Salem High School
Salem, Missouri
Teacher: John
Hendricks
A Youth Apprentice
Plan
By Holly Frillman
My thesis for the ideal apprenticeship program is
unconventional. Only qualified students would
be allowed to participate in this during-school program.
It would not be like most work-study programs, which seem to, by nature, gather up
the rabble. That becomes the programs'
purpose, even though in the beginning, that is usually not the idea. After the transformation does occur though, no one
typically admits to there being a problem. This
is, of course, because no one has the desire take responsibility for whatever has gone
wrong.
I would propose that only prestigious fields would be offered
for internship, and applying for positions would be a requirement. In other words, the entire situation would be
handled in a more professional manner. This
would apply to everyone involved, not only the students.
Employers want to work with students who will take their apprenticeship seriously,
right? So pay them. I know that such an idea raises many questions,
but I feel that it answers a far more important one.
Paying students is the obvious thing to do. If
the purpose of apprenticeship is to teach students about the “real world”, then
the same rules should apply.
This means that not only would students be paid, but that
employers would have the reserved right to fire any student who is not fulfilling the
expectations of his or her position. What is
a student to do if fired from their apprenticeship? He
or she must simply suffer the consequences of having an undesirable mark on his or her
record. Then, the guilty party must fill his
or her schedule with other classes.
Of course, this would mean that it would be necessary for
responsible students to be involved in the program. One
of the classic methods of insuring quality in recruitment is to have an age/grade point
average requirement. Students would be
required to be at least 17 years old and have at least a 3.5 grade point average. Of course, I realize that those requirements do
not always insure responsibility, but I also believe that they do help. If a student meets those requirements, but is
found not to be responsible, the right of the employer to fire becomes effective.
It is also indispensable that employers have certain
responsibilities and understandings regarding the apprenticeship. They must remember that the students are still in
high school, and that some things, seemingly unimportant to an older adult, may be
absolutely crucial to a high school student. Attending
prom, for instance, can be one of the many milestones in the memories of one’s life. Everyone wants everything to be perfect. Of course, it never is, but the effort that is put
in behind the scenes is sometimes almost more important.
Because of this and innumerable other issues that inevitably surface, employers
must be reasonably flexible about letting students have days off for primping, going on
class trips, etc.
The monetary obligations are to be taken care of at the level of
the employer because, if the employer does not pay the student, then he or she must
reasonably be expected to forfeit the right to participate in the program. Also, the monetary situation would be helped by
insuring that only qualified students would be admitted into the program. If a student were not, then he or she certainly
would not be hired because an employer would have no interest whatsoever in paying for
nonexistent labor.
The same rules that apply at school would also apply during
school hours at the work-study program. These
are things such things as dress code, eating, and smoking/drinking, no matter what the age
of the student. While it is true that in the
eyes of the law, someone who is eighteen has the right to smoke and chew tobacco, in the
eyes of the institution of the school, it is not acceptable. Therefore, smoking on the job would be just as
punishable as smoking at school. Wearing a
halter-top would be equally unacceptable, and Snickers bars are not a part of the job
description.
Finally, for concentration purposes, the same job would be
retained throughout the school year. There
would be no switching jobs three to four times in one year.
This simply causes confusion. Often as
soon as the employee learns the ropes of a job, he or she is told, ”Well, it’s
time for you to move on to another job now.” With
this arrangement, not much progress is truly made. Hours
in students’ days are wasted, while they receive credit for learning next to nothing. This is through no fault of theirs. This would be something truly blamed on the
establishment—on the way in which the program is, or rather, isn’t, followed
through with.
It is easily seen that I have little respect for the majority of
apprenticeship and work-study programs in existence as of the present. There may be a few diamonds in the rough, but as
for most of them, I feel that serious rehabilitation is needed. They have come to be providers of an easy way out
for those students who have no motivation to participate in school or to learn. Often, the apprenticeships that are offered are
in fields that do not provide a solid financial future, and usually, there is nothing
offered at all in the professional fields. It
is my belief that such programs should be wiped out entirely and replaced with more
qualitative ones.