From: mfriley@pacman.WPI.EDU (Margaret F Riley)
Subject: Re: Pronounciaton of Three-Syllable Words
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 18:43:26 GMT

In article <rhaller-230792084447@rhaller.cc.uoregon.edu> rhaller@oregon.uoregon.edu (Rich Haller) writes:
>In article <sooz.711863381@vincent1.iastate.edu>, sooz@iastate.edu (Susan F
>Bradley) wrote:
>> 
>>    I don't know whether or not Ms. Johnson knew that "school" did not mean
>> university in the UK, but perhaps British readers of this net should know
>> that it is also quite common and often obligatory for high school students
>> in the US to
>> hold part-time jobs
>
>That's news to me. It is definitely common, but it isn't 'often obligatory'
>in high school.

When I was in high school (graduated 1979), practically everyone above the
age of 16 held down a part-time job.   For one thing, Mom and Dad didn't 
have enough or didn't want to buy all the clothes/records/etc. you wanted,
so you went out and earned the money yourself.  Many of these students
also had cars which were needed to get to work which was needed to support
the car (nice Catch-22 here).

>Where it's often 'obligatory' is at university or college where a job is
>part of the financial aid package. Most people who attend private schools
>(US) these days can't afford to pay the basic costs (much higher tuition
>compared to a public school in your own state) without financial aid. A
>typical package includes a grant (scholarship), a work study job, a student
>loan, a suggested family contribution, and a suggested personal
>contribution, which usually includes projected earnings from a summer job
>as well.  All of these add up to the total projected cost for a year of
>school including books and travel to/from home.

Many students at the state universities and community colleges can't pay 
their bills either.  Also those grants and scholarships are drying up
at a fantastic rate while the student loans are becoming limited to 
certain financially-strapped groups.   A lot of students are also losing
their Federal Work Study grants as that funding is allocated to different
areas of the Federal budget.   FWS is also not part of your tuition 
contribution.   You do receive a paycheck directly and it is taxable
income.

>Of course, the university just wants you to pay your bills, so if you
>manage to do so without working, they don't care.
>

Very true.

>That said, there was  (and may still be) a least one college that
>_required_ students to work, for philosophical/pedogogical reasons rather
>than financial. As I recall, students worked full time and went to school
>full time during alternate terms. This required cooperation of several
>businesses corporations who agreed to provide appropriate jobs on these
>terms.  I suppose their may be some high schools with a similar
>arrangement, but it is not common.

There are several colleges and universities now participating in cooperative
education programs where a student attends 2 terms and then takes a term
off to work within his major field (hopefully).  Again, this is another
area affected by the current financial woes of the world.  If you are
laying off half of your work force, how can you hire a couple of inexperienced
college students?   Northeastern University in Boston began this I think,
but many other institutions are trying this out.   Vocational high schools
(Vo-Tech) frequently offer these types of arrangements too for students
over the age of 16 working in specific areas.

--Margaret



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