This High School Is Training Students To Be Baristas To Prepare Them For The Real World

Who needs the Pythagorean Theorem and the War of 1812 when this high school is actually teaching some real useful stuff? KIPP Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, is teaching its students how to make coffee, Starbucks-style to prepare them for college.That's right: In addition, to normal course material, the teenagers will learn how to properly grind beans, make espresso, and steam milk.

Over the course of six weekends, the course offered at the charter high school helps prepare students for one type of retail job they might have to pay their way through college. Bongo Java, the coffee shop where students practice, sees it as a group job training project, according to NPR. But KIPP Academy recognizes it as an essential (if daunting) part of the college prep experience.

The job does pay too. According to NPR, the students make as much as $20 per hour, and with the experience, they can easily get a job as a barista to help stifle the pain of student loan debt, post-graduation.

The students, the heads of Bongo Java say, are making real progress so far.