Opinion: Students Go to Work teaches realities

Having made the choice to be both a mother and a career woman, I’ve made it a priority to be as involved as I can in my children’s education. Beyond making sure their homework is done and they’re at school every day except when they’re sick, it also means working with the PTA, volunteering for class parties and serving as a chaperone on field trips.

On March 17, I accompanied my son Brandon’s third-grade class on a Students Go to Work trip to Sac River Stables. Students Go to Work is a joint effort of Springfield Public Schools, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and local businesses.

The trip was an entertaining – and educational – adventure that showed me how local teachers are working to show children what it takes to succeed in business.

Kim Rendleman, executive assistant in Springfield Public Schools’ community development office, said 64 businesses are participating in Students Go to Work this school year. Visits began in February and will continue into April with 86 third-grade classes – and about 1,800 students – participating. Along with classes from Springfield Public Schools, third-grade classes from local private schools are invited to participate, and most do.

Rendleman said teachers are asked to pick the top three types of businesses they’d like to visit with their classes, and her job is to find businesses to serve as hosts. Students get to tour, learn and eat lunch on site before heading back to the classroom.

My son’s teacher said she and the other third-grade teacher who went to Sac River Stables had requested a business where the kids could get out and do things – to see, smell and experience them – rather than going somewhere where everyone sat at desks, because that’s what the kids do at school already.

Sac River Stables is a family-operated venture, offering horse boarding, riding lessons, horse-themed day camps and a venue for birthday parties. There also are beef cattle on about 60 acres at Sac River, and many cats and dogs. Our tour guide, Dawn O’ Connor, spent time telling us about the work that goes into such an operation.

And because the kids had been learning about different types of businesses, they knew the stables were a “service” business rather than a “goods” business, because Sac River doesn’t sell things such as saddles.

The class also had studied the resources it takes to run a business: natural resources, capital resources and human resources.

At the horse stables, it was pretty simple for the kids to figure out which things fit into which categories: natural resources are those that occur in nature: the hay, grain, water and sawdust, which, incidentally, I learned is used to line the horses’ stalls.

Capital resources are those things that must be bought in to operate a business; technology can fall into that category, as can items such as the horse-wash stations used at Sac River during equine bath time.

Human resources, as you might guess, are the people who do the work; in this case, it’s O’Connor and her family, and two part-time assistants.

At one point, O’Connor directed everyone’s attention to the building where her office is housed. Then, she asked the kids what kinds of things they supposed she kept in there. The answers were pretty interesting, ranging from horseshoes to barrels. For the kids, those were probably logical guesses, given that we were standing near the hay barn, outdoor arena, indoor arena and wash stations.

But our tour guide corrected them, noting that she uses much of the same technology as other businesses: computer, fax machine, telephone. And, as the kids noted when asked by their teacher, those items are capital resources.

When the kids were talking about how much fun working at the stables would be, O’Connor made an excellent point: “It can be fun, but it’s hard work, too.” She explained that the horses have to be exercised in all types of weather (hence the indoor arena), and they have to be fed and watered every day, even on Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and birthdays.

The stables, too, have to be kept clean, she said, because they serve as the horses’ bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens, all in one. And even if all that needs to be done is feeding and watering (because they generally don’t clean on major holidays) the least amount of time it takes is three hours. So, though it’s enjoyable, I think the kids understand now that working at a stables operation isn’t very easy.

That’s a profound lesson, and one that needs to be taught.

So many times, when I’m interviewing business owners, it inevitably comes up that one of their biggest challenges is in human resources – finding good, quality workers who have what it takes to get the job done. Too many of them, it seems, don’t want to work, or at least, they don’t want to work very hard. They want work to be fun, instead of, well, work.

We had a great time on the field trip. Some of the kids didn’t particularly care for the aromas of the hay barn or the stables, but everyone loved watching the horses, even the one that O’Connor’s son told us “specialized in getting through fences.”

Before we left, O’Connor provided the kids with a diagram of the muscles and parts of a horse’s body. She said that was important for stable workers to know, in case there was a problem and the veterinarian needed to be called.

As the bus pulled out, everyone waved goodbye, and the kids were busy talking about everything they’d seen. I was content to just listen to my son’s impressions of the day. I’m glad that he and his classmates were able to be part of Students Go to Work.

Maria Hoover is SBJ In Focus editor.[[In-content Ad]]