Archived: The Educational System in the United States: Case Study Findings

Partying just began sophomore year and it is really in swing junior year. Fresh-
man year, you do not have a lot of friends. Or you just do what you were
used to doing in junior high. You do not have a car. Once you have a car,
you can go out.
Asked to describe partying, another student in the group gave an example:
This weekend, Friday, I went to a friend’s house with his own apartment. We
go and hang out over there. We drink. Smoke pot. I do not drink much myself,

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but I smoke a lot of pot. (laughs) I am not into chemical drugs. (Eleventh-
grade male, Springdale)
Parents were either less aware of these activities or chose not to discuss them,
and teachers appeared to have limited information about students’ social lives.
One teacher noted that partying was no longer ‘‘the big trend it used to be’’ and
thought that students ‘‘do things socially and do things in groups,’’ but I think
they are doing things with smaller groups. And I do not think that parties per
se are one of the things, at least not one of the things I hear them talking about.’’
(Math teacher, Springdale) A few teachers noted that partying and drug use
seemed to have increased. Perhaps the scale of the activity has changed, but stu-
dents themselves still reported that at least at large urban high schools, many stu-
dents find that partying on weekends is an expected aspect of high school social
life.
Employment
Part-time employment is commonplace for adolescents in the Untied States, with
approximately 60 percent of high school sophomores and 75 percent of high
school seniors engaged in paid employment (Bachman & Schulenberg 1993; Stein-
berg & Dornbusch 1991). Such employment serves both as a means to earn
money and as a symbol of growing independence and quasi-adult status. As one
first-year high school female said,
I don’t have (a job) now, but I want one for the summer to learn responsibility
and to see how it feels to make your own money. The money is not a big
deal, because my parents usually give me money, but I think it’s better if you
earn it. It makes it more important.
Government regulations prohibit formal employment under 14 and restrict the
working hours during the school week for those old enough to get a work permit.
Accordingly, few of the middle and junior high school students interviewed had
‘‘real’’ jobs. But even 12- and 13-year-olds spoke of a variety of part-time jobs, such
as babysitting, paper routes, and lawn mowing, that keep them in pocket change
and seem to provide some sense of responsibility. During the high school years,
many students have regular part-time employment either after school, on week-
ends, or both, and even more expect to work for pay during the summer when
school is not in session. For example, a 15-year-old sophomore said he did not
have a part-time job, because ‘‘My parents really stress education and they do not
want me to get a job during the school year, because it will take away from the
time I spend at school,’’ but that he is ‘‘planning on getting a job this summer
though. I have been babysitting since I was in fifth grade.’’

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The primary reasons why those interviewed work is to earn spending money; to
save toward a larger purchase, such as a car; or to begin to save for college ex-
penses. The larger question is whether students are meeting real or perceived
needs. Many students from upper-middle-class families hold part-time jobs, al-
though it may not be an economic necessity to do so. As one teacher commented:
‘‘The wealthier kids work to gain money to buy things they want. Kids have what
they think of as economic needs that would not have been considered a need
when I was in school.’’
Many parents also seemed to support the value of working at a young age. The
mother of an eighth-grader described her approach:
I expect her to baby sit for other people, to make her feel responsible for
earning some money of her own . . . . But it is not really the money. I want
her to have her own money, but also the structure. I know where she is going
to be.
One mother at Springdale, whose youngest child was 15, said that all her children
had worked at some point during high school, though it might not have been
financially necessary:
I think that it is a big thing for American teenagers, to have something that
you are doing, that you are going to get some money. You may be doing it
for a specific goal, to buy a car, to go to college. But it might also be just
to have money in your pocket every day . . . . My kids have worked because
they want to have that feeling of independence. (They) want to go out and
have pizza or buy a new pair of shoes and not have to ask mom.
Working after school also has symbolic value. The same mother continued:
My two girls, they both (got) part-time jobs because they thought it was the
neat thing to do. And it also gives the kids responsibility and a feeling of being
grown up. They want to get a little extra money in their pockets, but also
all their friends have jobs . . . . You are almost a little bit out of it if you
do not have a part-time job . . . . I think that kids learn an awful lot from
part-time jobs.’’
She added that her son had been small for his age until fairly recently, but that
he ‘‘had a part-time job, which made him feel very grown up . . . . It wasn’t
the money, it was ‘Here is responsibility. We think you can handle this.’ And that
is still a big deal for him.’’
Most adolescents’ jobs were primarily in service roles and retail sales. Students we
interviewed described their jobs in food service, movie theaters, day care, retire-
ment homes, clothing shops, and food stores. Those in offices or in more profes-

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sional environments often described these as positions in the family business or
in positions arranged by their parents. It is not uncommon for students to work
sporadically, moving from job to job. In most urban areas, at the time this study
was done, entry-level positions at minimum wage were so readily available that
students were able to work for a few months, quit when school demands took
precedence, then begin the cycle again a few months later.
Not all students work while attending school. Not all students want to work, nor
are all those who want a job successful at gaining employment, in spite of the
availability of entry-level service positions. Some of the most academically engaged
students from families in the upper-income brackets do not work during the
school year, and some with high level of involvement in sports work only sporadi-
cally, if at all. The other group that appeared least likely to be employed among
those interviewed were minority students in the poorest neighborhoods, some of
whom despaired at discrimination and their perceived unemployability. A parent
volunteer in a vocational school noted:
I talk to a lot of kids who want a job, but who can’t get one. If a kid’s pants
are baggy or he has an earring in his nose they won’t hire that kid, because
of the way that you look. Your appearance makes a big difference. And the
kids know that. Like my son, I took him to a place once and it was him and
a white guy and they told my son that they would call him, but they hired
the white guy on the spot. My son saw it and it took a lot out of him. When
stuff like that happens, it makes the kids think that they can’t make it out
there in the world. That’s the reason that a lot of them turn to selling drugs.
They feel that they can’t make it out there.
For those who are employed, balancing part-time jobs with schoolwork may teach
skills in managing time, a desirable goal according to both parents and teachers.
A parent of three, two now in college, remarked that:
Well for my daughter it seemed like she was managing her time. I think it
helped her managing time and prepared her to be more responsible, so that
she knew she had time for work, time for sports, time for recreation.
Similarly, an honor roll student, who worked part time in a flower shop during
his senior year in high school, was asked if this interfered with his studies. He
replied:
No, because I’ve done more work than that. When I was a junior I played
water polo. I’d go to practice in the morning, then go to school, then go to
work. It just depends on how badly you want to do all these things. I wouldn’t
advise everyone to do this, because it was really hard. I’m not doing a sport
right now, so I want to get a second job. I feel like I have too much time
on my hands and I need money for college.

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Other students spoke similarly of the need to have something to do and of becom-
ing more organized in the process. Such students are efficiency experts concern-
ing time:
I’ve got an advantage with my job, where I can go and I can work on my
homework, and when someone comes into the store I can help them, and
when they leave and it is slow again, I can work on my homework. I have
two study halls also during the week, and I use those to do my homework.
(Eleventh-grader, Springdale)
Many students seemed to view time as something that must be filled up, booked,
and scheduled; unstructured leisure time appeared to be rare.