Chapter 6 - question 6 - Martha

"When we cannot automate menial tasks, we may relegate them to students and young people as a means for them to acquire human capital. I caddied for more than a decade (most famously for George W. Bush, long before he ascended to the presidency); my my wife waited tables. These jobs provide work experience, which is an important component of human capital."

When I read this I immediately remembered something I heard in an hour long presentation at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  The administrator was telling us about how one student had two interimships with the Chicago Cubs and after he graduated was offered a position in the business side of the team, and that he was a baseball player on top of it all.  Carthage prided itself in having 80% of their interimships turning into paying jobs after their students graduate.  80% turn around because of the experience the students gained during their interimships is a big deal.

This weekend has been all about college and out of the three colleges I visited (Saint Norbert, Ripon, and Carthage), Carthage lead the way with interimships turning into profitable jobs. For me that is a big deal. I am hoping to go into a field were interimships would help a great deal.

The human capital, as Mr. Wheelan puts it, is a great benefit for students at Carthage and for those students' future families. The knowledge we gain now and the knowledge we gain in college will help us in our future greatly. What we are experiencing now and in the near future has an effect on our future too. Our experiences could have a college make our list or break our list.  We learn more about ourselves every day and we will know more about our selves in the months to come.