What career or careers interest you? Do you know what path will take you to your dream job? Will it require training, experience, a college degree or perhaps additional degrees, internships and so on?
If you had the opportunity to start training for that career while you’re still in high school — earning college credits or even starting work as soon as you graduate — would you take it? Why or why not?
In “Hospitals Are Desperate for Workers. They Might Find Them in High Schools,” Jenna Russell writes about a project that will help prepare students for careers in a variety of medical fields, resulting in college credits or a job they can start after high school. The article begins:
Public school students in Boston will have a direct route to guaranteed jobs with the city’s largest employer, the Mass General Brigham health system, via a new initiative that will pair high schools eager to expand career training with hospitals desperate for workers.
A $38 million investment by Bloomberg Philanthropies — the largest gift in the history of the city’s public schools — will transform a small existing high school into an 800-student feeder for the sprawling Mass General system, which is currently plagued by some 2,000 job vacancies.
Boston is one of 10 cities or regions where Bloomberg has pledged to spend a total of $250 million over five years pairing hospitals with high schools. Students will earn college credits as they train for careers in nursing, emergency medicine, lab science, medical imaging and surgery.
But in a nod to evolving views on higher education, and to surging demand for vocational training, the program will prepare thousands of students to start full-time jobs upon graduation instead of college if they choose.
“There’s a growing sense that the value of college has diminished, relative to cost,” Howard Wolfson, education program lead at Bloomberg Philanthropies, said in an interview on Tuesday. “This should not be construed as anti-college — every kid who wants to go should have the opportunity. But at the same time, we have to acknowledge the reality that, for a lot of kids, college is not an option, or they want to get on with their careers.”
The foundation started by Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York who grew up in a Boston suburb, will establish similar partnerships between schools and hospitals in New York, Philadelphia, Nashville, Houston, Dallas, Charlotte and Durham, as well as in rural areas in Tennessee and Alabama.
In Boston, the money will allow the Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers to gradually double its enrollment to 800 students from 400 and offer five health care career tracks instead of the current two. The new curriculum will be developed by Mass General Brigham.
Students will choose a specialty by the end of 10th grade, then spend time as juniors and seniors training in hospital labs, emergency departments and other such settings, the school said.
Students, read the entire article and then tell us:
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Do you think programs like the one described in the article will appeal to high school students? Do they appeal to you? If you lived in Boston, would you want to attend the Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers?
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Were you aware of the staffing crisis facing the health care industry? Do you think the programs being funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies can help alleviate the problem?
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Do you attend a vocational school or know anyone who does or has graduated from one? What about programs that allow high school students to earn college credits? If so, what has the experience been like? If not, is this something you’re interested in?
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of learning about and perhaps even preparing for an eventual career while in high school? Is it good to get a jump on a career as early as possible? Or do you think high school students should focus only on high school?
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How does it feel to contemplate life after high school? Have you talked about it with anyone yet? Is a postgraduation plan coming together in your mind? What is one thing you can do today or this week to learn more about a career, an industry, a college major, a training program, military opportunities, the job market in the place you live or another place you might want to live when you’re an adult?
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.
Shannon Doyne
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