essay english

I. Introduction Paragraph
A. Imagine waking up at five in the morning to open a store, staying late into the night to close it down, standing over a fryer for long hours, cooperating with angry customers all day, but I’s all worth it for that new car, right? Though this does seem like a fine idea, teens are often exploited for their inexperience in the job market, working up to 12 hours after school every day. Unfortunately, the rights of teenagers working in the fast food industry are often overlooked.
II. Background Information Paragraph
A. Thousands of teens today are working in fast food restaurants across the nation. Many of these teens will have to work until midnight at his or her job, some even past it. Additionally, of these teens, 200,000 teens are injured every year, which is at about twice the rate of an adult.
III. Confirmation Paragraphs
A. Jane Trogdon, a teacher at Harrison High School, often worries about the kids she teaches who work for fast food restaurants and the hours that they work. Many of her students work long past midnight, making them unable to do their schoolwork. This often causes drop outs at Harrison. Even though 400 students may be in the freshman class, only about half end up graduating, and maybe fifty go to college. How can working high school students for such long hours, inhibiting their ability to have an education, possibly be legal?
B. 200,000 teens are injured on the job every year, about twice as many as adults. At such an alarming rate, especially comparative to adult injuries, isn’t it possible that the injuries of teens could be caused more than by the folly of the teens themselves. Eric Schlosser’s interviews with high school students reveal that many teenagers are put in charge of handling dangerous equipment, such as a McDonald’s electric tomato dicer, used by seventeen year old Tommy, who claims to be “the only one that knows how to work it.”
IV. Refutation Paragraph
A. According to Schlosser, the Standards Act of Colorado prohibits the employment of children under the age of sixteen for more than three hours on a school night and no later than 7 o’clock. The act additionally prohibits the use of a handful of dangerous machinery, such as the electric tomato dicer. And yet the practice of hiring fifteen year olds for 12 hours shits seems to be the norm. Mere children often work past midnight, closing shop well into the first hours of the morning before being able to go home and possibly do their homework. And one must not forget about the rate of two teenagers being injured for every one adult. How many of these injuries are caused by the unlawful use of dangerous machinery by teens?
V. Conclusion Paragraph
A. This proves that the rights of teens are overlooked. So many are injured, not only physically, but emotionally, with the amount of hours they put in working. Even though there are laws in place to prevent this abuse from happening to mere high school students, breaking these laws is common practice. What more proof does one need that teen rights in fast food restaurants are overlooked?