The realistic technology courses of the US senior high school students

At the age of 16, Filipino students in the Philippines have fulltime schedule in school whereas American teenagers are already engaged in part time jobs. My granddaughters in New Jersey usually work as waiters or cashiers after class. Even as a scholar at Rutgers University, Gabrielle still did part time job at the same Irish Pub. Right after a short pharmaceutical technology course in La Habra, my grandson Cyrus was hired right away by CVS, a large US pharmaceutical company as pharmacy clerk while waiting for his technician license. Once he received his license he was promoted to pharmacy technician. Now he is at Los Angeles at the Newport Lido Pharmacy as Senior Technician and Account Manager. Christopher, his younger brother who was enrolled at a Community College looks after five elderly pensioners in a nursing home every weekend on night shifts and still does even though he is already a chemical engineer student at Fullerton University.

DOLE tries subsidizing DILG high school summer work program

A Philippine STAR article last March reported that for the first time Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has allocated some P798 million for the employment of 100,000 to 120,000 students and out-of-school youth (OSY) this summer break activating the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) Law for students and OSY to continue schooling this year.

Over 4,000 students from the Ilocos Region are allocated P14.47 million getting summer jobs so they can continue their studies next school year, DOLE reported. Regional Director Nathaniel Lacambra stated, “Local government units, government agencies, educational institutions and private companies have pledged to employ in-school and OSY for a period of 30 days as aligned with the program’s goal of assisting poor but deserving students to earn an income to complete their education.” Why not the whole summer break of two months?

Most American adult students have part time jobs

I asked my grandson Cyrus for his reaction. He emailed back, “Mayors could possibly team-up with any private business owners to create jobs exclusively for college students. Or perhaps create clerical positions in their own municipal or city halls. In my opinion, having a part time job while in school or even experiencing having a job at senior high or college is valuable to someone’s growth. This teaches them the value of hard work and its gratifying rewards. One potential obstacle I see is the prejudice of Filipino parents against letting their children work on simple service jobs that they think is beneath them. Whereas here, someone who works as a cashier could make at least 200-250 dollars a week.”

“Retail stores settings like Walmart, CVS, Target, and grocery stores all take part time college students as entry-level employees. Fast food places like In and Out and local pizza places are popular choices. From an employer’s stand point, part time employees with little or no work experience are cheaper hire than a full time one where benefits are required to be provided.

“Given that night classes and online courses are available nowadays people are able to work fulltime jobs and work on their degrees. A lot of time management goes into it to make it work. With all that said, part-time jobs are available anywhere you look. It comes down to what a student is willing to do and how many hours out of school they can manage to work. From flipping burgers to being a custodian, and even Uber drivers, it’s up to the individual what part-time job they go to.

“The students that work part-time in my pharmacy are all planning to get into pharmacy school one day so they are getting experience early on for their chosen field.”

 Think of your life after high school

The bridging of vocational-technical high school to university is possible. The Union County Voc-Tech high school in New Jersey seeks to meet the needs of secondary and adult students to facilitate a successful transition from school to career. It intends to provide students with educational opportunities to acquire marketable skills necessary to enter into and compete in a constantly changing, technologically advanced labor market.

Special education students are eligible to attend UC TECH their sophomore year as an exploring student. The Exploring Careers Program provides students the opportunity to “explore” different special education programs throughout the year. Program selection includes the following: Auto Collision, Auto Technology, Building Services, Masonry, Welding Technology, Commercial Art, Office Occupations, Supermarket Technology, Culinary Art, Baking, and Horticulture.

A current sophomore or junior high school student have the opportunity to apply for Shared-time Enrollment. This means that he will spend part of his school day at his home high school taking academic courses and the other part of the day at UC TECH taking a technical career program. A shared-time student will earn a high school diploma from his home high school as well as a New Jersey state endorsed technical certificate from UC TECH. After high school he can choose to continue his education at a two or four-year college or go to work in his chosen technical field with the help of UC TECH placement department. Shared-time students may choose from the following programs: Certified Nurse Aide, Child Development, Cosmetology, Criminal Justice, Carpentry, Commercial Art, Computer Aided Drafting and Design, Office System Technology.

Note that Criminal Justice is designed to introduce students to the various aspects and occupation associated with law enforcement, corrections and the criminal justice system. Using state-of-the-art equipment and education learning aids, curriculum components include: 1) Basic principles of criminal law, criminal justice and criminology; 2) Analyzing components of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights including due process; 3) Understanding various crimes and their consequences; 4) Understanding the New Jersey Criminal Code 2C, traffic and juvenile laws; 5) Understanding the law and concepts of arrest, search and seizure and the use of force. You may visit the UC TECH website at www.ucvts.tec.nj.us for more information.