Blue Collar Student Essay, Research Paper

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.