One of the most critical decisions which must be made by high school
students is what they would like to do following graduation from secondary
school.
In order to assist them in this very important decision, the
provincial government encourages employers to
hire high school students and provide them with workplace experience.
The
Passport to Prosperity initiative helps school boards to offer all
interested high school students the opportunity to learn through hands-on
training, a requirement of the new secondary school program.
It is clear that various kinds of work experiences better prepare
students to make the transition from high school to work, apprenticeship,
college and university.
The new four-year Ontario high school program includes a literacy test,
community involvement, and additional mathematics, science and career
education to help students succeed in our competitive economy.
The new program also emphasizes the importance of out-of-classroom
career-related experiences for students,
and for the first time requires
all school boards to offer cooperative education, work experience and
school-work transition programs to all interested students.
To see how important it is to encourage students to take part in these
programs, one needs only examine a 1999 Roper Canada study, in which 95%
of Canadian employers rated work experience during high school as
valuable. Unfortunately, 45% of high school students at the time reported
that they had no work experience.
