Another co-op/internship post: co-ops may become mandatory in Ontario

[wintermom]

I just heard this on the radio, and here is a link: co-ops/internships may become mandatory for high school and college students in Ontario. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/06/26/ontario-considers-mandatory-work-experience-programs-for-all-students_n_10683628.html

 

I'm a supporter of students getting work experience (paid or unpaid) in their area of interest. My dd is just finishing up a co-op placement now, and had a fantastic experience. I'm not sure how making them mandatory is going to work out. It will be interesting to see how this progresses. 

 

Anyone experienced mandatory co-ops anywhere? Ontario already has mandatory volunteer hours for high school graduation. Students have from grade 9 - 12 to accumulate 40 volunteer hours. Somehow some students have to delay graduation because they don't get them done. I can only image the head-aches involved in making co-ops mandatory. Currently, high school students on academic tracks have no, or limited, time in their schedules for co-ops. We'll see whether some academic requirements will be dropped or co-ops may have to be done in the summer. Ontario doesn't have a great track record for compressing academics. They went from a 5-year high school system to a 4-year one, and instead of dropping material, they tried to keep everything and just squash it into 4 years. It's not been working out that well, as you can imagine.

[raptor_dad]

I'm a supporter of students getting work experience (paid or unpaid) in their area of interest.

 

 

I also really like coops but I am deeply skeptical of this idea.

 

I'm not convinced that mandatory volunteer hours has worked as intended anywhere. I think that has just generated loads of kids looking for easy volunteer hours and annoying the certifying groups.

 

My understanding is that most kids at Waterlooo, except computer science, have some difficulty finding good coops in their field after freshman year before finding great opportunities later on. So if the best coop program in North America has trouble finding good coops for very early college kids, why would we possibly think the same area can support a "real" coop for every high school kid.

 

For academic kids, going to math camp or doing robotics/computing club or going to TOPS on Bloor and taking Spivack based Calculus at UoT is probably a better "internship" for your future academic career, than a government packaged "internship"  where you wire up printers or wash chemistry glassware.

 

For me, the magic of internships is that they are interest based activities the kids have to find for themselves. Assisting kids and providers to make a match is a wonderful idea. Requiring every kid to do this doesn't seem likely to preserve that magic.

 

ETA: If we combine the volunteer aspect and coop aspect and encourage/allow HS kids to volunteer teaching younger kids at camps and afterschool activities, I would be mildly interested in that. Especially since either Toronto or Ontario has subsidies for childhood activities that could provide a useful funding stream combined with volunteer labor to create some kick ass elementary and middle school academic enrichment activities.

Edited June 27, 2016 by raptor_dad

[Arcadia]

My country's (Singapore) universities' school of engineering has an academic semester for internship as part of the 4 year B.Eng. There are usually more internship openings then undergrads and pay ranged from $500 to $1300 back in 1995 depending on which company you intern at. My country is a small nation and undergrads could stay at home during internship so housing cost is a non-issue. Motorola was one of the highest paymaster for interns.

 

In a year when there are less internship openings then students, those who don't get an internship would do their internship at the university.

 

The internship interview is like a job interview. The higher the internship pay, the more gruelling the interview. Internship was good though because it means that you would have at least one job referee when applying for a job after graduation. Or even a job offer with the company you intern at. We do get a grade for internship and if someone were to fail internshp, the person would have to do another term of internship.

 

ETA:

The current setup at my alma mater is 24 weeks during term time or 12 weeks intensive during summer break.

Edited June 27, 2016 by Arcadia

[hornblower]

co-op & paid internship, or apprenticeship for post secondary is one thing. 

Tacking this on to high school as they're wanting to is ridiculous. 

This for me is once again employers not being wiling to train anyone and expecting to be able to just plug in employees. 

I also don't like the continued emphasis on job skills.  To me it shifts the emphasis to viewing the student as a cog in the capitalist system and keeps reminding the student that 'work, work, work' is all you're supposed to care about. How about they just stick to educating citizens? 

I don't like the forced volunteering either. 

[wintermom]

 

For me, the magic of internships is that they are interest based activities the kids have to find for themselves. Assisting kids and providers to make a match is a wonderful idea. Requiring every kid to do this doesn't seem likely to preserve that magic.

 

 

The problem for students under the age 18 is insurance. Organizing an internship or coop on one's own is tough when businesses may need special insurance to cover minor students. Going through the school boards at least provides both insurance and a teacher providing pre-placement training and supervising the progress of the student. 

 

I agree that the mandatory aspect is going to be a huge problem in many levels.

[wintermom]

co-op & paid internship, or apprenticeship for post secondary is one thing. 

 

Tacking this on to high school as they're wanting to is ridiculous. 

 

This for me is once again employers not being wiling to train anyone and expecting to be able to just plug in employees. 

 

I also don't like the continued emphasis on job skills.  To me it shifts the emphasis to viewing the student as a cog in the capitalist system and keeps reminding the student that 'work, work, work' is all you're supposed to care about. How about they just stick to educating citizens? 

 

I don't like the forced volunteering either. 

 

This emphasis has supposedly been going on from the early elementary grades and up for at least the last 20 years. At least is was when I was teaching in Ontario 20 years ago. It's not going away. 

 

I have no problem at all with young people from high school and up doing co-ops, internships and apprenticeships. I think they provide a lot of excellent learning opportunities, and reach many students that academic classes miss.  I believe this is an important aspect of "educating citizens," through keeping them engaged and having opportunities to apply academic knowledge in practical settings.

 

I'd rather seem more emphasis and resources placed on co-op opportunities, but not make them mandatory.