IBM Corp. and New York state are teaming up with a program to help prepare students for the high-tech jobs of the future.
Ten schools, one in each of the 10 economic development regions, will participate in this education model, which incorporates a six-year program that combines high school, college and career training. The goal is to help students prepare for a high-skill, high-demand career in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) field.
The partnership will also help advance the governor”™s regional economic development strategy since the job training will directly correspond to employment opportunities in the regions.
IBM and other businesses will partner with each participating high school and college to provide guidance on workplace learning, including skills mapping, curriculum, mentoring, worksite visits, internships, and putting the program”™s graduates first in line for a job with these companies. IBM will become the key partner for two of the schools. Each student will have the opportunity to graduate with an associate”™s degree.
IBM will also lead the recruitment of private-sector partners for the other regions, provide training to participating schools and mentors, share their state-of-the-art “skill-mapping” with all 10 schools, and provide tools to help school leaders and teachers effectively integrate STEM into their school programs.
Additional partners and resources will be announced in the coming months.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo”™s budget includes a $4 million increase for the Early College High School initiative (ECHS), which will fund the program, as well as other ECHS programs throughout the state.
I have some much respect for STEM and what it does, but this? This is disappointing. IBM hasn’t effectively permanently hired anyone other than absolutely necessary staff for more than ten years. They retain contractors via a regional employment agency for just under the number of hours necessary to allow contractors’ participation in benefits. Then, IBM severs relations with the regional agency, sets up with another, forces contractors to migrate to the new agency, and begin to accrue hours again. I’m sorry but this smacks of free labor. Governor Cuomo should be looking at ways to create jobs. Not at ways to undermine job creation by offering up free labor.
I’m with Mike on this. This smacks of “internships” which in turn smacks of “free labor”. In the dark ages of the late 1980s and 1990s when I entered the job market – this was called “on the job training” and the intern (aka employee) actually got PAID for putting in a days work. Internships were six month part-time stints that students did for credit and to gain experience in a field they might be interested in. It was never meant to replace employees.
In a past life I was a molecular biologist. That field has been destroyed by the continued glutting of the market. Academia and industry keep recruiting and recruiting while thousands of scientists are either unemployed or stuck in terminal post-doc hell earning under $40k a year for a 70 hour work week. That’s not employment, its rank exploitation. You’ve got Ph.D.’s earning $10/hour for God’s sake.
How much lower can they go? How much more commoditization of the sciences and technology can we withstand before people just refuse to work in these fields altogether? If IBM (or any other large employer in STEM fields) needs people who are highly skilled in technology and science, all they need to do is check the local unemployment office. Oh! But I forgot! These people actually might expect to be paid for their work.