Should Students Have a Job While in High School

Should Students Have a Job While in High School?
Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Last week while getting Sprint DSL setup, trying to get a wireless notebook adapter connected and configuring a new e-mail, I was routed through technical advisors in India and the Philippines. Anytime I get online assistance, just out of curiosity, I always ask from what country he or she is located. Once again, the extensive help I needed brought home the fact that many American jobs are being exported to foreign lands. (Why jobs are being exported is an examination for another time.) In this world of globalization there are certain types of jobs that will inevitably be exported; however, there are many good jobs that may be saved by a true protectionism of properly, well trained American candidates. Much experiment and debate has advanced as to how public education can best prepare workforce needs for the American job markets. The answer will of course not be found in any one innovative formula of the educational system. Perhaps, an important root problem is with some parents in an American culture that do not put their children’s career preparation in proper focus. The culture I refer to is one that, in some cases, favors the student’s instant gratification. As a result, society, and the student who will ultimately live in a lower standard than that of his parents’ home, will pay a high price for educational delinquency.

The viewpoint below by Mitchell Cox (http://teacherweb.com/NC/OrangeHighSchool/MrMitchCox/index.html), an English teacher at Orange High School in Hillsborough, NC, gives a critical look at one of the challenges faced by educators. This essay is being published in the local OHS PTSO newsletter.

A somewhat opposing view by another of my high school English teachers will be coming soon. As usual I welcome your comments on the important issues.

Cornell Cox

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One Teacher’s Opinion: Should Students Have a Job While in High School?

In his book Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman describes an experiment with pre-school aged children conducted during the sixties. In this study, scientists at Stanford University told groups of four-year-olds that instead of one marshmallow, they could have two marshmallows if they would not eat the marshmallow left behind in the room. Alone for up to fifteen to twenty minutes, some of the children were able to delay their gratification, that is, put off their desire for an immediate reward; others could not and greedily ate up the single tasty morsel.
The most interesting aspect of this investigation is not that some four-year olds could restrain their desires and others could not. Instead, what is fascinating is the discovery researchers made when they returned to this same group of children later in high school. Those children who had been able to control their impulses had higher SAT scores; more important than IQ then was the ability to put off today’s pleasure for tomorrow’s rewards.
Delaying gratification is perhaps the essential problem of the American high school student. No where is that dilemma more evident than in the numerous hours many teens put into minimum wage jobs in contrast to the time invested in their studies. Ironically, the average adolescent would rather have the immediate pleasures of such items as a fast car, stereo system, and Abercrombie and Fitch stylish clothes than such potential rewards as owning a two hundred thousand-dollar home and being able to pay for their future offspring’s braces.
The problem is a lack of vision; they see in the short-term, not in the long run. They would rather have one marshmallow now instead of two later, except that in adult life, we’re playing for more than marshmallows. In college, my roommate made a little sign and taped it at eye-level to his desk. It read: “Hours spent studying for the GRE [Graduate Record Exam, a test like the SAT that students entering most graduate programs are required to take] = $$$$.” To prepare for this test, he studied material on top of what his college major, physics, required; he knew that graduation from a prestigious graduate school meant increased chances of a high-paying job. In fact, his hard work paid off because his GRE score landed him a National Science Foundation Fellowship, which paid his way to Harvard, and now he earns a six-figure salary working as an engineer for Hughes Corporation in Los Angeles, California. The house he owns with the swimming pool in LA is a lot of marshmallows.
To be sure, he was very bright, but it was his work ethic that helped win that fellowship. Many were the nights when he would be up late solving physics and calculus problems, long after others had gone to bed or were just stumbling in from a sorority or fraternity party. Moreover, I could cite plenty of examples of other students with high IQs who flunked out or nearly flunked out of the same college my roommate and I attended.
I can also guarantee that most high school students in Asia and Europe are not working late hours at Wal-Mart and McDonalds. Perhaps that is why pupils from those continents continue to race past their American counterparts in science and math. Thomas Friedman, regular editorial contributor to The New York Times certainly agrees, arguing in both his book The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century and a shorter essay “It’s a Flat World, After All” that the Chinese and Indian students are already outpacing our children:

“We need to get going immediately. It takes 15 years to train a good engineer, because ladies and gentleman, this really is rocket science. So parents, throw away the Game Boy, turn off the television and get your kids to work. There is no sugar-coating this: in a flat world, every individual is going to have to run a little faster if he or she wants to advance his or her standard of living. When I was growing up, my parents used to say to me, “Tom, finish your dinner – people in China are starving.” But after sailing to the edges of the flat world for a year, I am now telling my own daughters, “Girls, finish your homework –people in China and India are starving for your jobs” (quoted from the essay).”

Even if Friedman’s essay causes parents to pause on this issue about work and school, I know that some parents and most, if not all, students will object to my criticism of teens who work while going to school. However, I want to clarify that I am not saying that working a part-time job is necessarily bad. Many parents and some of their children would argue that taking on a job can teach a young person responsibility and the value of money. I do not disagree that teenagers can learn important values in the workplace, but I really do not think that most students gain real financial lessons from these experiences. Since most of these students are not supporting themselves, most of their money goes instead to support a habit of conspicuous consumption. I often wonder how many of these teens are making just enough money to pay for a car (and its attendant expenses of insurance, gas, and maintenance fees) just so they can go to work to make enough money to have the car. (Does that really make any sense?) Furthermore, the students who are actually putting away some of that money for college may be jeopardizing their ability to get into any school, especially if they are neglecting not just their grades but learning. These are the years when students should be amassing knowledge, and to amass the kind of knowledge it requires to be successful in not only college but the adult world takes time, time that these students don’t have because they are too busy being the slaves of our chain supermarkets or merchandise and clothing stores
School is also about not just classroom learning but the kind of education that occurs when students are involved in extracurricular activities. Pupils who work after school may be cutting themselves off from the opportunity to develop their artistic abilities, whether they are acting in the school play or performing in the school chorus or band. And given the epidemic of obesity and diabetes among our young people today, should we not be encouraging their participation in sports?. In addition to the physical benefits offered, athletics not only teaches teens valuable skills in working with others but also strengthens mental health by providing release from stress.
Some people may grant me these arguments, but they will make the objection that some of our students have to work. That is true, and I would argue that as a teacher, those students who have to work to support their families have been among some of my best students because they know that if they are ever going to have a future beyond a minimum wage job — a job that will not keep them locked into a cycle of poverty — they must work even harder at their education.
These students intuitively know what the facts demonstrate. According to some statistics I recently gathered, people with college degrees, on average, earn almost three times what people with high school diplomas make and six times what those without diplomas are paid. For instance, the average college graduate earns $60,231; the average high school graduate, $27,225; and the average high school dropout, $10,838. (College graduate also includes community college and technical school..)
So the question remains: Should students work a job while in high school? Certainly, employment during the summer or over vacations is a good way for students to save money for their future education and to earn some funds for luxuries without disturbing the focus on learning. Ultimately, whether students work during the school year depends on their objectives for working and the amount of time they have left for school. If they are working because of the family’s economic necessity and therefore understand the true value of the money they are earning and if they are putting an equal or greater amount of time into their studies, they’re already on their way to saving their marshmallows.


--Mitch Cox, OHS English Teacher
Mitch Cox is a Phi Beta Kappa 1982 graduate of Wake Forest University, with honors in English. He received his MA degree in English from Duke University in 1986. He has taught in the Orange County School System for all twenty-one years of his career, and he has been at Orange High School since 1987. A National Board certified instructor, he teaches creative writing courses during the summers for both Duke University's Young Writers' Camp and Orange County Schools.

A published poet and essayist, Mr. Cox wrote his honors thesis at Wake
Forest on American philosopher and writer Henry David Thoreau. A number of his articles on teaching English at the high school and middle school level have appeared in different state and national teacher education publications, including the English Journal published by the National Council of Teachers of English.

In October, 2004 at Wake Forest University, he received the Marcellus
Waddill Excellence in Teaching Award, "one of the largest monetary awards -- $20,000 to each winner -- of any teacher-recognition award in the country." You can learn more about the award at http://www.wfu.edu/alumni/events/waddill.html; there is also a link to this page on the English IV Links of this site.

In addition to being an avid reader of almost any kind of literature, he loves the theatre and science fiction.

He currently serves as the Orange High School English Department Chair and teaches English IV (UNCG iSchool English 101 Composition/104 Approaches to Literature; College Board AP English Literature and Composition).

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Responses:
8-19-05
Cornell,
I don't often reply with my opinion but feel compelled to do so on this topic.
I firmly believe that students should work during their high school years. All too often I see employees and co-workers who have absolutely no work ethic. I wonder how many of these people had a free ride as a young person and had no idea what it is to EARN a living until they hit the real world.
I worked during high school. I did not spend my money on a car, stereo or other "feel good" items. The money I earned went into a savings account for school or other adult expenses. Not that I didn't want the "feel good" items. I would have happily spent every dollar earned on these items, however... My father would not allow it. You see, my father felt that a part time job would teach me several things. First and foremost, and this may sound simple, money does not grow on trees! I learned that earning money took hard work. I also learned how to manage my time. My father demanded that I participate in at least one extracurricular activity (football was my choice), maintain my grades and work a part time job. I learned the importance of saving. My savings did not go on collage because I joined the army immediately following high school. My savings made it possible for me to say that I have NEVER rented my home because I used my savings for a down payment on a house.
Lastly, the jobs that are going overseas are not leaving this country because there are more qualified potential employees in these countries. They are going because of corporate greed! In India, entry-level IT workers earn an average salary of $5,443 and midtier workers about $8,400, while experienced managers pull in roughly $13,100. China, an emerging offshore competitor to India, is actually already more expensive than its rival. Entry, midlevel, and experienced IT workers in the People's Republic earn average annual salaries of $5,460, $8,800, and $13,730 respectively.
The bottom line is that how a child does when he/she grows into an adult depends entirely on the influence of his/her parents. As for me, I'm glad my father demanded that I work during school, and I'm proud to have raised my son the same way.
Just a thought.
Forrest
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If a student can both hold a job and do well in school that is ideal. Well roundedness in many instances can make up for pure knowledge. Additionally salary should not be the only thing one looks at with regards to compensation, many professional jobs also provide many other benefits like life insurance while lesser paying jobs might provide more time with ones family. By no means do I think that a high school student should be holding a full time job however, a part time job in which they are utilizing transferable skills is beneficial. In essence everything is good in moderation.

-Liam

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Cornell,

Good to hear from you. I do believe Mitch is correct. Frankly, parents are the answer. I do not let my kids work for toys and they do not work on weeknights. They get a portion of their paychecks the rest goes in the bank for college.

Parents of today are real funny. They get concerned that they will "turn" their kids away if they exercise and parental oversights. They try to hard to be "one" of the kids and therefore relax too many basic fundamentals.

Stay well, is Mitch your son? I seem to recall your mentioning him as a school teacher.

Bill