Teenagers and jobs

Today there are more and more teenagers working in the workplace. The pressure for a teenager to work is great. Much of it is peer pressure to have a little bit of freedom and independence, and to have their own spending money. The concern we have is when the part-time work becomes the primary focus. Many people argue that working can be a valuable experience for teenager. However, many of these teenagers find it difficult to fit both work and school into a schedule. Given long, inconvenient hours and little pay, it is very difficult to stay academically focused while trying to work at the same time. There are also many psychological aspects that become problems for working students, causing them to rely on alcohol and drugs to make themselves happy while living a busy and stressful youth.

Working and going to school at the same time causes many drawbacks in a student's academics.

Students in the incubation room at the Woodbine Ag...

Group of Woodbine Agricultural School students, Wo...

Students of Nan Hua High School gathering in the S...

Most teenagers like new materialistic things such as cars, CD's, videogames; having a job makes these things easier to get. However, teenagers will start devoting too much of their time at work instead of at school because they are getting paid at work, and not at school. Most of these teenagers are given inconvenient hours and forced to work late night hours to fit work in their busy schedules. Since students are working so late, it becomes more difficult to study for class the next morning. Therefore, the students usually come in late for class, and they are usually unprepared. In addition, school bands and athletic teams are losing player to work. Those teenagers who try to do it all, homework, school's activities, and work, may find themselves exhausted and prone to illness.

Another drawback of working is that it may encourage a materialistic and...