It’s Labor of Learning for Students on Schools’ Computer Help Desks

As the former director of information services for the Irvine Unified School District, which was highlighted in the [Aug. 31] article “Learning or Labor?” I would like to provide additional comment on a number of issues raised in this very thought-provoking piece.

First, I would like to thank reporter P.J. Huffstutter for bringing this important issue to the attention of the members of our community. While I feel that the article did an admirable job conveying the position of critics who decry the use of students in technology, I do not feel that the proponents’ position in the controversy was adequately described. The article appeared to suggest that the primary advantage of employing students in technology was a cost-saving one, with cash-strapped school districts seeing little choice but to seek out “cheap labor.”

While I agree that in today’s world the dependence on technology brings educators new financial challenges that are exacerbated by the worldwide shortage of highly trained, technologically sophisticated employees, I feel that the benefits accrued to the students who work in these jobs was not sufficiently appreciated. The issue should not be framed as one that questions whether school districts, or anyone else for that matter, are taking advantage of student labor (an accusation rarely made of fast-food companies).

Instead, the issue should be one that highlights how very smart students are taking advantage of a very unique opportunity to obtain high-tech training, learn responsibility and teamwork and bolster their self-esteem. These skills undoubtedly serve them well as they enter their college years. In addition, these skills will enhance their competitive edge in the workplace as we enter the 21st century.

Historically, if they have been lucky enough to obtain work, students of legal age have tended to earn the minimum wage as they worked at clerical jobs or in the fast-food industry. These jobs tend to be short-term, and tend to offer few long-term skills. In contrast, working in the schools in technology positions provides students with a constructive way to spend their time while they learn extremely marketable skills that will last them a lifetime.

Over the last two years I have been thanked over and over by parents who are thrilled that their children have been given the opportunity to receive high-tech training in a supportive, safe and trusting environment. I have never encountered a parent who disapproved of his or her child’s involvement in technology. Rather than suggesting that their practices might be exploitative, IUSD and other technologically sophisticated school districts should serve as a model to other forward-sighted districts as we enter the next millennium.

MOE FARSHEED

President

JavaNet Information Services

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I just read your article and thought you might want my comments on it. I thought it was very well-written and raises some questions in my own mind about using student help in supporting the technology.

I’m sure that there are cases where the abuse is blatant and students get little or nothing for their contributions, but I believe in most cases that it is a partnership that benefits students as well as the district. I hope that is true. After all, how often do students and school administrators work together on anything these days?

I’m sure that if I asked the students involved in our district whether they would rather sit in a classroom with book in hand taking notes from a lecturer about computer technology and its use, or do what they are doing with hands-on experience, working with the public and learning what the “real” world is like, they would choose the latter. Their compensation is the same for both: credit for “Computer Applications” as a high-school subject.

As for the question of how far do you go in using student “labor” to help out, I would say no farther, unless you pay them market-determined wages for their skills. I condone student use in assisting technology only under the following criteria:

1.) The students get reasonable credit or compensation for their efforts.

2). The skills learned match the skills we attempt to teach in the classroom.

3.) The time involved does not distract from or supplant time in other equally important classes.

4.) Students must demonstrate both desire to participate and ability to do the work.

The statement about students “painting walls and picking up trash” doesn’t apply here because that type of experience would be educationally worthless and because we do require the desire and ability from the student.

We aren’t a vocational school training them for a “trade.” As a public school, we are providing a well-rounded education to prepare them to make a vocational decision when the time comes. The kind of experience we provide is only a first step to test the waters of this area so that they can say, “I like this and want to continue” or “Forget it.”

There are many extracurricular activities for which students get nothing at all for the use of their skills. Examples are using the band for proms instead of “professional help”; special events on days school is not in session; bake sales; using carpentry students to make stage sets, furniture, fixtures, etc. Does this constitute unethical use of student “labor”?

I do agree that most school districts are understaffed. I have long advocated that if we install the technology, we should support it in the same way a commercial business would. It is hard to get education administrators to understand that the same computers that the business world would hire one support staff per every 100 machines for, is in our classrooms and will probably break down even more frequently under student use. We have a staff of 8 support personnel for 3,000-plus computers and 30 local area networks.

When money is available, it is hard to justify spending it on a technician’s salary over another teacher. I’m afraid that until school superintendents and administrators are knowledgeable enough about technology to know what it requires to keep it running, our only alternative is innovative programs like our own that allow us to tap into the wealth of skills that many students already have.

ALLEN EPLING

Director of Technology

Pike County (Ky.) School System

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Most school systems today seemed geared to the idea that all students will go to college. In reality, an awful lot of students do not or cannot (this is due to many factors). My son is a prime example. He wants to go to a trade school and learn to work on computers. Thankfully, he took an electronics course and had a great instructor.

Not only should the schools use the students to do most of the day-to-day drudge work of maintaining the district’s computer systems, but they should make it possible for the students to get the necessary credentials (i.e., A+, CNA, MSCE or NCE) to be able to allow them to support themselves should they be the type who will not be going on to a higher institution of learning. This would not only allow them to enter the marketplace with major skills, but could also keep some of the less gifted ones out of the dead-end job syndrome.

KEVIN J. EGAN

Bellflower