BALANCING WORK AND SCHOOL ISN’T ALWAYS COOL

Many students work while also trying to get their high school diploma. Depending on the type of person a student is, having job during high school can benefit them or hurt them when it comes to the balancing of school and work. For many, working a job provides spending money for a social life. For others, working is necessary to help the family make ends meet or to save for college. But outside of the money earned, is being employed while learning a good thing?

Having a job while also in high school has many benefits. Just a few of the benefits are that “It can teach time-management skills… Balancing a job with studies requires students to learn how to schedule their day. It can build confidence… Holding down a job can make students feel more capable than they might otherwise feel… It can help teenagers stay out of trouble… jobs have been shown to decrease incidents of violence by disadvantaged youth by 43%” according to a statement from Walden University.

Senior Kailei Stinson said balancing school and work can get difficult, but she manages her time pretty well. She such takes breaks, having set aside time to do school work, turning in all late assignments and planning things ahead of time.

“I stay pretty on top of my work but sometimes it can be hard to balance school and work, sometimes I find myself sacrificing my grades,” Junior Aaron Bingham said.

Although working during high school can take away from some personal time such as socializing or sleeping.

“I got a job to pay car insurance and have extra shopping money… sometimes it’s annoying having to go from a 6 hour school day to a closing shift at work, but it’s all worth it,” Senior Elizabeth Pimentel said.

Walden University also stated “some working high school students find themselves in a catch-22. they need money for. Social life but holding down a job leaves them no time to socialize.” Therefore, having a job can in some ways contradict itself.

Pimentel said it was hard to maintain her social life and keep up with school when she first got a job, she said it took a while to get the hang of it. Maintaining a social life while being employed is an inescapable hardship that everyone who’s employed comes across. We would all rather hangout with friends, go out to eat, go shopping etc instead of clocking into work, but you gotta do what you gotta do

“I work almost 19 hours every week, it feels like a lot because I have a full school day but it’s really not that much… and i enjoy my job” Junior Maryjane Byfeild said.

How many hours a week are you regularly working? On Salarships Nathan Brunners studies show that “Especially in a recessed economy, many adolescents may feel pressure to work during high school, This study suggests that working during the school year is perfectly fine, so long as the work hours for adolescents are restricted to fewer than 20 hours per week.”

Ultimately, knowing how to effectively communicate and work with others towards a common goal is essential to the average person. It is needed for success in any business environment and it’s the foundation of developing leadership skills.