Working Side Effects

The Effects of Working During High School Erin West, Matthias Neville, Zeke Villarreal, Krista Olsen, and Brandon Estoque

Biography
Zeke Villarreal San Antonio Texas Mechanical Engineering

Erin West Sandy, UT Graphic Design

Krista Olsen

Clifton Park, New York

Biology

Matthias Neville Farmington, UT Undeclared Brandon Estoque Chicago, IL Marketing

Table of Contents
Group Biography 2

I Audience Analysis

II Executive Summary

III The Proposal

IV Work Cited

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To Whom it May Concern: Audience Analysis

Brandon Estoque's parents represent the primary audience for our argument with the secondary audience being parents with children in high school. Steve and Tina Estoque have been married for 23 years and currently live in Kaysville, Utah. Throughout the duration of his high school career, Steve worked for an uncle on weekends and during the summers. He graduated in business administration at Weber State University and now applies his education as a project manager for the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Tina also worked in high school at Brook's Fashion in a local mall. She is presently employed as a manager of a local restaurant, Pepper Bellies, where she hires and works with many high school and college-age students. Currently, their third child just began her high school career. Their son, Brandon Estoque worked during his junior and senior years in high school. Brandons parents recommended he obtain a job to earn extra money. They also encouraged their next child, a daughter, to do the same, but she ultimately took a different route than her older brother. Instead, she spent her free time focusing on school and extra-curricular activities. Considering the Estoques knowledge of both sides of the argument and current position with children, they make an audience who could offer an opinion to either side and whose sway could have an impact on the future success of their children. As with most parents included in our secondary audience, Steve and Tina Estoque are concerned for the well-being of their children and want them to be successful after they graduate from high school. For this audience, we represent young upstarts with recent experience and perspective in regards to work during high school. Any disregard for our argument potentially rides on the basis of our audiences experience both in high school, and successfully raising children that faced this decision. Their primary concerns include financial stability for themselves, the educational welfare of their aspiring college students, and the success and overall well-being of each individual child. These concerns weave a common thread together based around the betterment of their children.

Irrelevancies in our argument are few to none for our primary audience, but parents in general may not find some of our arguments particularly significant. We write with the primary intent to make our argument pertinent to our primary and secondary audiences. The Estoques have strong authority because in the end, they will ultimately make the decision concerning whether or not their child needs to get a job. We plan on providing valid experiences, statistics, and research so as to make our claims irrefutable for the Estoque's and other parents going through the same decision making process. Our ultimate goal is to emphasize the importance of focusing on a successful high school career, consequently leading youth to acceptance into a competitive university with a scholarship to make it affordable.

Executive Summary: High School Jobs

One entirely unavoidable stage in our life is high school. Everyone passes through it. And whether we like it or not, high school largely defines the rest of our life. Many students begin to shape their lives and learn valuable life lessons in high school. One dilemma common to every high school student is how they will spend their time. In this paper we discuss the effect of working on ones educational career and their future. In this paper, we argue the benefits of focusing on opportunities other than working a full or part-time job. For most students there are many short term benefits to being employed during high school such as having a small income. Others insist that having a job provides students with the chance to learn time management, leadership skills, and financial responsibility. As we dug deeper into each of these benefits, we realized that high school jobs become more of a hindrance to a students education than a blessing of future abilities. Josh Ence, a high school teacher in Virginia noted that in general, most of his honors and AP students did not work and focused more on their academics. In fact, he observed that many of the students who worked long hours to help support themselves or their family did not perform as well in school as those who put all their time towards their studies (Ence). In the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, a survey argues the danger of working many hours during high school. Students who worked more than 15 hours performed worse on academic tests and earned a lower GPA as well (National Education Longitudinal Study: 1988-94). With this information, we
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argue that although an income would be beneficial, it is more important for a student to focus their attention on their high school studies in order to best prepare for college. Many students believe the notion that a high school job will pad their rsum for college applications or even lead to future success in obtaining a job. We were surprised to find during an interview with Jeff Sorensen, Associate Director of Admissions of Utah State University, that USU does not even take high school employment into account when reviewing future applicants. Instead, the main requirements solely depended on academics, such as ACT score, GPA and performance in classes attended by the students in high school (Sorensen). Though we argue against the idea of having a job while in high school, we suggest that students ought to be heavily involved while in school. Whether they feel to join clubs, sports, volunteering, or any other organization, the use of free time will greatly impact the way that prospective employers and universities will view them. It is our belief that involvement will do more than keep teens out of trouble, it will provide future opportunities for scholarship, leadership and career direction going into college. In conclusion, high school, a turbulent time in life, helps determine much of what we seek in later life. Josh Ence stated the opinion that todays high schools are geared toward enrollment in a university (Ence). These universities are mainly concerned with the GPA and ACT scores of the incumbent freshmen. While having extra income in high school may be beneficial in many ways, the short-term benefits are outweighed by the long-term benefits of doing well in high school and potentially receiving a scholarship. We feel that, by focusing on education and successfully entering a university, career opportunities will open up.

The Proposal
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Estoque, As you are well aware, raising children in this day and age is a demanding challenge and great responsibility. This proves to be especially difficult during teen's high school years wherein the rest of the childs life is defined. During this time they discover who they are and where they want their life to go. As a parent, it's understood that you're concerned for the well-being of your children and the decisions they make.
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We propose that adolescents are better off exploring other available opportunities and that, perhaps part-time

jobs should be saved for post-high school. Many parents push their children to have a job during high school and would argue that it provides students the chance to learn time management, leadership skills, and financial responsibility. However, after our research, we came to the conclusion that obtaining a job during high school could actually be detrimental to a high school student's education, performance in school, and future opportunities as a whole. We understand that one of the most enticing parts about a job in high school is the small income it provides. We provide evidence that although employment offers this additional income, the long term advantages of a child focusing directly on school and school-related activities outweigh the temporary benefits of the extra money. One argument presented is that having a job better qualifies a student for a loan to pay for college. After interviewing a loan officer from America First Credit Union, we discovered that prior job experience does not, in fact, have a substantial impact on ones ability to obtain a loan for college. Students with little or no job experience can receive a loan as long as they have an income lined up for the future (Dietrich). This means that a student who didn't work in high school has the same chance of paying for college with a student loan as a student who did. We'd also like to point out that a high school job may lead a student to miss out on scholarship opportunities. For example, your son Brandon, has not had to take out a loan for college because he is on a full ride scholarship. The scholarship was awarded to him through merit and leadership in sportsopportunities he would have never had if he was working full or part time. If a student focuses on school involvement, clubs, and sports they have a wider variety of scholarships that they can apply for. Though we agree that a job offers time management and leadership skills as well as opportunities for future career direction, we maintain that those valuable competences can be obtained through other sources, such as extra-curricular activities. Many schools and communities provide several venues to create the same or

similar skillsets offered in a job position. For example, involvement in Student Government provides an environment in which a teen can explore both effective leadership and communication skills. It's a common belief that it is necessary in the workforce to gain job experience early in order to be considered for future occupations, whether such jobs be part-time or full. In an interview with your son, Brandon Estoque, you yourself stated (in regards to hiring your own employees), When considering an applicant for a job, previous job history is not nearly as vital as skills such as communication, responsibility, integrity, and teamwork. All the skills mentioned, we argue, can be gained in school-related settings. Some argue that a job during high school "looks good" on a college application, subsequently providing the student with more scholarship opportunities. However, in an interview with Jeff Sorensen, Associate Director of Admissions at Utah State University, he explained, When looking to admit a student to Utah State, factors taken into consideration are solely the students high school GPA and ACT/SAT score. For this reason, we encourage focus on academics in order to increase a students chance of admission and subsequent academic scholarships. The last aspect of our argument revolves around school performance. You, as parents, of course want your children to be successful in school and maintain the best grades possible. Josh Ence, a high school teacher in Herndon Virginia, described in an interview how, in general, his honors and AP students did not have jobs during the school week. These students are successful and well on their way to college scholarships worth more than any part time job can offer (Ence). Mr. Ence noted that although those who work in high school are possibly more mature, their grades suffer. Adolescents have a lot going on already, working adds to their already stressful homework load. In a study of sociology in education, Mr. DAmico noted that employment during high school constrains the amount of time that can be devoted to homework, studying, and participation in school-related activities, and thus has negative implications for academic achievement and attainment" (D'Amico). In conclusion, the appeal of working in high school appears very strong. Financial and time management, opportunities for job advancement, and leadership skills mark many of the leading benefits
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offered by part or full-time employment. While many of these benefits do exist, we maintain that important opportunities are missed by working a full time job. Working hard in school to potentially receive a scholarship, plan a career, and still obtain a loan far outweigh these benefits. It is important to note that we are not advocating that children should be lazy in their high school years. Participating in activities during this time of life provides stress relief, increased school spirit and pride, and fellowship and camaraderie for future endeavors. For these reasons, we strongly encourage parents everywhere to keep their long-term goals in mind and fully weigh out the costs and benefits of their children maintaining a job in high school and do what is best for their children. In many instances, this means to persuade their children to be solely involved in their studies and other school-related activities.

Works Cited
Dietrich, Justin. Personal Interview. 21 Sept 2013 Ence, Josh. Personal Interview. 19 Sept. 2013 Marsh, H.W. Employment during high school: Character building or a subversion of academic goals? Sociology of Education, 1991. Web. National Education Longitudinal Study: 1988-94, Data Files and Electronic Codebook System. [Washington, D.C.]: National Center for Education Statistics, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Dept. of Education, 2003. 19 Sept. 2013 Sorensen, Jeff. Personal Interview. 19 Sept. 2013

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