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Detroit schools offer class in how to work at Walmart | Raw Story (http://rawstory.com/2010/02/detroit-schools-offer-class-work-walmart/ - broken link)
Quote:
Four inner-city Detroit high schools have decided that employment with Walmart is an opportunity worth training their students to pursue. The schools have teamed up with the giant merchandiser to offer a for-credit class in job-readiness training that also includes entry-level after-school jobs.
When you think about it, though, most teenagers in this country get some sort of entry-level work experience. Most of them are terribly unprofessional. I was just speaking to an supervisor who hired her boss's daughter to work as a camp counselor. Daughter (who attended the finest private h.s. in the area and went on to get an Ivy League degree) slept through periods where she was supposed to be supervising children in outdoor activities. The take-aways: 1) all teenagers need to learn on-the-job responsibility and professionalism; 2) most adults are not doing the jobs they started doing as teenagers.
If these kids are getting training that will help them in all jobs in the future, great. If this training takes place in a way that does not interfere with other academic subjects, that's even better.
In offering these job training opportunities, the school district does need to ensure that it is sensitive to issues of racial stereotyping, though. The "[exposure] to people from other cultures" claim is ridiculous. In fact, it has been shown that when you try to increase diversity simply by throwing together diverse groups of people, the experience can do more harm than good if it reinforces negative stereotypes (e.g. blacks are meant to be subservient).
Not sure where the OP is from, but Detroit has generations and generations of poverty-stricken families, many of whom have also been reliant on government aid (welfare) for generations as well. Not to mention there are NO JOBS in Detroit (along with the rest of the state) as well. Giving teenagers jobs at Walmart at least may help to break that cycle, and gives them a footing of employment and a chance to earn an income-however small it may be. At least it's...something?
In one of Jonathan Kozol's books about schools in the Bronx, he writes about how the kids are given training on how to work at McDonalds, because that's what they are expected to do after high school. It is truly a tragedy how unequal "the great equalizer" (public education) is from place to place!
I think that it's a good idea to teach things like how how to dress and act when on a job hunt, how to fill out an application completely and correctly, how to write a resume, how to dress, prepare for and conduct oneself during an interview, basic customer service skills, appropriate and inappropriate topics of conversation in the workplace, etc. The only thing that bothers me about this particular program is that it is specific to working at Walmart.
There are entry level jobs out there and people should have some understanding of how to get one of those jobs and keep it so that they can move up and hopefully, at some point move on but the fact that this particular program teaches kids how to specifically work at Walmart seems a bit strange to say the least. I also find it sad that our schools are now preparing kids for the jobs that in the past may not have even required a high school diploma. I understand that Detroit is in serious trouble and there are few opportunities available beyond entry level low wage positions (and those jobs have a lot of applicants so competition for a position is fierce) so maybe it is a good thing, maybe it isn't. I don't know. I do think that it's a sign of the times and hopefully not an indicator of the direction our country is headed as a whole.
I think that it's a good idea to teach things like how how to dress and act when on a job hunt, how to fill out an application completely and correctly, how to write a resume, how to dress, prepare for and conduct oneself during an interview, basic customer service skills, appropriate and inappropriate topics of conversation in the workplace, etc.
Sometimes it's a light break in routine to "interview" some recent high school graduates about entry level jobs.
Most impressing to me is the body piercings, purple hair and tatts that lets the employer know right off this applicant is the boss of himself. A year ago we had one who had what appeared to be a finishing nail through his lip which left me wondering why didn't he apply at Home Depot?
And always most impressive are those that stop the interview process because they were text'd! Text'd! Of course he had to reply to his homie and I was most impressed when this was accomplished in less than a minute. I know, if you are reading this you're probably wondering why he wasn't hired.
But what really gets me is so many seem to honestly think they are worth minimum wage. Really shocking.
I think that it's a good idea to teach things like how how to dress and act when on a job hunt, how to fill out an application completely and correctly, how to write a resume, how to dress, prepare for and conduct oneself during an interview, basic customer service skills, appropriate and inappropriate topics of conversation in the workplace, etc. The only thing that bothers me about this particular program is that it is specific to working at Walmart.
There are entry level jobs out there and people should have some understanding of how to get one of those jobs and keep it so that they can move up and hopefully, at some point move on but the fact that this particular program teaches kids how to specifically work at Walmart seems a bit strange to say the least. I also find it sad that our schools are now preparing kids for the jobs that in the past may not have even required a high school diploma. I understand that Detroit is in serious trouble and there are few opportunities available beyond entry level low wage positions (and those jobs have a lot of applicants so competition for a position is fierce) so maybe it is a good thing, maybe it isn't. I don't know. I do think that it's a sign of the times and hopefully not an indicator of the directionour country is headed as a whole.
You may have hit the nail on the head here-is our country going to be a nation of low-level, service orientated workers? Is that all we'll have left?
You may have hit the nail on the head here-is our country going to be a nation of low-level, service orientated workers? Is that all we'll have left?
Well, we don't produce much anymore. What's left for those who in a previous generation would have earned a decent living making furniture, clothing, or automobiles?
Goods and services minus goods equals services.
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