Essay/Term paper: Blue collar student

Essay, term paper, research paper:  College Term Papers

Brian Woy
Honors English

Blue Collar Student
Are part time jobs good or bad for a student? This is an interesting question
that pertains to almost half of all high school students. Jobs provide students with
many different qualities but at what cost? This will be the topic of discussion in this
paper.
Part time jobs are as common to students as mooing is to cows. Many
students find it necessary to have a job after school and during the summer. One
benefit of having a job is it builds character in oneself. Having a responsibility at
work and working with others builds ones leadership and teamwork abilities.
Students also have the ability to earn some extra money to help pay for a car
and the insurance required to drive it. It also allows students to get a sense of
independence as they are not always relying on mom and dad to give them money.
For example, your friend Jim has a job making sundaes at dairy queen. Jim works
about 24 hours a week and makes $4.50 an hour. At the end of that week , Jim has
$80 that he can call his own. Jim could go to the movies, buy a new pair of shoes,
or do whatever he wants to do with it. Jim worked hard for his money and after all,
it is his money. Another alternative to spending this hard earned money is to save it
in a bank and use it for college.
This is all fine and dandy but what about school and the homework teachers
send home. If a student does have a part time job when will he get this work done.
Part time jobs can take away the precious time that students need to study and do
homework. Let"s just say for instance that our friend Jim has a final exam
tomorrow. Wait a minute though, it"s Thursday and Jim works from 4 to 10. Jim
has no time to study before he goes to work so he figures he"ll do it after work. Jim
gets swamped at Dairy Queen and by the end of his shift, he"s so tired he can barely
drive home. When Jim does get home, he cracks the books and starts studying
about Beowulf. After about ten minutes of that, Jim is fast asleep and before you
know it, Jim"s mom is telling him to wake up. Jim takes is exam, knowing nothing
about Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxons or anything else that was on his English exam and
to no suprise, he gets an "F."
Because of his job Jim had no time to study and will now hope to become
manager of the Dairy Queen where he works. Jobs can interfere with ones" school
work and cause all kinds of trouble.
Jobs are important character builders and can be real helpful to a student. On the
other side, a job can be a students worst nightmare, and cause them to become a
full time employee instead of a part time employee. It takes a lot of self-confidence,
motivation, and time management to do both, but in the end, a student will have an
idea of the world that is there for him to explore.