School Jobs

Many high school students want to keep up with the high demand of designer clothes, new movies, and the best five-star restaurants, but really, who in high school can afford those things on their own? If parents are not going to supply the cash for the latest and hottest trends, then who is? With that being said, many students are left with no other choice but to dig into their free time so they can dig into their wallets. That is right, going to work and going to school. On the contrary, not all high school students who are going to after-school jobs are doing it to keep up with the latest and hottest trends. Many students are working part-time jobs so they can pay for postsecondary education, but even then a part-time job may not get a student where they want to be. According to D'Arcy Jenish, et al., Laura Weaver once said, "I know my education is going to cost a lot more than I've saved" (par.1). Also, some high-school students do not have the choice of working. Many students come from broken homes or single parent families and lack adequate financial support so they want things that most youth have they will have to work for it. Students who participate in an after school job because some parents want their junior or senior students to adapt to having financial responsibility and time management skills in order to prepare them for life outside of high school. There are many reasons behind why a student holds an after school job or why a parent wants their student to hold an after school job. Many things should be considered by the student and by the parents before the job hunting process begins. A copious amount of research has been done on the impact a part-time job has on high school students. There has also been an abundant amount of research done on ways to work around all the downfalls to holding down a part-time job while trying to remain a student in good standing. Students may want to reconsider juggling a part-time job and their priority of getting an education. So is holding down a part-time job and attending high school going to be better or worse for a student academically? According to Amy Saltzman,"Studies show that high school students who work during the school year-- especially if they put in more than twenty hours a week--have poor grades, fewer extracurricular activities and a higher rate of drug use and other delinquent behavior"(par.2). I can speak from experience when saying that having a part-time job in high school does affect you academically. I worked at Texas Roadhouse my senior year in high school, and because there were a lot of girls scheduled to work one shift I was not scheduled to work a lot of hours. When I first began working there I was working about thirteen to eighteen hours per week, including weekends. At first it was easy to do so I thought that I could talk with the manager and ask to be scheduled for more hours. After of few weeks of working there I began to work about twenty to twenty-five hours per week. Things started to catch up with me. I went straight from school to work and straight from work to bed. No homework, no study time, and no good grades. According to Sharon Jayson, Irina Voloshin once said," Working for more than 20 hours a week can hamper academic achievement." (par.11). I had completely overloaded myself with work outside of school work. I thought for a brief minute that I wanted the money instead of the grades. I was in route to graduate early and almost knocked it all off track for some extra spending money. I already had everything that I needed but I wanted more and working part-time was such an easy way to get it. Thankfully I saw where I was headed and promptly quit my job. Money makes people greedy and can cloud a persons thinking, especially when people are young and love to indulge. Students have to realize what is write for their future instead of what is right for the moment. .Many high school students find that working a part-time job while attending school, they have less time to study, do homework, and socialize with friends, which may lead to poorer academic performance or maybe even dropping out. I think that having a part-time job while trying to remain a student in good standings leads to a chain of events that do not look too bright for a student's future. Students begin working only a few hours a week and still remain on top of their school work. Thus, they do not have as much free time as a typical high school student. They realize that they like having a little extra cash in their pocket so they throw in a few more work hours every week. With this crazy work schedule how will a student ever find time to study or do homework? Students may or may not get around to it, and if they do the quality may not be as good as it could be because they simply do not have as much time. This can lead to a plummet in the hard to accomplish good grades that students once had before they began to work. When in high school, students holding down a part-time job may not be getting the adequate amount of rest to ensure that the body and brain function properly. One writer observes that," After-school jobs may give teenagers a good preview of the real world, but working long hours reduces their ability to focus on school work or even stay awake in class" ("Jobs Hurt School Performance" par.1). Also, while having a part-time job in high school students may find that they have less to time have the social life that they once had because of their nights, their afternoon's, and their weekends are occupied by their job or they need to study or do homework. Since students no longer have free time to hang out with their friends they may take it upon themselves to start digging into their study time to be with their buddies. Maybe students do not dig into their free time to hang-out with their friends, but no hanging out with friends may make them depressed or lonely. Depression can lead to poorer academic performance, or worse, a high-school dropout. Laurent Belsie states, "Work too hard, and you are more likely to drop out of school and drift toward more temptations, such as alcohol or drugs" (par.3). Not having enough free time to socialize could also lead to dipping into class time to hang out with friends. If students do not attend class then they do not know the materials needed to better their grade. This means cutting class, which in high school is not only going to make a student's grades worse, but cutting class becomes a legal issue when a student is a minor. Truancy is when someone is absent without permission or good reason and is punishable by law. Not only is the student in trouble but their parents are also held accountable for their students lack of attendance. All of these things could and more than likely would lead to poorer academic performance. Since holding