waitress

Every eleventh and twelfth grader should be required to have a part time job in the service industry. Agreements could be made with employers on how many students they could handle. The students would only be spending a couple hours a day, a few hours a week. It wouldn't be enough to interfere with homework or other activities.
I say this because if we look at out youth and how they treat people it gives you a good idea on how many parents don't teach certain values. I mean when you see a family in a restaurant and the parents are letting the kids act like heathens how are those kids going to treat service employees as adults?
If the students were to be on the other side they could learn some valuable lessons that will take you through life in any career.
Watch a good wait person. They take abuse from people, suffer poor tipping, horrendous messes, endure long hours and still turn up the next day strong and professional.
You cannot learn people skills in any classroom. Whatever path the individual is following strong people skills are going to be needed. The person needs to know how to treat others, how to give respect, how to earn respect.
I would even add bonus grades if students volunteered in nursing homes. Granted there are a lot of folks there that can't say much, but there are just as many that can. Think of what the elderly can teach. Think of the compassion, the empathy a student can learn.
While I know there are some students that have good, strong home structure, there are twice as many, if not more, without it. I feel sorry for a lot of the kids I see. So much talent and abilities going down the drain.Parents are so busy with their lives they sometimes forget their most important role - parenting. And pushing them into games and all that isn't the kind of parenting I mean. When we are so busy with things, we forget feelings, we leave out what is important.
If I had a choice between taking my kids to a baseball game and taking them to the river or the ocean or a park to play with them, to laugh with them, well the the game lost. All of my kids are kind and considerate to wait staff. They also try to control the behavior of others in their group. I'm proud of my kids in that they have the ability to respect others regardless of their walk in life.