by Jaime Richards
The magic word for today's students is the "i" word. To high school students, it should be recommended —- strongly. For college students, it should be required.
The magic word is "internship," and it's more important than any other high school or college experience.
Internships are more relevant than any course in the curriculum. They're more meaningful than any sport, club or activity. In the modern education universe, internships not only are a much needed dose of reality, they're a vital prerequisite for a gratifying life.
Too bad that instead of being the heart of a high school or college student's experience, internships are way out there on the fringe. Not only are not enough students applying for them, but most don't even know what they are.
That's a shame because, although internships can be fulfilling and fun, their true value is in keeping kids from ruining their lives or from making the kind of mistake that can take years to fix.
Once upon a time, a little girl wanted to be a veterinarian.
"I love animals," she'd tell anyone who'd listen. Then, in high school, she got a summer internship working for a vet.
Guess what? She hated working with animals, and she's not going to become a vet.
Once upon another time, a little girl watched a movie called "The Wedding Planner." She decided that one day, she, too, would become a wedding planner.
So, in college,
she got an internship working at a wedding planning company.
Guess what? She doesn't want to be a wedding planner anymore. Internships taught both girls what they didn't want to be, and that's OK.
It's the pedal boat effect. We've all experienced it. Something seems like a good idea — until we try it. Like those pedal boats you can rent for an hour.
They look fun, but after about eight minutes, you're done. You start looking at your watch while silently cursing yourself for shelling out cash for drudgery.
In college, I knew a guy who dreamed of managing a restaurant — until he got a job managing a restaurant. Internships can save guys like that.
Sometimes, happily, they work the other way. A student doing an internship at a hospital got to watch surgeries. Now she's prepping the MCAT.
Internships allow students to find out if what they thought was cool really is cool.
Here's the catch: Most internships are not widely promoted. If kids want them, they'll have to go looking for them. Why would anyone sign up to work for nothing or next to nothing? Because it's free, authentic education that usually beats the heck out of the expensive classroom kind.
"So, Vidya, what are you doing this summer?" I asked a favorite student.
"An internship at UCSF med school. I'm helping out on a fetal MRI project, and I'm researching the bioethics of MRI scans as well as their accuracy and how well they diagnose problems of fetuses."
What's your 17-year-old doing this summer?
