In today’s economy, jobs may be hard to come by for some teens but the benefits are well worth the effort. Not only do jobs give you the opportunity to pay for your own movie ticket or new outfit, but they also teach you a thing or two about responsibility.

Growing up at home with your parents, it’s easy to get comfortable to the idea that they will pay for all your necessities like food and clothes. But for most of us that’s not enough. We want to be able to go out to eat with our friends or grab a soda on the way to school. We want to be able to go to the mall and buy designer clothes or the latest pair of Nikes.

But all this takes one thing: money. And the only way most students would be able to do this independently is by getting a job.

We all know that school takes work, determination and focus, but a job can teach you a whole other side to these benefits. Sure it adds emphasis on the importance of having these qualities but most importantly, it teaches you why.

When you’re sitting in trig learning fundamental identities you don’t often learn why it is you need to know them. However, most part-time jobs, combined with these qualities, give you skills you need to make it in everyday professions. You use work, determination and focus to see what happens in normal life outside FHN’s walls. You find that it takes people skills, flexibility and experience to succeed in the real business world.

Many students complain that holding a job, sports, school-work and other extra-curricular activities are too much to handle. But I know that’s not true. Most part-time jobs are willing to work with you on time management and scheduling conflicts. Working only two or three weeks is better than nothing.

Getting a job will give you independence as well as valuable lessons that will need to be learned at some point. The money earned can be used to update your stomach, your closet or your college fund. It’s important. So go get one.

-Maddie Baum

Although a job may teach us how to be responsible adults, there is only one problem: we’re not adults. Why not spend our last few “childhood” years actually being “children”? There are a ton of other ways that a teenager can learn responsibility other than through a job. Join a club. Play a sport. Babysit. There are a thousand alternatives to make sure you learn those great, life-long lessons, without spending all of your time flipping burgers.

We have the rest of our lives to work; I don’t understand why we want to start now. Jobs take up all of our time, cut back on our sleep and drastically affect our grades. Sure, they pay well, but if we put all of our time into work, fail our classes, and can’t get into a good college, we better hope that we’re good at McDonald’s, because it’s going to be the only job we can get. Now yes, I know that there are plenty out there who can manage a job wonderfully, get perfect grades, and still go to sports practice every day; more power to you. I also know that there are plenty who start a job thinking they can balance it, then suddenly realize that that job is all that they focus on.

As for myself, I won’t lie to you and say that I have never had a job. I give piano lessons every Tuesday, this past Christmas I took pictures of little kids with Santa Claus at the mall, and this summer I plan to get a part-time job. So I’m not totally spotless in that area, but, I do believe there is a distinct difference between a summer job for some extra cash and a year-long job that takes up all of your time. When your homework time turns into time delivering pizzas, and suddenly you’re failing all of your classes and falling asleep through your math notes, maybe you should check into how you’re spending your free time.

-Jessica Payne