Gifts to the after school working teens

In Taiwan, critics call people who were born during 1980’s “strawberries” because the group of young people looks pretty in their appearance, but they do not how to face the trouble and can not stand pressure. Moreover, in Asian society, it is unusual to see teens deliver newspaper or milk to people’s houses because few teens do that. When people find a teen who works in the evening, they will feel that this teen is poor in finances. Thus, she or he should have a job to support their school work or family. However, jobs for teens are not strange in America. Teens would go or be asked to get an after-school job by parents in the United States. In fact, it is beneficial that teens work after school because they can get work experience, learn how to manage their time, and become responsible people.

First, teens obtain social skills and knowledge from their jobs. The ability teens acquire from work can help teens deal with similar accidents when they get trouble or must solve problems in life. For example, a boyfriend knows how to make a good coffee for his girlfriend at midnight when she wants to drink it because he worked in the Starbucks once. So, the work experience improves teens’ skills and helps them when people need them. Moreover, the job also gives teens some chances to face our society. Facing their bosses or customers, teens feel pressure due to the fact that they want to perform well and avoid failure. Fortunately, most people more easily forgive children’s mistakes than adults. A boss will choose to blame on the adult when a child and an adult both make a mistake on money because he thinks the adult should have more knowledge and attention. From this process, teens know they still have chances to correct their mistakes, and remind themselves what they should do to let their bosses happy, or what they should not do in order to be not punished. In short, teens should learn some skills to prepare for their future.

Next, teenagers can learn how to arrange their schedule around homework, review in class, friends, dating, and, of course, their jobs. Friendship is more important in teenage era, and teens want to spend more time to get with their buddies. Also, they have some habits they want to do in the routine, such as doing exercise or watching television programs. At the same time, they spend some time in their job, and discover they do not have time to accompany their friends. Therefore, the only way to solve the scarce time problem is rearranging their original schedule. They may decrease the television time and increase the dating time to go out with their friends or cancel some chores to go swimming. Due to the fact that the time is constricted, teens will know how important time is, and they will value time.

Finally, teens will learn to take responsibility for themselves because they should go to work on time and do well for jobs, or their wages will be deducted. Silvers (2007), claims that “All teenagers love the idea of having their own money” (para. 3). So, teens care about money, and money lets teens care about their time and work. Caring about something gives them responsibility. It is very important for human development to have responsibility. If people are indifferent to everything, they will not care about their lives. Furthermore, when people feel life is nothing, they commit suicide or injure other people. This is why so many teenagers make a lot of problems in the society. However, a responsible person will gain more achievements because he knows how valuable life is, and wants to do his best. Thus, getting a job after school is a chance for teens to shape their minds and get a sense of responsibility.

Opponents of after school job for teenagers say that people in teenage years are misled easily or go on the wrong way without thinking if they meet a bad guy like a thief or a criminal at their jobs. However, this attitude is wrong because it causes teenagers to fear problems in their occupation and lack experience dealing with the interpersonal relation in social occasion when they become adults. For example, a new singer in Taiwan was accused by his company recently, and he did nothing but felt disappointed and cried at his home. Ironically, he graduated from very famous college and has high education, but he does not know how to face the adversity and is a person like a baby crying to his family to get help. On the other hand, some people know how to handle the accident because they earned the similar event in the past. Silvers (2007), writes that “Having an after-school job will give your teenager a taste of what life would be like” (para. 4). Therefore, after-school is a way that people can learn special experience and prepare for the future. Thus, we should not worry overly about the environment where teens may meet trouble. On the contrary, we should train and accompany our teens to face the adverse circumstances, and this will bring them the successful life in the future.

It is very clear that teens should have a job after school. Working after school gives them some valuable experience to initially understand the social system and interact with friends and strangers. Also, it reminds teens the importance of time and teaches them how to control their time effectively, and result that teens will be responsible to their life. There are so many benefits about after-school jobs. Therefore, people should encourage young students to have a job because we do not want our children to become strawberries.

References

Silvers, C. (2007, May 07). 5 reasons why teenagers should have an after-school job. AC: The People’s Media Company. Retrieved September 07, 2007, from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/235676/5_reasons_why_teenagers_should_have.html