Determined to make school more related to the workplace, Roosevelt High School in Portland, Oregon, developed a school-to-work program. In their first year, students are offered some job pathways in natural resources, human services, health care, business, arts and communication. The following year, each student chooses one of the pathways and examines it in depth, spending three hours a week watching someone on the job. Such a program is also in practice in some other states.
The school-to-work program is built around a partnership. For example, Eastman Kodak, a major employer in Colorado, introduces students to business by helping them construct a model city using small pieces of wood. “The children use the models to decide on the best place to set up schools,” says Lucille Mantelli, director for Eastman Kodak in Colorado. Kodak introduces math by teaching fifth graders to use their pocket money properly. They also provide one-on-one job watching experiences and offer chances of practice for high school juniors and seniors. “Students come to the workplace two or three hours a week,” explains Mantelli. “They do the job for us. We pay them and they get school credits (学分). We also give them our views on their performance and developmental opportunities.”
In these partnerships, everybody wins. The students tend to take more difficult courses than students in schools that don’t offer such programs. Business benefits by having a better prepared workforce needed in future years. “It’s a way for us to work with the school systems to develop the type of workforce we’ll need in future years,” Mantelli continued. “We need employees who understand the basics of reading and writing. We need them to be good at math and to be comfortable working on a team.”
“Our theory is that they can learn as much outside the classroom as in. All students have the ability to change the world, not just to live in it. To do that, they have to know how to solve problems and use critical thinking skills. We need to encourage them to dream about jobs that go beyond what they see today,” concludes a school-to-work program organizer.
Using the example of Eastman Kodak in Colorado, the writer shows us ____.
A.what role the business plays in the program |
B.why the students get paid for their jobs |
C.where the students have their math class |
D.what the school decides to do |
The main purpose of the school-to-work program is to _____.
A.make what students learn in school related to the workplace |
B.introduce new job opportunities to schools |
C.improve relations between students and teachers |
D.offer students more difficult courses |
According to the text, Lucille Mantelli is ____.
A.a math teacher |
B.a company manager |
C.a school designer |
D.a program organizer |