01-25-1993 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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r Our young people must come to grips with the fact that learning demands their rigorous participation. It does not occur through osmosis, it is not a spectator sport and it is not free. Minnesota taxpayers are paying more than $...000 per year to educate each student and we expect hard work in return. I want to make sure that students are working hard on their education. It was shocking to me to learn that Minnesota leads the nation in the number of youth employed in the work force, with 69 percent of Minnesota teenagers working an average of 24 hours a week. Teachers tell me that these students come to school tired and unprepared. The 1992 Minnesota Student Survey confirms that grades drop off dramatically for those students who work 20 or more hours per week. This tells us tliat too many young people today are being held back by peer pressure to earn money and by a culture tied to cars, clothes and CDs. We must introduce a new seriousness into the business of learning and communicate that seriousness to our kids. We will propose legislation this month to limit youth who have noi yet completed high school from working more than 20 hours per week during the school year. IN SUMMARY, TONIGHT I HAVE OUTLINED A PROPOSAL THAT WILL BRING TOGETHER THREE DYNAMIC SUPPORT SYSTEMS INTO ONE COHESIVE DEP.^RTMENT FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH. First we will bring together all those critical programs for our youngest children before they enter kindergarten. To this we will add educational programming for elementary and secondary students with an emphasis on setting rigorous academic standards for ail students. 9 And then we will add the third piece, and what is now the missing link, career preparation in the form of youth apprenticeship training for our young adults. This new department will support a seamless, community-based approach to serving young people in Minnesota.