Internships should benefit all
Your article strikes a sensitive chord with this semi-retired public relations professor who, for nearly two decades, supervised an internship program that saw dozens of public relations students transitioning successfully into the “real world” with hands-on experience and industry knowledge (“Internships are not manual labor: MOE,” May 15, page 4).
One point that I consistently stressed with my internship supervisees, as well as with my academic and professional colleagues, was that an internship should be designed to give the student real-life experience while better identifying his or her own skills and interests.
Yes, on occasion, one will be asked (told) to “go pick up my laundry” or “clean out the office storage closet.” These must be one-off requests, not “business as usual.” As one corporate president for whom I once worked remarked when I asked him why he was washing dirty dishes in the staff breakroom: “If I don’t do it, how can I expect others to do it?”
I make it very clear with the internship on-site supervisor that the student is at his or her place of business to learn from the professionals there, with the hopes of possibly being offered an entry-level position if things work out as anticipated.
I also make it very clear with the student that he or she is being offered this unique opportunity to learn more about a specific career field and that I will be monitoring their progress closely.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is prudent in cautioning schools about the potential pitfalls of internship opportunities, but I will turn the spotlight back on the faculty adviser and the student to pay attention to the requirements of the internship and to monitor progress.
Internships are — or should be — a mutually satisfying partnership in which the school itself, the student and the professional organization offering the opportunity benefit.
The school can say confidently: “We prepare our students for the demands and the realities of today’s working world.”
The student can say proudly: “I learned my strengths and weaknesses as I prepared for my future as a professional; I know what will be expected of me when I enter the working world and I am confident I will succeed.”
The organization can say: “We offer a realistic environment in which the student is able to better identify his or her skills and abilities, and at the same time, we are afforded the opportunity to evaluate a potential employee.”
If managed and supervised correctly, internships should be “win-win-win” — hard work perhaps, but definitely not “manual labor.”
Kirk Hazlett
Tampa, Florida
Climate action needed now
Your editorial asked: “Does the central argument of the Global Climate Strike For Future movement — that adults and governments have not done enough to address climate change — hold true?” (“Give voice to climate facts, not fear,” May 7, page 8). The answer is yes.
The youth on strike are not stroppy teenagers rebelling without a cause. They are channeling what the scientists said in the UN report, summarized on the front page of Taipei Times: “To contain warming at 1.5°C, human-made global net carbon dioxide emissions would need to fall by about 45 percent by 2030 from 2010 levels and reach ‘net zero’ by mid-century” (“‘Unprecedented’ climate steps are needed, UN says,” Oct. 9, 2018).
I remember writing a school essay a quarter-century ago — hiding in an air-conditioned room from Taipei’s summer heat — about the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer, then already poised to become a success.
I wondered how Taiwan could participate in the next worldwide environmental challenge against global warming. Alas, I did not have the fortitude of school strikers Chang Ting-wei (張庭瑋) and Greta Thunberg to put my thoughts into action.
The UN scientists’ report shows that the sooner we act, the easier it will be to arrive at a climate-sensible economy smoothly and equitably. Before reaching net zero, every generation that dithers by dismissing climate science leaves the next with an even larger carbon debt, requiring ever more drastic action.
Except Chang and Thunberg’s generation. Theirs is one that will face catastrophe if we do not act in the next decade, according to the scientists.
By the time they are allowed to vote, it will be too late.
This is why they were on the streets on Friday, stating the facts, telling everyone that “the Emperor has no clothes.”
Grown-up talk of an “economic crash” is fear-mongering, which aims to silence climate facts and science.
Unlike with human interlocutors, the only way to negotiate with the climate is through the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and in this negotiation, the whole of humanity is on the same side; we are all in it together.
If Taiwan wants to take its rightful place in the international community, there is no room for complacency or special pleading on climate action.
Te Khai-su
Helsingfors, Finland
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to bully Taiwan by conducting military drills extremely close to Taiwan in late May 2024 and announcing a legal opinion in June on how they would treat “Taiwan Independence diehards” according to the PRC’s Criminal Code. This article will describe how China’s Anaconda Strategy of psychological and legal asphyxiation is employed. The CCP’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) conducted a “punishment military exercise” against Taiwan called “Joint Sword 2024A” from 23-24 May 2024, just three days after President William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was sworn in and
Former US president Donald Trump’s comments that Taiwan hollowed out the US semiconductor industry are incorrect. That misunderstanding could impact the future of one of the world’s most important relationships and end up aiding China at a time it is working hard to push its own tech sector to catch up. “Taiwan took our chip business from us,” the returnee US presidential contender told Bloomberg Businessweek in an interview published this week. The remarks came after the Republican nominee was asked whether he would defend Taiwan against China. It is not the first time he has said this about the nation’s
In a recent interview with the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) called President William Lai (賴清德) “naive.” As always with Ma, one must first deconstruct what he is saying to fully understand the parallel universe he insists on defending. Who is being “naive,” Lai or Ma? The quickest way is to confront Ma with a series of pointed questions that force him to take clear stands on the complex issues involved and prevent him from his usual ramblings. Regarding China and Taiwan, the media should first begin with questions like these: “Did the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
The Yomiuri Shimbun, the newspaper with the largest daily circulation in Japan, on Thursday last week published an article saying that an unidentified high-ranking Japanese official openly spoke of an analysis that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) needs less than a week, not a month, to invade Taiwan with its amphibious forces. Reportedly, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has already been advised of the analysis, which was based on the PLA’s military exercises last summer. A Yomiuri analysis of unclassified satellite photographs confirmed that the PLA has already begun necessary base repairs and maintenance, and is conducting amphibious operation exercises