You’ve probably heard the old joke: “In college you can do only three things: study, sleep, and party . . . but you can do only two of those three in any given semester.” Change party for hang out with friends (just in case any parents are reading this) and it can also be said of high school.
That all sounds great, but it forgets one thing you must add to that list, one thing you must consider, whether you want to or not: getting a job! After all, beer and designer clothes textbooks and food don’t come cheap.
A Brief History of Students Finding Jobs
Years ago, you usually found a job through your parents or their contacts. They knew a man who knew a man who knew …show more content…
Add the time of actually attending class to the time needed for homework and studying (depending on how diligent you are), you can easily exceed 40 hours per week. Adding anything else to that schedule can reduce the amount of time available for homework/studying. Therefore, performance in school, and grades, can be adversely affected.
• You have to give up extracurricular activities and fun time.
• You don’t get to see family and friends as much.
• The stress of going to school and working can decrease sleep, interfere with diet, and lead to illnesses such as depression.
Reasons for students taking on a job include:
Studies show that, as long as the job doesn’t exceed 15-20 hours per week most students manage just fine with no detrimental effects to health or school performance. On the contrary, as long as you aren’t overdoing the work, classroom performance often goes up.
• Working increases your sense of responsibility and confidence.
• Interacting with people outside your immediate circle of family and friends improves social skills.
• You develop time-management, goal-setting, and prioritizing skills.
• It reduces debt and provides spending money.
• It improves employment opportunities when you leave