with the employer to be sure that the student is meeting her own goals and
also meeting her requirements. The same format is used for students doing
interning at the hospital, beauty salons, and at the computer net- working
center. Other businesses that may be interested include cattle feeders, grain
marketers, and also city hall.
2.
The Wichita Area Technical College (WATC) has one of the state apprenticeship
programs. This particular program offers up to 40 hours of college credit upon
completion, with 21 additional hours of general education. A student can
receive an associate’s degree. WATC gives their students predetermined pay
increases. Students are required to be at their assigned job on time, alert
and ready to learn as they work. A journeyman supervises. Today’s job market
requires more knowledge and better skills than ever before. Opportunities
arise when students have occupational, academic, technical, and interpersonal
skills. In order to succeed as a school-to-career program, a school must
integrate high academic standards with choices of careers or relevant work
experience.1 The school to careers program is funded by a four-year
$16.8 million grant that is through the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. The
Kansas Department of Commerce & Housing administers the grant and the
Kansas Workforce Investments Partnership (KWIP) oversees the statewide
planning. Eighty percent of the federal funds are passed as grants to local
partnerships. School to Careers is an innovative and exciting component to the
School-to-Work Act. Participation will help the student answer the question,
“Why do I need to learn this?” There are many benefits through this
program. Many students earn better grades, connect with adults in the same
field of interest, and become competitive for tomorrow’s workforce. These
programs are designed to help the student set personal standards and help him
to achieve his goals.
3.
The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 is to establish a national
framework within which all states are able to create statewide school-to-work
opportunities. This act states that the opportunity is there for all students
to participate in education and training. Participation in education and
training allows students to earn portable credentials. Another purpose is to
utilize work places as a place of learning in the educational process by
making employers join partners with educators and provide the opportunity for
all students to participate in high-quality, work-based learning experiences.
Also, being involved in the work place is a motivator for all youths,
including the disadvantaged, school dropouts, and low-achieving students to
stay in or to return to school and try to succeed. Providing learning
experiences and assistance in obtaining good jobs and continuing their
education will help them fulfill their goals. The Carl D. Perkins Vocational
and Technical Education Act of 1998 (Perkins III) is set up to produce more
opportunities for students. The goals are to improve student achievement and
prepare students for post-secondary education, further learning, and careers.
This act supports vocational and technical education with state and local
efforts to change secondary schools and improve post-secondary education.
Perkins III encourages the development of “one-step” education and work
force development systems at both the state and local levels. Both
of these acts are to benefit the students in collaborating with their dreams
and desires.
2.
First the opportunities need to be made more available in our community
for internships. We have internship programs in some businesses, but not all
of them. A few students from here participate in the internship program in
various businesses throughout our community. One student works at the rest
home for the beginning two hours of school a day, and then she must come back
to school for the remainder of the day. We have certain requirements that must
be met by the intern students. They are required to fill out a daily journal
describing what they did that day and what they learned by doing those
activities. Other businesses should consider the internship program, such as
the banks, the medical facilities, and the legal offices.
5.
“Outcome-based” is the amount of experience the student gains based
on the excellence of the student’s performance. A student must be capable of
learning, and trying new tasks. A student must have determination in order to
complete this program successfully.
Illustration:
I cannot say that I have completed 1000 hours of keyboarding to satisfy my
prospective employer. My employer wants to know if I can perform secretarial
tasks.
6.
The AFL-CIO opposes
apprenticeship programs due to the undercutting of child labor laws, the Fair
Labor Standard Act, and the misuse of the name. The child labor law states
that children must be of certain age in order to work. There are many other
requirements as well. The children must be compensated appropriately.
Apprentices should be paid no less than minimum wage. The Union feels that
apprenticeships use inexperienced labor for cheaper cost. The Fair Labor
Standard Act is set up to ensure right wages for the difficulty of the job.
Also it is uniform to geographic location. Unions are afraid apprenticeships
put in less quality workers at a cheaper cost than giving the position to the
people who have trained themselves to do the job right. Union and state
officials strongly agree that the name “apprentice” be reserved for
“registered apprentice” programs. The programs are highly structured,
multi-year training programs with collective bargaining agreements.
Apprenticeship programs might cheapen the dignity that the title carries,
according to the union.
7.
Employers may be opposed
to youth apprenticeships since many employers require a three-or-four-year
work commitment. Many businesses prefer college graduates; the businesses feel
that high school students are not mature enough to fulfill the duties
necessary. Another reason employers may be opposed is that the company is too
busy promoting their own company’s concept in the business world. Just
because a company sent a computer into a school does not mean that the company
has done its job. Many businesses do feel this way. It takes more time
commitment than supplies. Also some employers are not suited to supervise
apprentices. Apprentices need support from parents and their employers.
Apprentices need the time off for the “kid” activities, so the employer
may need to work around the schedules of the apprentice. That arrangement can
cause conflict.
8.
Antelope Valley School District has developed a program called Sharing
Aeronautics Projects Electronically (SHAPE). The objective of this program is
to interest students in technical careers and to develop a student’s
abilities in math and science using the internet. SHAPE allows educators to
interact with students on the World Wide Web. Educators can motivate students
to learn math and science at various points in the program. This program
allows hands-on training to involve students in instructional aviation
programs. Accomplishments made by this program have trained teachers with
basic aeronautical background and help to combine math and science. This could
be useful in a youth apprenticeship program because the students could get
hands-on training while doing school work under the instruction of a teacher.
While in school the student learns the basic operations of aviation from
trained teachers. The student then can move on to the work site and perform
more technical work.
9.
The difference between contextual learning, applied learning,
community-based learning, and experiential learning is noteworthy. Contextual
learning deals with mastering the facts. It deals more with concrete
information. Taking in bits of information and using that in another situation
is considered applied learning. An example of this would be in engine repair.
One must learn how to repair an engine before he/she can actually go in a
mechanic shop and perform the task. Community based learning is actually going
into the community and gaining information that can be utilized by everyone. A
city council is a community-based occupation. Gaining ideas from the community
helps to make the city a better place to live. Internships and apprenticeships
are considered experiential learning. In part, this is receiving experience
while still learning the fundamentals at the same time.
10.
The government’s role is to act as a catalyst in youth apprenticeship
programs. The purpose of this effort is to gain national credibility for
apprentices becoming highly skilled workers. The skills will be occupational
specific and valuable to many employers. The government must help start the
program and then step aside and let the employers make their own guidelines.
If the federal government is overly involved, the government will intimidate
companies to become part of the program. The employer does not want to spend
the extra time or money to train an apprentice if there is no guarantee that
the apprentice will benefit the company. If the government does not give the
employer a guarantee then the company may become hesitant. It is important for
the government to be involved in youth apprenticeships to a limited extent,
but it may cause conflict between the employer and the apprentice.