Kathleen said high school was to prepare you for a future in some career
or college. College was one direction that a student could go.
For her college did not seem to be an option because her family could not
afford it. At that time the only reason to go to college was if you
wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, nurse or a teacher. She did not want
to be any of those things. She felt that there would always be a
need for secretarial office position.
During
high school she focused on secretary courses. Some of the courses
that she took were in bookkeeping, business math, typing and shorthand.
These courses prepared her to be able to work in an office setting.
One of the jobs that she could do was to be a clerk typist. The courses
that she took also helped to prepare her to go into the workforce.
They taught her interviewing skills and other necessary skills to help
her obtain a job after high school. She said that the transition
was pretty easy because the courses helped her a lot and taught her the
necessary skills that were needed.
Kathleen
attended an employment fair at a local high school about a month before
graduation. At the employment fair, there were employers from all
different companies looking for people to hire. Some of the employers
were willing to interview and talk to you right there at the fair.
At the tables employers had applications that the students could fill out.
One of the tables was Underwriters Laboratories, where she filled out an
application and talked with a representative of the company. A week
later Underwriters Laboratories called for her to come in for second interview
and a couple of days after the interview they called and told her that
she had a job. At Underwriters Laboratories she started out filing
and then advance to a clerk typist position and later was promoted to a
supervisor position within her department.
Interview
# 2
Ernesto Betancourt
The reason I chose to interview Pat Brennan about the school to work transition
is because after high school he decided not to go on to college but to
try to start a band. I used the theories section of the website as
a guideline for the interview.
When asked if felt that he used any previously learned tasks from prior
education to make a successful school to work transition, Pat said that
he learned music starting in elementary school and that is what he does.
Besides that, he said maybe some organizational skills and also discipline.
I asked Pat which career orientation (from the theories section of the
website) best describes him and he indicated that he is always trying to
move forward and make progress with the band. He seems very determined
to make something of his band and puts out a lot of effort to make it work.
This leads me to believe that he would fall under the ambitious category
of career orientation.
I asked Pat what his views on his own self- efficacy, outcome expectations,
and goals are. He said that he believes himself to be an extremely
effective and productive person who works hard to achieve his high outcome
expectations and goals of success with his band.
When asked why he chose to work instead of go to college he said that he
went to college for two semesters and it wasn’t exactly right for him.
He feels more comfortable and at place working in the “real world.”
He thinks that he is better suited for the music industry.
Pat said that he did not feel as though high school completely prepared
him for the school to work transition or the “real world.” He said
that is was a sharp and abrupt transition that was very hard at first but
became easier with time. “You either learn quickly to swim or you
will sink.” He thought that it would have been helpful to have some
preparation, in high school, to ease the transition from school to work.
Interview
#3
Kristen Wolf
To
get a better understanding of how the Japanese culture prepares their adolescents
for the transition from school to the workforce, I interviewed a Japanese
male named Teru. I asked Teru a series of questions related to the concept
of cooperative learning and the school to work transition program
He provided me with a great deal of insight into his personal experience
with the Japanese school system and his transition into the American school
system. The following paragraphs will discuss the responses Teru gave to
the five questions asked.
The first question I asked Teru was if he had a school to work program
in his high school that was similar to the one talked about in the Transition
from high school to work in Japan web site. He did not have a strong
school to work program in his high school. Teru instead discussed the Japanese
school system, in particular, the examination system. He said that Japan
is quite well known (or infamous) for the college and university examination
system. That in order to get into a good university or college one must
go to a good high school. To enter high school, one needs to study hard
in junior high school or even in elementary school. They have (and Teru
took) exams for entering high school (for both private and public high
schools). Teru recalls that some of his friends from junior high school
had a hard time passing their exams for high school. His friends
then had two options: One was to start working (i.e., giving up going to
high school for the rest of their lives, or just for a year and then reapplying
for a high school the following year); the second option was to find any
school which accepted students after the regular exam season, which was
from February through the beginning of March. This was an option because
high schools usually need to have a certain number of students every year
for financial and other reasons; therefore, they kept accepting students
after the season until they could obtain a certain number of students.
When enrolled into high school, one could enter into the college track
or the vocational track.
The second question I asked Teru was if, after reading the Transition from
high school to work web site, what he felt were the positive aspects of
the program. He expressed two main positive elements. The first element
was the amount of information that the schools provided for their students.
Teru opinion was that today it is becoming more difficult for many parents
to help their children's career choice without professionals' help in a
society where new technology changes the nature of occupations so fast.
What this means is that information on what kind of occupation is available
or not available for students becomes more crucial than it used to be.
The second positive element was career development was not something that
was done just 6 months before one gets a job. It often takes some time.
Also, in order to decide a good career path, one needs to explore and make
some type of commitment. If students could utilize this kind of program,
they could get a better handle on what they need to think and do to consider
their future career.
Question number three asked of Teru was, did he utilize cooperative learning
in the classroom at the high school level. He did use the concept of
cooperative learning in his high school classes in Japan. Teru remembers
doing many activities with his classmates. The concept of cooperative learning
, was one of the characteristics of Japanese classrooms, compared to American
classrooms, and was implemented not only in the high school level, but
also in the junior high school and elementary school as well.
The fourth question I asked Teru was, did cooperative learning help him
in his career. Teru has had the unique experience of being involved
in two cultures of workforce (Japanese culture and American culture). Teru
believes that the skills he has learned through cooperative learning would
benefit him greater in his career in Japan then in America. One benefit
of cooperative learning was that people develop skills for working well
in a team. His does understand that there is a concept of team/group learning
in this country as well. To Teru, the development or the products of the
"group' itself is not as important in this culture as in Japan, although
he 'never' means that people do not consider group products in this country.
To
follow up what was indicated in the previous question, I asked Teru if
he thought that the American schools should integrate the cooperative learning
strategy. He believes that it would be a positive step in American
schools and therefore, in the American workforce. He feels that in order
to raise the average of children's school performance in this country,
it may be good idea that American schools integrate the cooperative learning
strategy. By doing this, American schools could improve the level of children's
school performance on average, which means that the schools could produce
workers with better skills and abilities. However, one must think about
what type of issues that the American society regards as more important.
Usually, in American educational context, the idea of enhancing the average
level of skills or abilities of people in a group may not be considered
important. Also, being able to work collaboratively in a team was a very
important skill in Japan society. In Japan it was important because because
companies usually expect their employees to have this ability. Japanese
society in general also expected their employees to have that ability.
Japanese society in general was also expected people to behave that way.
What children are expected to learn was strongly related to what work world
expected from these workers. That was what society was all about, and still
is today.
The
interview with Teru was very beneficial in learning the experiences he
had with the Japanese school system. The five questions ranging from the
program implication to the possible benefits to the cooperative learning
could have on the American schools was very helpful in better understanding
what Teru felt about the topics. His opinions provided insight and possible
ideas for programs. Thank you, Teru for your wonderful interview and great
knowledge.
Interview
#4
Brenda Jenkins
The importance of parental
influence on adolescent's transition into the work force can be seen not
only in Africa, but in the U.S. as well. This is illustrated by an
interview will Scott Zsifkov. Scott is 45 years old and is job title
is production manager.
Scott finished high
school and went on to college for an associates degree in engineering.
Even so, college had almost nothing to do with his transition into the
work force since his job has nothing to do with engineering. Scott
states that it was the on the job training and interaction with others
that aided in his transition. When asked what role his parents played
in all this, Scott answers that they have played an important role.
He states that his parents always expected him to achieve good grades and
supported him no matter what his goals. He states that they were
always proud of him either way and didn't push him too hard. He believes
that because of this, his parents made the transition into the work force
a lot easier for him.
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