Nowadays, some people suppose that students should spend a year gaining practical experience after graduating from high school. Although I agree that time for career experience guides students to suitable industry, I would argue that individuals can quit their major because of an unfriendly company environment.
On the one hand, building up more experience before university offers students advantages such as the improvement of soft skills, and the suitable decision. To begin with, doing internship gives students a chance to engage real work environment. Hence they can clearly determine what they need to gain the knowledge when they participate in university. To explain, individuals who are social butterflies will love joining in social activities at school. Conversely, students who love doing research will focus on academic knowledge. In addition, while they are doing internship for organizations, they may realize which majors are suitable for them and avoid wasting student’s time. Nowadays, many young workers have to work in different fields or pursue an additional degree after time for their profession. Second, accepting interns helps companies to reach and to understand the younger generation, which brings about the transformation of corporate culture. Besides, they can identify high-potential interns who can contribute to businesses.
On the other hand, this trend can negatively impact on students such as feelings of frustration, and focus on short-term benefits. First, a lack of specialized knowledge when entering the company makes students feel shocked and frustrated because they have not imagined about the real work yet. To be more clearly, interns are only allowed to observe without practice because interns would not have to take responsibility if they make a mistake. As a result, they are not able to do professional tasks but have to do insignificant work instead, which leads to their feelings as loneliness, and uselessness. Even worse, they quit the job or their field as a piece of cake although they have potential in a particular industry. Toxic environments cause them to doubt themselves before they embrace knowledge from university. Second, individuals will prioritize immediate gains after they have income from doing internship, which leads to lack of attention to studies. Practically, many students have decided to go to work after graduating from high school because they have a salary that offers them a better life. But they are not considerate about the sustainability of their career.
In conclusion, while I agree that doing an internship before university offers students more outcomes such as building up experience, and exploring personalities, I would like to emphasize that students can make a wrong decision to pursue unsustainable jobs. However, Universities and companies should facilitate students to observe real work environment simultaneously their educational program.