Young People Ask . . .

Will an Afterschool Job Help Me Grow Up?

TWO out of three​—that is how many teenagers in the United States are currently working. And they are logging from 16 to 20 hours a week doing so!a

Why are youths in record numbers flocking to jobs? Explains 16-year-old Brian: “In my case I have to [work]. My mother and father are divorced, and I have to help my mom any way I can.” Many families similarly need economic assistance. And even when a youth does not directly contribute to household expenses, if he simply pays for his own clothes or other personal items, this effectively relieves his parents of some economic pressure.

True, many youths work so as to indulge their taste for expensive clothes, shoes, or fast foods. But for some youths, a job primarily means a big step toward adulthood. Wrote 19-year-old Suzanne in Seventeen magazine: “I work because I enjoy being self-sufficient. I don’t have to depend on my parents to pay my way. . . . Parents can give their children money, but they cannot give them the feeling of satisfaction that comes from earning something.” And perhaps you feel the same way​—that having a job would be a good experience, that it would help you grow up more quickly. But would it really do so?

Working​—The Benefits

The Bible condemns laziness. “The lazy one is showing himself desirous, but his soul has nothing,” says Proverbs 13:4. “However, the very soul of the diligent ones will be made fat.” So if you really need something that costs more than your parents are willing, or can afford, to pay, the idea of working diligently so you can buy it yourself may have merit.

Many further argue that working can help teach a youth about life in the real world. Ellen Greenberger and Laurence Steinberg have done some extensive and highly publicized research on the subject of working youths. They found that such youths “learn about business operations, money management, and consumer arithmetic.” A job can also expose a youth not only to the experience of working side by side with adults but also to adult pressures and responsibilities. He may have to learn how to work under a boss who is “hard to please” or ill-tempered, or how to deal kindly with irate customers​—and workmates. (1 Peter 2:18) “I was the youngest guy on the job,” recalls Anthony, “and everybody had it in for me. But I learned how to deal with people.”

Working can also teach a youth skills and work habits, such as punctuality, that can prove useful later in life. (Compare Proverbs 22:29.) “I learned responsibility,” says a young man named Eric. “Working with my uncle taught me how to do quality work,” adds Duane. “He stressed neatness, and if everything did not come out perfect, we did it over again.” Adds Olga, who did secretarial work while in school: “I gained good work experience. And having to talk a lot on the telephone taught me to use good speech.”

Working can also teach you the pride of accomplishment. Said wise King Solomon: “With a man there is nothing better than that he should eat and indeed drink and cause his soul to see good because of his hard work. This too I have seen, even I, that this is from the hand of the true God.”​—Ecclesiastes 2:24.

How Much Does One Really Learn?

Nevertheless, many believe that today’s jobs do little to help a youth grow up. In times past, working youths learned a trade or at least some useful skills. Today, however, many youths (in the United States especially) work in fast-food restaurants or other service industries where work consists of such tasks as stuffing hamburgers into boxes or ringing up sales on cash registers. Many question the long-term value of such work. Greenberger and Steinberg lament: “The average youngster spends less than 10 percent of his or her time on the job​—only about five minutes of every hour—​in activities such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. . . . Most jobs are characterized by little task variety, highly routinized activity, and the constant repetition of fairly uninteresting tasks.”

An article in The Wall Street Journal states: ‘A lot of today’s working teens aren’t learning anything much more useful than just showing up. Technology has turned them into near-automatons. Checkout scanners and sophisticated cash registers tot up bills and figure the change for them. At fast-food joints, automatic cooking timers remove the last possibility that a teen might pick up a smidgen of culinary skills.’ Such jobs unquestionably provide needed and valuable services. However, they may do little to equip a youth for the adult job market.

But what about the experience of working with adults? Say Greenberger and Steinberg: “The workplace in which young people are employed has become increasingly age-segregated. Rather than working side by side with adults, . . . today’s young people are more likely than not to work side by side with other adolescents.” The Wall Street Journal calls such job sites “adolescent ghettos.”

“Premature Affluence”

Many youths in the United States are earning over $200 a month on their jobs. Would not handling this money be a valuable experience? Consider a survey of employed high school students from over a thousand different schools. It was discovered that three quarters of them contributed nothing to family finances! Nearly 60 percent of them put away nothing for savings! Free of the burden of paying for rent, insurance, and meals, the majority used their earnings as pocket money​—to spend as they pleased.

Jerald G. Bachman of The Institute for Social Research says that when “teenagers have a good deal of money at their disposal,” it is “premature affluence,” or wealth. Why so? Explains Bachman: “Many high school students have budgets for luxury items which they may not be able to sustain five years later, when their earnings will have to cover such nonluxury items as food and rent.” Yes, rather than teach a youth financial responsibility, having too much money can teach the very opposite. It may create an unrealistic taste for luxury and make the transition into the real world of adulthood even more traumatic.

The Bible further shows that toiling for wealth is a vain pursuit. It says: “Do not toil to gain riches. . . . Have you caused your eyes to glance at it, when it is nothing? For without fail it makes wings for itself like those of an eagle and flies away toward the heavens.”​—Proverbs 23:4, 5.

Whether a job proves to be a valuable learning experience will depend upon the type of work involved, the kind of people you work with or for, and how you apply yourself on the job. Your motive for working and how you handle what money you earn will also make a big difference in whether working helps you or hurts you.

But if growing up is what you’re really interested in, note what Greenberger and Steinberg concluded: ‘There are activities available that may be more beneficial than working. These activities include reading and studying outside of school and taking on the responsibilities of unpaid volunteer work or community service.’ Nina, for example, performs a most valuable community service after school as a full-time minister of Jehovah’s Witnesses. She says: “I worked it out with my guidance counselor to have a short school day so I would get out of school near noon. Monday through Wednesday I go out in the public preaching work. I love doing it. I just love it!” Would your schedule and personal circumstances permit you to do likewise? Developing “godly devotion” in this way would no doubt prove to be far more beneficial than working at some job!​—1 Timothy 4:8.

But some youths may want, or need, to work for financial reasons. Future articles will weigh the pros and cons of doing so.

[Footnotes]

[Picture on page 26]

A job can teach a youth how to deal with employers and workmates in an adult manner