Should the 12th grade be abolished in favor of on job training in a student's choice of career? Environment?

Question

All 12 graders in high school would be assigned an apprentice position in the field of their choice leading to the career they've chosen. They could receive either full or half the minimum wage. Progress monitored by the school district. This should discourage drop outs and it would increase their self asteem and prepared them for the future. What do you think?

What do you think on the job training means? It means learning new things, the real things you need to learn to do the job you want for your career. Nowadays, when you leave HS you have to get the training you need for most careers, anyway! Why not get it as part of your HS learning?

Answer 1

Well, for one, like the other poster said, what about the subjects we're supposed to learn in Grade 12? Where would they go?

Another problem is, what about career options that are not available in the area? That alone causes a huge problem. People in smaller towns would be limited to very few choices, and going to other cities isn't very reasonable and not always possible. Not everyone gets their license at 16.

My school offers a class as an elective where you go and work somewhere for job experience for an afternoon every other day, I believe (I didn't take it, so I'm not really sure of all the details, so I may be wrong on some things). I think that this would be good enough. People who want to take advantage of it can take it, and people who don't want to simply don't take it.

It may sound like a good idea in theory, but there are way too many problems that comes with it to be reasonable.

Answer 2

I don't see why the government should abolish something that educates many students and is considered a very important part of one's teenage life. Basically, you're saying let's scrap the whole system because it doesn't work perfectly for some people. It doesn't seem to matter that it benefits many other individuals, or that the additional year may add to the maturity of teenagers.

It makes sense to some students to skip the 12th grade in favor of a lower-income job, but it seems like the best solution would to be offering more ROTC classes as a substitute for other regular classes. Even if it's unpaid, ROTC classes often lead to jobs in the future, and they provide more of the training necessary.

Besides the jobs that need much more intensive training such as college before an apprenticeship, there are also many students who have no idea what they want to do! Why force them into a certain area? Offering more ROTC classes would let them sample a variety of their interests before deciding on a single one.

Answer 3

When I was in school, if, you had your hours for the various courses you could take "General Cooperative Education" (GCE). I had to take an English and Business Math to cover the mumbo jumbo and then I got out of school and went to work. It been a while, but, I think once a month my Employer sent my Teacher a progress report, which was always good, most people's were if they try to work, and we all received an A for the class. Also we did do some community service stuff as a group. Things like, visit an Elderly home and talk, go play with children at a orphanage/children's home etc.

Answer 4

That might work for blue collar jobs, but many careers require extensive training in order to be proficient. For example, in my career of science it has taken me four years of college and 5 years of graduate school, and I still have about 1-1.5 years remaining before I can get my PhD and have a 'real job' in my field. There really wouldn't be anything for a high school student to do in a science lab that would give them valuable experiences relevant to their future career. At that level, students just don't have enough background knowledge to be proficient at the bench. What could these students do? Or future lawyers, doctors, politicians, business executives...what would they do? This would severly limit students abilities to succeed in white collar careers.

Answer 5

That makes a *HUGE* assumption about the kinds of jobs that are available. I know that a large part of my graduating class simply could not have done work in their chosen profession without more education (e.g. college).

And what would you do with the material that you're supposed to be learning during that grade now? Just skip it?

Answer 6

That sounds great for the students, but "who" is going to be giving these kids jobs, when there are adults (out there in the real world) not able to find jobs.
So now you're taking jobs away from responsible, needy adults that need this income.
Good idea for the students, but not for the economy.

Answer 7

If a few people want to be apprentices, they could just drop out and get their GED later. It doesn't have to be ruined for the rest of us who want to get an education. If they have low self-esteem, they can go get help by a psychologist.