High School Students and Part Time Jobs
As a teenager I worked two jobs; the first was a Sax Food and Drug, a grocery store and the second was at Plants and Things, where I took care of all the plants and outside furniture. Etzioni would think that I was not a good student, meaning that because I worked two jobs I wouldn’t be doing well in school, I would be making money that was solely for me and I would not be learning any valuable lessons from these jobs. I have to disagree with Etzioni, I worked these two jobs so I could go to college after high school and not have to work. I saved my money for things I would need living on campus. I also did very well in high school, graduating with a 3.8 grade point average, being a member of National Honors Society and graduating in the top of my class. I did not by frivolous things. Yes I had to pay for my own car insurance and car payment, but that taught me responsibility. I wanted to be an adult and my parents showed me that being an adult has financial responsibilities. The support that Etzioni uses is a study done in 1984 by Ivan Charper and Bryan Shore Fraser; about what teenagers write in response to questionnaires rather than actual observations of fast-food skills. I don’t feel that he supports he arguments very well. Some things he mentions like there is no room for initiative or creativity may be true but saying there is no room for entrepreneurship or self-discipline is, I feel, false. For example; my brother has a job at Jimmy Johns, a fast food sandwich shop; he was 16 when he started there, he made subs and ran the cash register. Today he is now the general manager for one of the shops and is getting ready to be the regional manager for four shops in northern Minnesota. So yes, some places may not have the creativity or initiative that he refers to, such as McDonalds or Burger King, but there are many of those same companies that do offer my advancement opportunities, if the teenager wants to