“Working at Mcdonald’s” Amitai Etzioni

“Working at McDonald’s” presented a vary interesting argument. In this writing, working a part-time job while in high school was highly criticized. It talked about how the skills needed in part-time jobs have changed drastically over the years as well as the jobs themselves. Etzioni even goes as far to say “These are breeding grounds for robots working for yesterday’s assembly lines, not tomorrow’s high-tech posts.” He even includes a rather intriguing study that found that “students who worked at least 25 hours per week while in school, their unemployment rate four years later was half of the seniors who did work.” It was stated that those who start off in these chain jobs, such as fast food restaurants, often get “gobbled up” in the world of low-class jobs. A final point made in the essay was that students often use their money in frivolous ways to gain a high status. In order to maintain this ranking, they chose work over school so they can afford their life style; eventually the student drops out completely. With out having an education, the student will never be able to gain a full-time, well paying job. This all because they held a part-time job in high school.

This essay brought up a point that I myself have never thought of before. I’ve worked multiple part-time jobs since my freshman year of high school and have continued to hold a job through my time in college thus far. I disagree with the author in his theory that the part-time jobs of today turn students into robots and that the skills gained from them have completely changed over time. Holding a job throughout high school has strengthened my time management skills and allowed me to be able to live more independently; being that I’m not always relying on my parents for money. It has also allowed me to pay for my college tuition. While not everyone is the same, I know a lot of students who work to pay for their education and I know there’s also kids out there who work to pay for their wild lifestyle.