Balancing job, education proves difficult

Javi Mercado, Staff Photographer

Being a teenage student can be stressful. The long hours of school is stressful enough as it already is. The five-minute passing periods and a half an hour lunch is all we have to rest after a class period. Students sit in chairs and receive lectures and assignments that are expected to be done at a certain date at home. They feel mentally tired after having their heads crammed with a subject for 57 minutes straight. The students do that seven more times three days a week along with two block days that hold only one advisory period to study on a subject or to see a teacher about a subject during “flex time.” Then they’re expected to do homework at home after school.

Not every student has that free time after school like how most people think we do. One fourth of students age 16 and older have a job, according to NewsOk.com. That’s over 3 million students in the United States.

That means instead of having that spare time to study and do homework we have to get ready for work. Most businesses must schedule at least a six-hour shift unless there has been an arrangement for a shorter shift. So if a student has work at 4 p.m. and works a six-hour shift then that student would get off at 10 p.m. School starts at 7:40 a.m. students need to get on their bus at 6:35 a.m.; that eight hours to do homework, eat dinner, do chores and sleep until they need to wake up for school.

According to TheAtlantic.com “49 percentof students feel stress on a daily basis. Half reported doing homework three hours a night.” Those students did not have jobs. Even without a job school alone can bring a student stress. Students have responsibilities outside of school. Some have an after-school club or pets to take care of. There are just so many different cases for each student that only a handful can stay stress free throughout their high school career. Schools need to acknowledge the position of these students.

Students that have school and work usually do not have choice. Their parents may not be able to support them fully or they have goals that needs money to be complete, all cases are different. Others may find a occupation that can lead to future interest. Their job can lead to so many opportunities that a school can’t provide. Students need to know what they want to do after high school, how are they going to provide for themselves if they don’t have any sort of experience outside of a classroom to get a job?

Having a job can bring stress to a student. Schools don’t understand the position that students are in. They need to be aware that all students have lives outside the classroom. Everyday cannot consist of seven subjects with each of them having a different type of learning style. That’s not even including sports and extracurricular activities. In the end we need to address the fact that one in four people under 20 are pulling off two jobs, being a full-time student and a part- time job worker.