In this day of age many high school students are forced to have a job to cover for their financial struggles/needs. While they are earning money to support themselves and their needs; Doing a job alongside school can put a lot of stress on them which can affect their mental and academic well being. The students who have no other choice than to work and pursue an education at the same time need to find a work/life/school life balance, which can be hard to do if they don’t have flexible hours from their employer and when communication issues arise between students and their teachers.
Dewey senior Daniel Oritz, who works at McDonald’s says “Managing work and school is easy to do at the same time. Most jobs have flexible schedules like my job at McDonald’s. I cook and prepare food for customers. I would recommend it to others because when you have a job it teaches you to be independent and be smart with how you spend your money.”
Daniel appreciates the job he has for teaching him and guiding him how to handle money and being independent. However, the downside is that his mental and physical health is difficult to balance with school and work simultaneously, “The only regret I have with working and going to school is that sometimes it can be stressful and tiring because I have to wake up early for school and wake up early for work.” It is important to note how flexible some managers can be when it comes to letting workers decide their work hours.
Mr.Sands a teacher from John Dewey High School expressed his thoughts on working high school students and whether or not it’s recommendable. Mr. Sands believes that “In an ideal world students should not have to work and go to school at the same time. it’s not really the best thing for them to do both…”
As far as recommendations to remedy issues that surround working students, Mr. Sands suggested that “Schools should help them and understand that they might need support. There are different types of jobs that students do such as an internship which would look amazing on their college resume while other students work in stores such as their parents’ restaurant.” Money isn’t always the reason why students work, it’s being used as a stepping stone for something greater like creating pathways for internships and even college opportunities.
Mr.sands advised working students to “Communicate with their teachers”. He believes that communication is the key, as it creates an understanding of each other’s situation having a big impact on the working students, leading to more flexibility.
Kareem Hussein, a senior at John Dewey High School, is different from your typical traditional working High School student. He takes a different route by selling video game accounts, “I do online selling. More specifically, I sell video game accounts, goods, and services online via “Eldorado.gg”. His job gives him the freedom to decide when he works and for how long.He sells my services on Eldorado.gg, referred to as “boosting” or “’power leveling” which need more time and effort. Kareem believes that having a job while attending High School can provide valuable lessons and improve academically.
“I do recommend trying online selling in something you have a lot of knowledge on…The pros of having a job during school is obviously the extra money, you can use this for whatever you’d like whether it be investing it or spending it on goods. The experience you get from a job similar to what you might want to do later in life goes a long way, since you’ve gone through most of the trial and error. Having a job also changes your perspective on school and really makes you want to do better.”
This just further proves that while it is important to get job experience as a teen, your first priority should be to your education because it will help you more in the future then getting a job at this age. However, if you still feel the need to get a job for whatever reason you must make sure to have flexible hours and talk to your teacher about your situation so they can have a better understanding of your work and so you can live a life that isn’t full of stress.
High school students have their own ways of dealing with time to balance out school and work. Students like Ortiz and Hussein show two different circumstances and how each deals with school & work. Students and teachers must communicate to understand each other’s situations to create fair flexibility, so one can excel both academics and work.
