Having an after school job is a great way for students to save money for college, a car, or personal entertainment. But in order to have such a “luxury” as a job, what do students have to give up? Family time? Friends? School activities? Though there are things you have to give up because of work, there are many opportunities you can gain. Every situation has its pros and cons, but if the good and bad balance each other out, is having a job in high school worth it?

Students in high school across the nation view work as a nightmare. Who wouldn’t with the baggage that comes with such a big responsibility? So, what are some cons that students find troubling?

“There are plenty of cons, it is hard to pick a few. We are still just so young. We are naïve. This causes stress, we are worried about stressing for school or other issues, and then add a job on top of it. It can get old and pretty fast”, Courtney Littlehoop, a worker at Dairy Queen stated.

I personally have a few cons of having a job, but who doesn’t? Things come up and sometime you just have to face the fact you can’t join in on the fun. It is hard to be a young adult who wants to have fun, and see your friends, go to a bonfire, the lake, or take a spontaneous trip out of town whenever they want to, without having to worry about working.

These are only a few of the hundreds of cons that come with having a job as student, but how do the pros compare?

When Courtney was asked what are some pros that motivate her to keep her job, she replied with, “I don’t have money honestly, so I love the paychecks.”

Getting paychecks is one pro of any job, but what about the other advantages? Are they enough to outweigh the cons?

“Having a job helps you be more social, and it gives you more experience. You learn to work with other people. You also learn time management and organization while having a job,” Courtney also stated.

These basic skills may not seem like anything important or special, but when you graduate college, you will be looking for a more permanent job, a job that can support you for the rest of your life. This is where those basic skills come into play. If you have your previous job background, good job references, and the experience from previous jobs, you can easily make a potential employers decision easier by giving them more to work with.

For a different prospective on the subject, I asked a parent of a working student how she felt having a job benefited her son. Kimberly Lewandowski, the Careers teacher here at the Alliance High School says, “I feel that Joe, my son, having a job, diverts him away from spending so much time at home on his computer. I feel that him having a job and being involved in band as well, helps him from being too isolated in the house by himself for most of the night.” She continues, “It is good to have a part time job, you will develop skills, you can provide good costumer service, you learn how to count money back, how to run the cash registers, and overall you just develop people skills. It teaches you how to be responsible; it also gives Joe that extra spending money. It is all about growing up.”

When asked about the disadvantages of a working student, Lewandowski said, “Having a job can keep him away from doing his school work. As a teacher, school is fairly important in my household. It is hard as a student to be able to balance the two issues and be able to keep up with both.” She continues, “There are plenty of cons that come with this responsibility, ones like losing out on family time, having to work holidays, or even having to wake up early or going to bed late, but it all just a part of taking on such a big task”.

In order to have a job as a student, you must have mental motivation and you have to have support from others, such as family and friends. You have to be hardworking and responsible to be able to handle having a job at such a young age. All jobs have good and bad aspects; there is no such thing as the “perfect” job. No matter the level of challenge in a job, there will be times when it gets stressful. However, if you look past all the troubles and make the best of it, you can go a long way in your lifetime and still manage to live your life to the fullest. So, is having a job in high school worth it? You can be the judge of that.