Working During High School

A Job is Part of High School Student’s Success
Johan Cruijff once stated, “Every disadvantage has its advantage.” This famous quote leads to the issue of whether students should work or not work during high school, which has been a controversial hot topic in the Parent/Teacher Association. Working during high school may affect students’ school performance, yet working also provides invaluable working skills. According to the short article, “Part-Time Work Ethic: Should Teens Go For It?” by Dennis McLellan, “80% of high school students had held part-time jobs by the time they graduated” (270). Statistics show that the majority of the high school students held a position in a job during high school, and these students still graduated successfully.
Although parents and teachers understand that working can interfere with schoolwork and therefore discourage students to work during high school; I believe that working during high school can help students to gain working experiences, stay on track, and improve their academic performance.
Having a job can interfere with students’ school performance. According to Dennis McLellan’s article, jobs can take away students’ study time. “Students who work long hours are more likely to cut back on courses at school, taking easier classes and avoiding tougher ones” (271). Meaning that students are exhausted from work, thus less likely to catch up with school works. One of the examples that McLellan mentioned in his article is a high school student named Nathan Keethe, who constantly get B’s and works more than 20 hours each week for an exterminating service. He stated that working during high school year is a distraction. Another example is a friend of mine in high school named Jen. She worked 10 hours a week, much less than Keeth, and still struggling with her schoolwork. She was unable to manage her time wisely and balance between work and schoolwork. After failing the history test, she talked to her manager and cut down her hours to 5 hours per week. Thus, Jen had more time to study and found a tutor to help her catch up. Fortunately, she caught up before the finals. Thus, many people conclude that working in high school can easily end up undermining the education. In this case, managing and balancing between school and work is a challenge and a lesson that every student needs to learn. Working during high school has more advantages than disadvantages.
Students are able to get the financial benefits from jobs. According to Katherine Cress, the author of “Why Not Ask the Students? Urban Teenagers Make the Case for Working,” students can use their income to take the pressure off their families. Teenagers often ask parents for money, but high school students are young adults who should be able to take care of themselves and should be more independent. Working can make this happen. Working students are able to contribute “ …their own support–and thereby [contribute] to the welfare of the family as a whole . . . ” (290). Cress provides several examples in her article, which includes the fact that Laronda lends her mother money; Kevin pays for his family’s groceries; and seventeen years old Carmen is already married and works to pay the household expenses. Furthermore, I had a job in high school as a tutor for flute, three hours a week and ten dollars for each lesson hour. I earned $30 per week and I was able to go shopping and watch movies without begging my mother for money. A job can take care of the basic financial issues on
students. Another advantage of working during high school is that the jobs provide the basic skills and working habits that are hard to gain from school.
None of the prior research showed that students could learn valuable skills and working habits in school. Cress points out a remarkable example of a working student, named James (example of him doing what?). He states that he learns the administration skills in work that he will need in his future job. He worked in a record store and he confidently claimed that he would be able to handle the entire store by his senior year because he will accumulate the working experiences such as communication skills, management skills, and stocking. These invaluable skills, that will help James to achieve his goal and “operate his own business after college” (288) includes marketing, managing, and stocking. One working skill that I learned from teaching flute is patience, and it is still useful to me. I recall the first couple times when I taught a beginner in flute. It irritated me whenever she didn’t get the correct articulation, which means a musical technique that affects the transition on the notes. Nonetheless, she was only a beginner; I noticed that I shouldn’t expect perfection from her. So I reviewed the basic skills step-by-step and played with her until she can play the entire phrase perfectly by herself. Working skill is the experience that we have to go through personally in order to build our way to success in future
jobs. Last major advantage that students can benefit for working during high school is that their jobs can keep students away from troubles and laziness. The students who choose life on the streets over jobs are going home to watch television, which will develop the sense of laziness, and getting into gang activity. In Cress’s study, Reggie points out “ …there’s kids out there—stealing cars, selling drugs, and all that” (289). In other words, the school demands very little from students, thus the only alternative is the drug and alcohol. However, a job can solve all of the problems. There are two examples from my family that can clarify the point in which working will decrease the chance of getting into trouble and the usage of drugs and alcohol. When one of my older brothers, Kevin, who went to high school, used to party every night because he said there was no homework at all, and he had nothing to do than going to parties. My parents thought a job might be a distraction for Kevin’s schoolwork, but I think if Kevin got a job in high school, then he wouldn’t go party everyday and got average grades. On the other hand, when I was a freshman in high school, I didn’t get much homework as well. So I watched television everyday, even before school. When the progress report came out, I was shocked because I had C’s in my classes. Thus, I hid the report card from my parents and started to study. I also found a job as a tutor just to keep me busy and away from the television. Gladly, not only did I maintained my grades throughout the school year, but also performed exceptionally in my job. A job can help parents to keep an eye on the students from doing poorly in school and help the students to stay away from trouble.
Jobs have more benefits than harms. Many parents and teachers may argue that students who have jobs also have low academic performance. However, this is not always the case. If students avoid the excessive working hours, then students still can keep their focus on the education. It is important for student to start to work during high school to learn the foundation skills. In other words, students are able to be independent and support their family; students are able to learn the essential working skills that they will need in their future; and students are able to stay away from trouble. Therefore, the Parent/Teacher Association should encourage students to start working during their high school years.
Works Cited
Cress, Katherine. “Why Not Ask the Students? Urban Teenagers Make the Case for Working.” Text and Contexts. 7th ed. Eds. William S. Robinson and Stephanie Tucker. Boston: Woodsworth, 2009. 283-290.
McLellan, Dennis. “Part-Time Work Ethic: Should Teens Go For It?” Text and Contexts. 7th ed. Eds. William S. Robinson. Boston: Woodsworth, 2009. 269-274.