Kinsley High School

Kinsley, Kansas

Teacher:  Dr. Galen R. Boehme

 

 

Strengthening the Local Internship Program
Presented by Mr. Chris Avery

 

 

To better prepare students at Kinsley High School for the work place and offer better career choices there needs to be an expansion of the existing internship program between the schools and community.

           

Internships have come about for personal training.  They are an added credit towards gaining experience.  Started for college students, internships have worked their way down to the high school level so teenagers can have an idea of what they want to do in as well as after college.  In the past interns only worked in the summer during their off time.  “Summer jobs give great experience and build character”(1).  Presently students are starting to work one or two hours a week or take a full semester away from school and work (2).  In the past ten years, the number of interns has doubled.  More than 80 percent of graduates in college intern at least once during school (3).

 

Offering more programs helps open career opportunities.  Most schools boast that 50 percent of their graduating students already have jobs at the time of graduation (4).  Internships give students the opportunity to participate in a real work environment.  By broadening a student’s perspective about different careers, the program will be helping to narrow down job choices and careers.  At KHS the program has not been utilized to the fullest.  The community of Kinsley should be more involved with the program.  The students will benefit in two ways.  The parents and community members will be setting a good example by being involved with the school.  Also more opportunities for different kinds of work environments will open up.  As of now the program offers limited areas of opportunity for internships at Kinsley.  Auto body work, nursing assistant, and city manager assistant are the three main programs now available.  By offering these programs some students have and are currently benefiting from them right now.  Not all students want to spend their careers in one of these three areas.  Plenty of other jobs exist in the Kinsley community that could offer training for high school students.  Mechanic shops, beauty saloons, restaurants, a grocery store, farming, banking, and construction are all excellent jobs in the Kinsley community that could be expanded into the internship program.  To better benefit the students, the internship program could be opened up to surrounding areas also.  This expanding of area would provide students with the benefit of traveling to different regions and doing even different varieties of work.  Not only do intern programs help individuals gain experience, but in some cases they also provide money.

           

To improve the existing internship program I suggest that all high school students be required to take an internship of one year away from school to graduate.  Again this will only help the student to gain experience.  Making this a requirement will make all students experience what having a job is really like.  By doing so students will be able to make more educated choices on what they want to major in and what careers they will pursue.  I also see a need in the Kinsley community to keep the interns unpaid.  “Unpaid interns gain more working experience and get to see more than one area of a field of work”(5).  With personal participation I can expand my horizons concerning the working world of today.  Gaining knowledge about my own personal interest will help me decide on a career and what I want to do with my life.  Mentoring others and allowing myself to be mentored are also important benefits of intern programs.  I have an opportunity to lead others and help them make the right choices.  Teaching responsibility and accountability is a very important goal that everyone is responsible for.  Self-accountability is also important when facing my own problems.  Taking credit for my own actions shows great responsibility.

           

By expanding the internship program, we will help prepare the students of today for their future in the working environment.

Footnotes

Mannarino, pp. 110-18.

Kritz, p. 163.

Labi, p. 54.

Tooley, pp. 76-78.

“Interns’ Turn,” p.10.

Bibliography Page

 

 

“Interns’ Turn.”  U.S. News and World Report, September 1995, p. 10.

 

Kritz, Francesca.  “Internships for College Students.”  Good Housekeeping, August 1994, p. 163.

 

Labi, Nadya.  “No Time for Fun.”  Time, July 5, 1999, p. 54.

 

Mannarino, Melanie.  “No Bummer Summer.”  Seventeen, May 1997, pp. 110-18.

 

Tooley, JoAnn.  “Working for Credit.”  U.S. News and World Report, August 1998, pp. 76-78.

 

           

Responses to the Questions

For Required Reading

 

Question #1: How does society invest in marriage in the USA and in Manus?

 

Society’s investments in marriage between the people of the United States and people of the Minus culture differ in many ways.

            In the United States marriage is usually based on an element of love, not wealth.  Americans, according to tradition, find someone they love, get married, and start a family.  These days it seems that more and more people are meeting and moving in together but not becoming married.  More than 4 million heterosexual couples now live together.  This is due to the opening up of career opportunities for women.  Now that these women can make just as good a living as men, the women can more easily walk away from an unhappy marriage and support themselves.  These relationships show no real investment or faith to one’s partner.

In Manus investing in a marital relationship is like investing in the stock market.  Families carefully look for the right partner for their daughters and invest with dogs’ teeth and shell money.  Choosing the right partner is very serious in Manus.  A family does not want to choose for their daughter a spouse who has been married before and divorced.  Society views a long and successful marriage very highly and a couple that remains together assumes great prestige.

            In closing, Americans and the Minus look for and invest in marriage in two totally separate ways.

 

Question # 2: Interview 10 married people.  (No names.)  State the length and number of each one’s marriages and a line or two of advice from each on how to maintain a long, happy relationship.

 

Marriage is a sacred ceremony to join two people’s lives together in holy matrimony.  I have interviewed nine married couples and one divorced person to get some advice on how to make a marriage last and how to overcome a broken marriage.

            These two people are in their seventies and have been married for 56 years.  “To make a marriage last you must work together and when a problem comes up, try to solve it as quickly as possible.”  The next couple is in their forties and has been married for over 20 years.  “To maintain a relationship and make it work, there has to be communication.”  “Talking to each other is the best way to know how your partner feels and what they want.”

The third couple is both in their second marriage and has been married for one year.  “Spending time together and giving each other their own personal space is a major point of staying happy.”

Fourth is a couple who has been married for five years.  “Laughter keeps our marriage alive and exciting.” 

Fifth is a couple who is in their forties and has been married for 26 years.  “Responsibility in the marital relationship keeps couples together.” 

The sixth couple I interviewed is in their late twenties and has been married for five years.  “Respect to your partner is an excellent way to show that you care and has kept our relationship going so far.”

Seventh is a couple who has been married for 15 years.  “Time together is very important.  If one person stays away for a long period of time, then the relationship falls apart.”

The eighth couple has been married for 21 years.  “We feel that having the responsibility to act for one another and respect one another keeps most marriages together.”

Ninth is a couple who has been married for 40 years.  “Trust is the key to a long and happy marriage.”

My tenth interviewee was married for two years and has been divorced for one year.  “No trust and not telling the truth were the big key elements that tore up our relationship.”

            Through these interviews I have realized that the key to a long marital relationship is understanding the spouse and listening to the individual’s wants and needs.

 

Question # 3: According to Richard Eckersley, what should our collective goal be?

 

            Our collective goal is to focus more on the importance of life rather than money.

            “Wealth is a poor predictor of happiness.”  Little relationship exists between people’s income and their happiness.  Appearance is the only form of happiness that rich people have over poorer societies.  The physical effects of income distribution such as health may affect the actual quality of human life.  In the change of growth, Eckersley asks a few questions:  “What do we want from life?”  “How do we best get what we want?”  “What values will promote what we want, and what will discourage what we don’t?”  These questions pose an opportunity to find out what we really want and need from life.  Recovering as a community should be just as important as recovering individually.  Working together will help people value each other and themselves more than valuable money.  Earning a living is not as important as living together with other people.

            Progress in life should be measured more by family and love, rather than money, wealth, and social standings.

 

Question # 4: Write a worthy goal for your local community.

 

            My community as a whole town needs to clean up our area, develop a positive attitude, and learn to work together.

            The town, in a lot of areas, is pretty dirty.  We have many abandoned buildings that make the town look bad.  Certain parking lots in town collect with trash and visitors to our town receive a bad impression.  Cleaning up these places is not an impossible task.  If people would use trash cans instead of littering, the town would look cleaner in just a matter of weeks.

            A positive attitude can go a long way in today’s world.  My community portrays a negative image.  We do not accept people into our community.  Another aspect of having a positive attitude is accepting new ideas.  This gives room for growth and changes.

            Working together makes everything function better.  It seems like everyone in my town has some pet peeve against everybody else.  If everyone would lend a helping hand to the community and work together, so much could be accomplished.  Over time we could clean up the town and change the image that visitors see of us.

            To accomplish my goals for the community, everyone needs to join together and work hard for what they want.

 

Question # 5: Comment on the excerpts from “Tomorrow’s Child.”

 

            The article “Tomorrow’s Child” discusses the issues of parent-child relationships and of the growing population of non-whites in the United States.

            Children need their parents for a role model, someone to support them, and most of all someone to love them.  Many children have parents who look after them, but are not with them as much as the children need parents to be.  No doll can take the place of a little girl’s mother.  There should be more responsibility when it comes to dealing with the quality time spent between parents and children.

            The population in the United States is rapidly growing and there are many changes in the ethnic and cultural backgrounds of American citizens.  These minorities are becoming a real trend over the years.  “The Census Bureau projects that by 2050, the American population will be one-quarter black, Asian or Native American and one-quarter Hispanic.”  Through this diversity comes a sort of an economic and a social gap.  To close the gap we are going to have to drop our differences and learn to live with the change that the future will bring.

This change may be for the better or for the worse, but everyone, no matter what the background needs to learn to like, live, and work together.

 

Question # 6: How does the fact the USA is a democracy make lawyers particularly helpful, according to Kathleen Sullivan?  How does our diversity, wealth and size make lawyers particularly helpful?

 

            America as a democracy needs lawyers.

            “Only about 10-12 percent of lawyers partake in courtroom advocacy.”  Most lawyers perform “normative ordering” which is the task of interpreting and enforcing the rules “that structure human relationships.”  In a democracy conflict will exist between different people.  Lawyers help in making cooperation between activities of conflict with different individuals.  A helpful action of lawyers is in making deals between two people encountering a conflict.  Creating contracts to regulate disputes really helps settle a quarrel between two people who have their rights as individual citizens. 

            “We pride ourselves in individualism.”  We know that we, as Americans, have special rights and the right to express ourselves.  Lawyers act as a go-between between two individuals who have disagreements about their feelings.  Diversity in America also allows lawyers to settle matters about social customs.

            Wealth and size bring many problems into the hands of lawyers.  Not everyone can go out and fight for clean air and water, but everyone should have their say.  Again lawyers act as an ‘intermediate’ between large corporations and small areas of the U.S.  This brings the opportunity for every individual to express his opinion on worldwide matters.

            Lawyers as a whole help to solve many problems in the United States by representing “individualism.”

 

Question # 7: Ms. Sullivan claims bad practices are changed either by regulations or punitive damages.  Which do you prefer and why?  Can you think of an alternative?

 

            Punitive damages are mandatory for changing bad practices.

            Nothing is perfect in this world and there will be at least one person who will complain about everything.  Bad practices are not always serious, but if someone becomes upset then these punitive damages act as a write off.  Fairness does not exist and everyone feels cheated at one time or another.  To keep matters running smoothly when a minor problem pops up you just need to settle it quickly and get on to bigger matters.

Regulations on small details would usually make the majority of the people happy, but in a democratic country, the people have rights and love to express them.  Putting regulations on small matters will only lead to bigger problems, where the government will have to step in and make more rules.  Some regulations are already in affect in America, and the general public would just as soon be able to settle many disputes on their own.  They put to much restriction on minor problems that could be settled by working together on a one to one basis.

Punitive damages are the answer to bad practices as an opposite to government regulations.

 

Question # 8: Briefly describe three ways society would benefit from the coming retirement of baby boomers, according to the required reading.

 

            Society will benefit from the baby boomer’s services that will be offered in the future.

            Retiring baby boomers will be finished working by a possible age of 55 to 60.  They will be the healthiest and most educated generation ever.  They will then likely set up personal businesses.  These companies will provide opportunities for many jobs.  Other retirees might be interested to go back into the work force.  These years of experience will make the ‘gray wave’ businesses highly competitive in the work environment.

            Offering services to the new and young generation is another good benefit of the “Gray Wave Entrepreneurs.”  The young generation will be settling down to have families of their own.  This means children and they need to be looked after.  With both parents entering the work force these days a daycare system could make fees cheap to new starting families.  These new families will also need help caring for their elderly parents.  Offering care for the elders at job sites would be inexpensive and work very well.

            The last benefit of the retiring baby boomers is that they offer opportunities for teenage entrepreneurs.  Nanny services would allow young people to perform duties for the elderly and learn at the same time.  Helping out with errands or small house chores teaches a valuable lesson on responsibility.

            The retiring baby boomers offer unlimited benefits to the new generation.

 

Question # 9: Evaluate the likelihood of President Clinton’s anti-poverty program making a real impact.  Give at least three reasons to back up your conclusions.

 

            Bill Clinton’s anti-poverty program should make a positive impact on society.

            “Since 1993 almost 4 million people have lifted themselves above line.”  Clinton feels that today is a good time to start changing.  If we cannot change now, we probably never will.  We are at the lowest standards of life in most areas of the United States and living habitats can only get better.  Improving the habitat in which people live in will pave the way for businesses to start up in poverty areas and help lower unemployment.  A new work force is just one benefit to expanding businesses into poverty stricken areas.  The business world is running at full capacity right now and we need more workers to keep moving full speed.  Poverty families will be glad to work and make their own money.

            Private sectors are another important benefit that the present administration is offering towards the poverty program.  Instead of the government raising money and deciding how American tax dollars should be spent, individual companies are left to make the decisions.  These private sectors are usually willing to invest in poverty-stricken areas with a hope and risk of making a great investment that will pay off dearly.  Encouragement from banks might be weak, but loans to businesses by the government may make a big difference in their investments.

            For these reasons the Clinton administration will probably make a big impact on America’s poverty.

 

Question # 10: Name three things Truett Cathy and Tom Lewis have in common.

 

Both S. Truett Cathy and Tom Lewis started out with ambitions to help others, overcome tough obstacles, and allowed religion to play an important role in their lives.

            When Cathy started out everything he did was for money.  After the army, he and his brother started a restaurant, The Dwarf Grill, and did very well.  With this service Cathy was helping people.  Cathy as well as Lewis feel that “education improves people and broadens their horizons.”  Lewis started a school to help deprived children stay healthy and receive an education.  He fought until he was able to provide a computer lab, a creative writing workshop, homework assistance, and a hot meal for every visitor.

             Both men had to overcome many obstacles.  One obstacle Cathy faced was the death of his two brothers.  Also he had to rebuild his restaurant after a fire destroyed it.  Lewis faced a tough obstacle by getting his school started in a very rough part of a neighborhood.  At first no one would go because of all the drugs and crime, but after a long struggle Lewis made the “Fishing School” a success.

            In both cases religion played a key role in making the two men decide to go their own ways.  Truett had always had deep faith in believing in education.  He also began to teach Sunday school to children.  One day in church Lewis had a vision of himself standing in front of a school directing children.  After this he decided to start up the school and is currently operating very successfully.

            S. Truett Cathy and Tom Lewis are excellent models of men accepting personal responsibility.