To the parents and teens of today,
We spend a tremendous amount of time and energy preparing our youth for the future. We enroll them in advanced classes, encourage participation in clubs and sports, and help them build impressive academic résumés. Yet there is a critical, often overlooked component of their development that cannot be taught in a classroom or found in a textbook: the real-world internship.
It’s time we champion the immense value of these experiences, not as a line on a college application but as a fundamental rite of passage into the realities of work, character and self-reliance.
Let me backtrack a bit. We run an F&B business, and each summer, college interns flood to us to practice what they’ve learned in school. And while some are excellent, the majority of these young adults are relatively clueless, and we need to train them on everything from practical skills like how to cut food to critical thinking skills like how to respond to guest complaints. It never ceases to surprise me the situations the interns get themselves into.
An internship is the vital bridge between theory and practice. In school, a student learns about supply and demand in economics class. In an internship, they see it play out in a frantic retail holiday season or in a startup’s pricing strategy meeting. This application of knowledge transforms abstract concepts into tangible skills, cementing learning in a way that lectures never could.
But the lessons go far beyond the technical. Perhaps one of the most profound, if uncomfortable, takeaways is the understanding of workplace dynamics. The classroom is, by design, a supportive environment where teachers are incentivized to see you succeed. The real world operates differently. An internship teaches a young person that not every colleague will be a mentor and not every instruction is given out of pure kindness. They learn to navigate different personalities, to discern constructive criticism from mere negativity, and to understand that in a professional setting, people are ultimately driven by shared goals and outcomes not just goodwill.
Sixth Tone recently shared a story about how each summer, students by the thousands are scammed into fake factory jobs from all over the country. “Students are easy to scam out of their money. They’re new to the workforce, have no experience, and are easily tempted by high salaries,” one recruiter shared with Sixth Tone in their article.
Now, let’s address the elephant in the room: unpaid internships.
When I was in high school, it took me a while to wrap my head around the idea that I’d be providing free labor to a company. This is a complex and often contentious issue. While the ethical debate around fair compensation is valid and important, it’s also worth considering the perspective of the employer, especially when dealing with students who have absolutely zero experience.
An intern with no prior work experience is not simply “free labor.” For an employer, they represent a significant investment of time and resources. Senior employees must pause their own work to train, supervise and correct. There is a tangible risk assumed by the company for mistakes made by someone who is, by definition, still learning. The effort poured into mentoring a green intern and the potential for errors often offset the cost of an actual salary. This arrangement, when structured correctly as a true learning experience, can be a fair exchange: The intern gains invaluable, career-launching experience, and the company invests in cultivating future talent.
The currency of an internship is not dollars and cents; it is experience, perspective and a transformed mindset. A teen who has navigated a real office, dealt with a difficult client, or met a tight deadline enters the world with a different operating system. They think differently. They are more adaptable, more pragmatic and more valuable as future hires than their peers who lack this exposure.
They aren’t just learning how to do a job; they are learning how to be in the world.
So, let’s encourage our teens to seek out these opportunities. Let’s urge local businesses to create them. Let’s shift the conversation from viewing internships as a luxury for the privileged or a source of cheap labor to recognizing them as an essential part of a modern education.
Do you agree? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
Sincerely,
An Advocate for Practical Experience
Images: Freepik, Sixth Tone, What’s Trending
