Should Student Work or Not

Many people strongly believe that employment will teach a young person many important traits such as responsibility, time-management, budget management, and organizational skills. They think that creating pressure for teenagers to work is great because they can have a little bit of freedom, independence and have their own spending money. However, in my opinion, working during the student life is more harmful because it reduces the involvement with school, encourages a materialistic and expensive lifestyle, and increases the chance of having problems with drugs and alcohol.

Working during the school years will make adolescents have a huge burden on their shoulders and difficult time in school. Working and schooling both require that students be timely, attentive, and focused on their performance, which make students unable to do both successfully at the same time. Students who work have less time for their academic commitments such as homework, course work assignments, and other extracurricular activities that they enjoy. As a result, their grades are often low because they try to accomplish their homework in very brief periods of time to allow for other responsibilities at work. Events or festivals are poorly attended by working students, which is not because they are not interested in but they have no time for those kinds of social activities at school. "Working while studying is tiring - my social life is non-existent and I have to struggle to meet deadlines", said Tina Le, a full-time student at NOVA who works thirty hours a week in a restaurant. In addition, it is noticed that many students who work and study simultaneously are putting themselves at risk to the long list of side effects on their health such as stress, anxiety and depression. One of my Vietnamese friends from American University came down with serious stress and had to drop the university as a result of aiming for good grades, and working the whole weekend.

Materialism and unrealistic lifestyle are other dangerous aspects of working students. On the one hand, I agree that a job does teach adolescents the value of dollar and the fact that they work not only to provide financial support for themselves but also for their family. But on the other hand, I have to admit that most of the working students I have known do not even care about how much their parents are paying for the utility bills, food, house, and insurance. They spend their extra money earned from part-time jobs on buying luxurious things, updating their hi-tech stuff, hanging out with friends in bars and clubs that are not in any way needed. Because students now have money to spend, they feel that they deserve to go out and spend it. The extra money becomes a symbol of freedom to them. Students are too young to have a good money management. The more money they can earn, the more they are going to spend it unwisely. It is the early financial freedom that makes adolescents getting into the habits