Why Students Should Have A After School Job Persuasive Essay Example

A teenager comes home from school, finishes their homework, gets in the car, ties on their apron, and gets to work. It may be burger flipping at McDonald’s, but it’s still something. However, this could change. The Nebraska Legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit high school students from working at after-school jobs during the school year. The debate between allowing after-school jobs for teenagers or not has been quite the longstanding one. However, the answer is clear. High School students greatly benefit from working at after-school jobs.

Working at after-school jobs is much more beneficial for teenagers, rather than them just sitting at home on their phones while they wait for their parents to get home. Kids could be productive and make money rather than being lazy. A large majority of teenagers work at after-school jobs. Working at these jobs gets kids out of the house and gives them a chance to get some experience and make money, rather than being lazy at home. According to an article by Tim Ranzetta, 2019, Research shows that, in the long run, those who start working in high school earn up to 10% to 15% more than those who didn’t dip a toe in the job market until after college graduation. That’s HUGE for a teenager. Working at after-school jobs also helps kids get out of the house and helps them to find/make connections with people outside of the home or the people they interact with on social media. Connections are invaluable. When kids work outside of the home, especially in their after-school jobs, they have a chance to meet/interact with people outside of their school. When kids sit at home on their phones, they are limited to the people they interact with on social media, some of whom they’ve never met nor will they meet. Thus, working at after-school jobs is much more beneficial for teenagers, rather than them just sitting at home on their phones while they wait for their parents to get home.

Working at after-school jobs also teaches great responsibility and prepares teenagers for the future. These after-school jobs help teach good work ethic and responsibility. A job can instill confidence and independence. For example, working with customers can teach a teenager how to handle difficult situations and improve their communication skills. Additionally, according to a 2018 article, on top of teaching good work ethic, after school jobs can help teens to learn money-management skills, such as saving; get an idea for their future career path, and decide what they like (or don’t like) to do; build self-confidence and develop a sense of responsibility; learn basic work skills such as putting together a resume, interviewing and working with different colleagues. After-school jobs also help kids to get a grasp on what working looks like as working doesn’t go away in the future. Working will never go away. As much as we may or may not like it, money will always be a necessary matter. By working at after-school jobs now, students are exposed to what working is really like. According to an article by Education, on top of receiving a paycheck, working at jobs helps teenagers learn how to handle stress, keep a schedule, deal with people, contact with adults, learn from mistakes, and face and overcome personal weaknesses and shortcomings; all of which are predominant in their future as a working adult. Therefore, working at after-school jobs teaches great responsibility and prepares teenagers for the future.

Students and adults alike may argue that teens simply have too much homework and won’t be able to get it done if they have an after-school job. This, however, is typically not the case. Lots of teachers give time in school to work on homework. If students use their time wisely, they can get a majority of their work done. Whether it’s a longer project, or a shorter one, that work time in class is there for you to get it done! Even if there’s only 20 minutes of class dedicated to work time, students can get a lot done. Yet, most students don’t take advantage of this. Thus, it seems like they have too much homework for an after-school job. However, this is entirely self-inflicted. Also, as a student, kids don’t work crazy late hours. There are restrictions on that. Thus kids will have time either right after school or in the evening, to get whatever homework that they couldn’t complete in school done. According to the Nebraska Department of labor, federal hour restrictions for teens are “not more than three hours on a school day” and “not more than 18 hours in a school week.” If a teenager gets out of school at 3:20, and heads to their job at 4:00, they’ll legally only be able to work until 7. That allows for at least a couple of hours of time for homework. Thus, while students and adults may argue that teens have too much homework for an after-school job, this really is not the case.

High School Students greatly benefit from working at after-school jobs. Whether it’s just getting them out of the house, or helping them make connections, the benefits are clear. If the ability to work at an after-school job was abolished, students wouldn’t be able to learn these incredible life skills that working can teach. The answer to this longstanding debate is clear. Working after-school jobs has NUMEROUS benefits for teenagers that they’ll be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.