I have a part-time job. As a high-school senior, this isn’t exactly revolutionary. Even freshman year, I remember my history teacher including a question about where we worked (if we had a job at all) on a get-to-know-you kind of questionnaire. While being a good small-talk sort of question, it’s telling of the kind of environment expected for high schoolers. I was 14 when I was asked that question, and frankly, I wouldn’t trust a 14-year-old to give me a sincere compliment, let alone be trusted with potentially grilling a burger for me without malicious intentions. Who would? (Don’t answer that question if you’re 14.) Even if you believe in a 14-year-old’s good intentions, it seems silly to expect them to have a part-time job. In fact, it is silly. It’s silly for any high schooler to be expected to carry that burden at all.
Ultimately, the expectation seems to stem from the belief that it will develop time-management skills, introduce them to the adult world, and expand responsibility. Also, I think the idea of generating revenue by doing something instead of saving crumpled 20s from an Easter egg a few years ago draws a lot of teenagers in. Admittedly, these are valid reasons to have a job. I like getting a $300 deposit every two weeks. I think that working has provided me a perspective I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
However, the idea that a job is necessary to provide these skills or important for a teenager to just experience is fundamentally ruining lives. Upon entering high school, teenagers already learn time-management skills. They need to grow a pair and act mature, lest they be ridiculed by Van Veghel. They absolutely need to feel at least some kind of responsibility, otherwise they wouldn’t have passed a single class.
High school students have a lot of work to do. They need to wake up early. They need to lock in for seven hours, then stay locked in for another three, give or take, for after-school activities, then continue the grindset for one or two more hours on homework. That’s approximately a 12-hour-shift students clock into every day, and not a single person talks about how insane that is. You want a 14-year-old to clock in for 12 hours after they stayed up ‘till 1 a.m.? Because, typically, students really aren’t getting the recommended amount of sleep they really should be, but there’s still a wall of 4.0s who I know for a fact lock in every day, but also don’t go to bed at 9:30 like good children. This is work. This is the equivalent of a full-time job. Students already commit an awful lot of time to developing, even if it’s not intended, and there’s still an importance placed on dedicating time to working at the Culver’s.
As an aside, I don’t know who needs to hear this, but we don’t need half of every grade-level to be working there.
Anyway, adding additional work to this kind of demanding schedule is the kind of evil mastermind plot from a B-rate Disney Channel original movie. Like, yes, let’s make students work more than adults, specifically teenagers. Who else is going to brew my coffee? That sounds perfectly reasonable to me—said Dr. Doofenshmirtz, most likely.
Just as an example, I usually work until 7 p.m., which is definitely on the shorter end of shifts. I still need to drive half-an-hour home, and then eat dinner, which means I’m finally free for activity at 8 p.m.. I’m an old lady. I’m ready to pass out by then. But I still have homework, and studying, and typically, I don’t like to do homework for the rest of the time I’m awake. This is a difficult schedule for me. It’s difficult balancing work, school, and sleep (my one true love), and I still probably have it easier compared to many other students.
Students aren’t just working until 7, they’re working until 8 or 9. If someone still has homework they need to do when they get home, well, that’s just what they need to deal with. Suck it up, you gotta get that assignment in. Typically, I think homework takes like an hour or more to finish. If a student has a part-time job, they’re probably finishing everything they need to by 9 or 10 p.m.. Then, we tell teenagers they need to go to bed at that time. That’s crazy. Teenagers can’t just work for the entire day and then go to bed. Breaks are important. So, most students probably end up going to bed way later than they probably should just because they don’t have enough time.
Which, they don’t. Adding a part-time job into this schedule forces students to basically work a 15-hour-shift. Even if it wasn’t a massive time commitment, teenagers should frankly be focusing on school and their social life instead of working. High school will be the last time any student will be studying without massive responsibilities. College is adult time. Post graduation is adult time. I’m going to sound like an 80 year-old, but, why do we need to shorten the time we appreciate youth?
Adults constantly repeat the phrase, “Appreciate life while you’re young,” but apparently, they want us to appreciate it by acting as adults the last few years we can. I think that’s dumb. Stop having jobs in high school. It’s weird. It’s really weird.