The “Working at McDonalds”, article by Amitai Etzioni does an excellent job at pointing out the woes of teens that hold down part time jobs in the American society. The article points out the fact that as many as two –thirds of America’s high school seniors hold down a job at McDonalds. It may not be beneficial for youth to hold such jobs because it cuts into their attendance and study time. The skills that they learn while working at McDonalds will likely not be beneficial for them later in life and the jobs actually do not help them understand that value of money. In fact according to Etizioni “
But in fact these jobs undermine school attendance, and improvement, impart few skills that will be useful later in life, and simultaneously skew…show more content… Parents should be informed by the findings in this article that after school jobs should be looked at like any other extracurricular activity such as sports and should be monitored closely.Etzioni makes some of the factual points about teenagers holding down part time jobs in his article “Working at McDonald’s”. This article begins by explaining the facts about teenagers working part time jobs.
The article moves into looking at studies associated with the subject and the actual validity of the studies. Then the article cleverly describes some of the social and future consequences of teenagers holding down jobs. Finally the article concludes that parents should be keenly aware of the effects of a part time job for their teenager and offer suggestions as to how the notion of a part time job should be viewed. Etzioni asserts that “many teens find the instant reward of money . . . much more alluring than credits in calculus courses,
European history or foreign languages. No wonder quite a few would rather skip school - and certainly homework,-and instead work longer at a Burger King. Thus, most teen work these days is not providing early lessons in the work ethic; it fosters escape from school…show more content… This concept also teaches teens that the items that they desire should be sought and purchased right away and there is no concept of delayed gratification.
Etzioni claims that many teens find the instant reward of money . . . much more alluring than credits in calculus courses, European history or foreign languages. No wonder quite a few would rather skip school — and certainly homework — and instead work longer at a Burger King.
Thus, most teen work these days is not providing early lessons in the work ethic; it fosters escape from school and responsibilities, quick gratification and a short cut to the consumeristic aspects of adult life. ( Etzioni pg.281 )Teens are not taught the value of studying hard in school in order to achieve the end goal of a secure career.
Parents should be keenly aware of the consequences of allowing teens to work at low paying jobs like McDonalds because it will ultimately affect their schoolwork in a negative way.
It has been a long-standing American tradition that to get a part time job is a rite of passage. Parents allow teens to get jobs so that they may become self sufficient, have a strong work ethic and