Unemployed British Teenagers: Get a free iPod

muzikool

Act your wage.
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Joined
27 Dec 2001
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I always wanted to get paid to learn. This is the next best thing.

LONDON (AP) -- Unemployed and love music? If so, a British school is offering teenagers a deal - take a summer course and bag an iPod.

Out of work teenagers are being offered digital iPod music players if they complete courses aimed at helping them find jobs, officials at school in southern England said Wednesday.

Critics say handing out the players - which cost around 170 pounds (US$300; euro230) in Britain - to students embarking on the "Step Up for Summer" course at Bournemouth and Pool College amounts to bribery.

Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said the 14-week course, which is funded by the Government's Learning and Schools Council, is sending teenagers the wrong message.

"The people who are organizing the course must feel the youngsters don't really want to go, otherwise they wouldn't feel it was necessary to offer them iPods," he said.

"To me they are offering them a bribe. It's giving the wrong message about the value of education. It tells teenagers they don't have to do anything unless they are getting a sweetener."

But a spokeswoman for Bournemouth and Poole College said the school's target youngsters "are predominantly disaffected by education, they have possibly not had a very good experience in the school sector and therefore are not engaged in learning."

"I see it (the iPod offer) as an incentive to get them back in to learning," she said.

She said the college has so far had 30 applications for the 100 places available.

The course, which is limited to those aged 16-18, includes team-building activities such as outdoor pursuits and extreme sports; life skills, including how to write a resume and budget your money; travel tips; first aid and community work. Students will be required to do paid employment for one day a week.

In a separate initiative, Glasgow City Council recently announced that it would reward high school students who buy healthy meals at school canteens with points that can be traded for cinema tickets, book tokens, iPods and Xbox games consoles.
 
Or they could work down the local pub for 2 weeks and earn enough to buy one, don't tell them that tho.
 
But then they'd have to work more than one day a week.

If someone told me they'd give me an iPod to hang out with other people my age, do extreme sports and get taught how to find a job, I'd go for it. :)
 
:laugh: muzikool, obviously you are in a vast desert during the summer....
 
Nope, I've got plenty to do working full time and planning a wedding. I just think it's a pretty good deal. :)
 
Sounds horrid. I think I would give them MY iPod to not have to do such things. :dead:
 
14 weeks of camp, to work 14 days and learn, in addition to all the stuff I would have normally done during the summer...


well I guess wisdom comes with age.
 
muzikool said:
Better than being bored!
lol, I doubt it will be stop them getting bored :)
More likely to stop them getting arrested for being D&D
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
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Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
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