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students who work have little to no time for themselves, friends, and family

working environments can be harsh

exposed to more strangers

work isnt always an option for some families

time connsuming

tiring

stressful

adds more responsabilities to a child

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Preparing for Adult Life

Most parents and primary caregivers agree that one of the primary objectives of raising a child is preparing him or her for life out in the real world. Every family has its own set of values it passes on to its children. Some value empathy, some value respect, and some value kindness. Some value all these and more. Regardless of what the family's moral and ethical code is, after these fundamental building blocks, almost all parents and primary caregivers strive to instill some sort of work ethic into their children. After all, just about everyone on earth has to work for a living, and no one wants this to come as a total surprise to their children. When the little birds are ready to leave the nest, parents want them to be ready for whatever life has to offer them. So, the question is: how do you teach your children about work and instill a solid work ethic in them? There are many answers to this question and there are many paths to personal responsibility. Once kids are old enough, one way to teach them about what working is like is to let them really do it: allow them to get out there and get a job. This is a common practice for many families. Specific laws vary from state to state, but most places in the U.S. allow young people to start working for wages (i.e., filling out tax paperwork and reporting income) during the early teenage years. The United States Department of Labor's Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes the minimum age for employment at age 14 and limits the number of hours and type of work for young people under age 16.

The Pros and Cons of Allowing a Teenager to Work

Every teenager is different and will respond to new and unique life experiences in their own way. When considering whether or not to allow your teenager to get a job, the main thing to think about is whether or not the job will negatively affect academic performance. If the answer is no and you feel your child can handle it, the next step is to talk it over, check the laws of your state, and let your teenager go see what's out there.

The following list of pros and cons is meant to help both parents and teenagers start thinking seriously about the reality of teenage jobs:

Jobs can add stress to a child's life.

Jobs can expose kids to people and situations they might not be ready for.

A teen working a job might feel like childhood is ending too soon.

Teens who work too much-more than 15 hours a week-get lower grades than kids who don't work at all.

Teenagers who work have money that could possibly be spent on things that aren't good for them, such as alcohol or tobacco.

Is Working Good for Teenagers?

Benefits of Having a Job as a Teenager

Research shows that, in general, working a job has positive developmental effects on the life of a teenager. There's a catch, however: too much work is not good, and too little work doesn't show positive results. Moderate, steady work proves the most beneficial route for teens who do work. That said, it's extremely important for parents to be involved in the process: they need to visit the place of employment to make sure it has a good feel, and they need to monitor the number of hours worked to make sure their teenager is not working too many nights or weekends. In addition, parents need to be certain that their teenager is not doing hazardous work. The best guidelines for teenage work hours and teenage workplace safety can be found at the websites of the United States Department of Labor and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.

Best Part-Time Jobs for Teenagers

There are plenty of reasons why teens should work. Taking on a part-time job as a teenager builds independence and teaches responsibility. Some of the benefits of having a job as a teenager include helping teens avoid depression and teaching work ethic and valuable life skills. Working in high school helps teenagers get a head start by building a resume from an early age. A job can be an opportunity for unhappy teens to find a sense of belonging as part of a team and helps all teenagers learn about the value of money and how much - or little - a paycheck can cover.

However, finding the right job can be crucial in helping a teen succeed at a part-time job. A teen should consider their natural strengths, as well as how far outside their comfort zone they're willing to stretch. Dealing with customers can help a shy teen gain confidence, but it can also be a draining experience for one who's naturally more introverted. Teens looking for a first job should consider aspects like the level of physical labor, interactions with customers, the size of the company, and the types of employees they see working at a potential workplace.

What Are the Best Places for Teenagers to Work?

There's no shortage of summer jobs for teens. Increased business in the summertime means that many businesses are in desperate need of extra help. Some of the best seasonal part-time jobs for teenagers include:

Coffee shops

Ice cream parlors

Movie theaters

Pools

Amusement parks

Jump parks

Landscaping companies

Babysitting

Pet-sitting

Many places like these want to hire teenagers to handle additional summer business. They're often flexible with a teen's schedule, and teenagers often enjoy working with peers of the same age.

Many businesses also hire part-time workers year-round. When a teen is looking for a part-time job they hope to keep for the full school year, some of the best places for teenagers to work include stores, restaurants, warehouses, and hotels.

How to Balance Work and School as a Teenager

Balancing work and school is the central consideration when it comes to the question: Should teenagers have jobs? Every teen is different; some achieve academic goals with apparent ease, while others have a harder time making good grades. Some teens have few commitments outside of class, while others have a heavy load of extracurriculars on top of their regular school hours.

Successfully balancing work and school requires considering a teen's needs and how much time they have to allocate to a job - without studies, homework, and downtime taking a hit. A teen can calculate the time they spend on homework and extracurriculars, identifying how much extra time they have in a given week to spare for work. They can use that target number to find a job with a manageable number of hours.

Parents sometimes ask: At what age should a teenager get a job? As with other considerations, it depends on a teen's maturity level, grades, and other responsibilities. If a teen wants to earn their own money and they're doing well in school, they're probably ready to take on a job at whatever age is legal in their state.

What Are the Highest-Paying Teen Jobs?

Many teen jobs pay minimum wage, especially if a teen has no work experience. However, sometimes teens can find higher-paying positions, even if it's their first job. Many employers in the food industry, like restaurants, coffee shops, and food trucks, allow teens to accept tips on top of their hourly wage, and tipped positions can pay handsomely.

Jobs that provide a personalized service, like babysitting, pet-sitting, or house cleaning, can also pay significantly over minimum wage. The same is true of positions that require manual labor, like warehouse positions. Finally, a paid internship is another teen job option that can pay generously.

Final Thoughts

Some parents are hesitant to let teens take on real-world responsibilities too quickly. But when it comes to the question of "What is the value of work for teenagers?" it's clear that allowing a teen to take on the responsibility of a part-time job can bring lifelong benefits. Parents can support teens by guiding them to find a job that fits their personality and schedule. Teens who work learn valuable skills - including recognizing when they've taken on more than they can handle. Allowing a teenager to work while still in high school allows parents to help guide a teen to make smart adult choices before they're out in the world on their own.

Finally, when teenagers work it's vital for everyone involved to remember that adolescence is about many things, and learning about work, developing a work ethic, and growing into adulthood are parts of a bigger picture. With that in mind, it's best for a teenager to find a healthy balance between work, extracurricular activities, and school.

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Here are the pros and cons to help both parents and teenagers start thinking seriously about the reality of teenage jobs. Learn the benefits of teen jobs.

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homework causes stress levels to rise

takes time away from healthy activities like socializing, hobbies, and being with family

1-2 pieces of homework for each class= 6-12 pieces to complete everyday

can cause sleep deprivation, weightloss, effect moods, productivity

having to much homework may encourage students to cheat to avoid overwhelment

not all students have the privledge of wifi/internet out of school

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Schools are getting rid of homework from Essex, Mass., to Los Angeles, Calif. Although the no-homework trend may sound alarming, especially to parents dreaming of their child's acceptance to Harvard, Stanford or Yale, there is mounting evidence that eliminating homework in grade school may actually have great benefits, especially with regard to educational equity.

In fact, while the push to eliminate homework may come as a surprise to many adults, the debate is not new. Parents and educators have been talking about this subject for the last century, so that the educational pendulum continues to swing back and forth between the need for homework and the need to eliminate homework.

The Problem with Homework: It Highlights Inequalities

One of the most pressing talking points around homework is how it disproportionately affects students from less affluent families. The American Psychological Association (APA) explained:

"Kids from wealthier homes are more likely to have resources such as computers, internet connections, dedicated areas to do schoolwork and parents who tend to be more educated and more available to help them with tricky assignments. Kids from disadvantaged homes are more likely to work at afterschool jobs, or to be home without supervision in the evenings while their parents work multiple jobs."
[RELATED] How to Advance Your Career: A Guide for Educators >>
While students growing up in more affluent areas are likely playing sports, participating in other recreational activities after school, or receiving additional tutoring, children in disadvantaged areas are more likely headed to work after school, taking care of siblings while their parents work or dealing with an unstable home life. Adding homework into the mix is one more thing to deal with - and if the student is struggling, the task of completing homework can be too much to consider at the end of an already long school day.

While all students may groan at the mention of homework, it may be more than just a nuisance for poor and disadvantaged children, instead becoming another burden to carry and contend with.

Beyond the logistical issues, homework can negatively impact physical health and stress - and once again this may be a more significant problem among economically disadvantaged youth who typically already have a higher stress level than peers from more financially stable families.

Yet, today, it is not just the disadvantaged who suffer from the stressors that homework inflicts. A 2014 CNN article, "Is Homework Making Your Child Sick?", covered the issue of extreme pressure placed on children of the affluent. The article looked at the results of a study surveying more than 4,300 students from 10 high-performing public and private high schools in upper-middle-class California communities.

"Their findings were troubling: Research showed that excessive homework is associated with high stress levels, physical health problems and lack of balance in children's lives; 56% of the students in the study cited homework as a primary stressor in their lives," according to the CNN story. "That children growing up in poverty are at-risk for a number of ailments is both intuitive and well-supported by research. More difficult to believe is the growing consensus that children on the other end of the spectrum, children raised in affluence, may also be at risk."

When it comes to health and stress it is clear that excessive homework, for children at both ends of the spectrum, can be damaging. Which begs the question, how much homework is too much?

How Much Homework Is Too Much Homework?

The National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association recommend that students spend 10 minutes per grade level per night on homework. That means that first graders should spend 10 minutes on homework, second graders 20 minutes and so on. But a study published by The American Journal of Family Therapy found that students are getting much more than that.

While 10 minutes per day doesn't sound like much, that quickly adds up to an hour per night by sixth grade. The National Center for Education Statistics found that high school students get an average of 6.8 hours of homework per week, a figure that is much too high according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It is also to be noted that this figure does not take into consideration the needs of underprivileged student populations.

In a study conducted by the OECD it was found that "after around four hours of homework per week, the additional time invested in homework has a negligible impact on performance." That means that by asking our children to put in an hour or more per day of dedicated homework time, we are not only not helping them, but - according to the aforementioned studies - we are hurting them, both physically and emotionally.

What's more is that homework is, as the name implies, to be completed at home, after a full day of learning that is typically six to seven hours long with breaks and lunch included. However, a study by the APA on how people develop expertise found that elite musicians, scientists and athletes do their most productive work for about only four hours per day. Similarly, companies like Tower Paddle Boards are experimenting with a five-hour workday, under the assumption that people are not able to be truly productive for much longer than that. CEO Stephan Aarstol told CNBC that he believes most Americans only get about two to three hours of work done in an eight-hour day.

When Does Homework Actually Help?

In the scope of world history, homework is a fairly new construct in the U.S. Students of all ages have been receiving work to complete at home for centuries, but it was educational reformer Horace Mann who first brought the concept to America from Prussia.

Since then, homework's popularity has ebbed and flowed in the court of public opinion. In the 1930s, it was considered child labor (as, ironically, it compromised children's ability to do chores at home). Then, in the 1950s, implementing mandatory homework was hailed as a way to ensure America's youth were always one step ahead of Soviet children during the Cold War. Homework was formally mandated as a tool for boosting educational quality in 1986 by the U.S. Department of Education, and has remained in common practice ever since.
Homework improves student achievement. Homework helps reinforce classroom learning. Homework helps students develop good study habits and life skills.
School work assigned and completed outside of school hours is not without its benefits. Numerous studies have shown that regular homework has a hand in improving student performance and connecting students to their learning. When reviewing these studies, take them with a grain of salt; there are strong arguments for both sides, and only you will know which solution is best for your students or school.
Homework allows parents to be involved with their children's learning.
Being responsible for completing at-home assignments helps students practice organization, time management, following directions, critical thinking and independent problem-solving.

Parents can see what their children are learning and working on in school every day.

Parents can participate in their children's learning by guiding them through homework assignments and reinforcing positive study and research habits.

Homework observation and participation can help parents understand their children's academic strengths and weaknesses, and even identify possible learning difficulties.

Negative Effects of Homework for Students
Students with too much homework have elevated stress levels. Students with too much homework may be tempted to cheat. Homework highlights digital inequity.
While some amount of homework may help students connect to their learning and enhance their in-class performance, too much homework can have damaging effects.

Today, homework often requires a computer and/or internet connection, which many students do not have access to outside of school.
Homework does not help younger students.
Students in low-income families are disproportionately affected by a lack of internet access, which further exacerbates the social and economic divide between them and their more affluent peers.

How Teachers Can Help

To help students find the right balance and succeed, teachers and educators must start the homework conversation, both internally at their school and with parents. But in order to successfully advocate on behalf of students, teachers must be well educated on the subject, fully understanding the research and the outcomes that can be achieved by eliminating or reducing the homework burden. There is a plethora of research and writing on the subject for those interested in self-study.
YOU'RE INVITED! Watch Free Webinar on USD's Online M.Ed. Program >>
For teachers looking for a more in-depth approach or for educators with a keen interest in educational equity, formal education may be the best route. If this latter option sounds appealing, there are now many reputable schools offering online master of education degree programs to help educators balance the demands of work and family life while furthering their education in the quest to help others.

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Is Homework Necessary? Education Inequity and Its Impact on Students

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Schools are getting rid of homework from Essex, Mass., to Los Angeles, Calif. Although the no-homework trend may sound alarming, especially to parents dreaming of their child's acceptance to Harvard, Stanford or Yale, there is mounting evidence that eliminating homework in grade school may actually have great benefits, especially with regard to educational equity.

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Not all students learn at the same pace

grades drain mental health

lowers a students self worth

different students learn in different ways and at different times

a student feeling pressured to learn a subject they find difficult in the span of a week does more harm then good

tests (determine grades) cause students to stress which negatively effects they scores.

grades determine the future of the student

a student has strengths and weakness, which grades refuse to acknowledge

Some students dont have time to catch up, study, or comeplete certain assigfnments

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When all kids are expected to be learning at the same pace their academic level is determined by a letter grade, which is very mentally draining.

Grades kill the mental health of many children and diminish their self-worth. Students do not all learn the same way or at the same pace and grades are given out ruthlessly to kids who are trying their hardest. If we focused on students' efforts to learn and really tried to get them to understand the subject and not just move on leaving them behind, kids would be doing better in school.

Parents, teachers, and administrators have expectations for all kids to be great, and learn at the same pace, but not all kids are the same. Students put pressure on themselves just to meet the expectation that these adults have set for them.

Research has shown that academic stress increases the chances of adolescents developing anxiety or depression.

Students have to stay up late to do school work, and they end up doing worse the next day because of a lack of sleep. They become mentally and physically tired and risk their overall health to meet deadlines.

Also kids feel like their worth is determined by the grade they get in classes. Not only are they comparing themselves, but they are getting compared to other children by teachers. When students are not the same and learn at different speeds, this causes mental health issues.

People would argue that kids are being over dramatic and they just don't want to do school work, but students are piled up with stuff that just keeps coming with grades, including; friends, family, change, growing up, and unbelievable pressure that breaks our backs.

School would not be school without grades, however if teachers were more lenient about grading and weighed their assignments differently maybe kids would be happier. A lot of students are trying their hardest but some adults would rather their kids have a good grade over good mental health.

Students just need time to focus on themselves for a moment, to figure themselves out because all of this different stuff is going on in these adolescents' lives and they feel like none of it matters if they do not get a grade that will get them into college.

Grades kill mental health and this is why, kids should not only think of themselves highly when they get a good grade on something, there are other things to celebrate in life, you are not the letter grade that you get on your report card. Parents and teachers need to start looking at the students and not the grade on paper.

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When all kids are expected to be learning at the same pace their academic level is determined by a letter grade, which is very mentally draining. Grades kill the mental health of many children and diminish their self-worth. Students do not all learn the same way or at the same pace and grades are given...

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"there are conservative lawmakers in Wisconsin and elsewhere who believe it’s a good idea for 14-year-olds to serve alcohol. As more than 10 states have made efforts to roll back child labor laws, that’s just one of the disturbing occupations floated as appropriate work for children."

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(Nati Harnik / Associated Press)

High school freshman girls should not double as cocktail waitresses at night.

That's not a sentence I thought needed to be said, but here we are in 2023, and there are conservative lawmakers in Wisconsin and elsewhere who believe it's a good idea for 14-year-olds to serve alcohol. As more than 10 states have made efforts to roll back child labor laws, that's just one of the disturbing occupations floated as appropriate work for children.

Iowa enacted a law last week allowing more kids to work more dangerous jobs. In Arkansas, a 14-year-old would no longer need to show an employer proof of parental approval. In Ohio, a 14-year-old can work until 9 p.m. during the school year.

Now the arguments against this movement are painfully obvious, but the so-called case for child labor requires unpacking.

Part of the rationale for relaxing the laws grows out of the worker shortage that employers have been experiencing for a few years now. But conservatives have been targeting child labor laws for decades. In fact, President Reagan not only pushed to expand the hours and types of work for children as young as 14, but also wanted to let employers pay teens less than minimum wage as a way to address teen joblessness in the "inner city."

In hindsight that sounds pretty racist. I'm sure it sounded racist then too.

Which brings me to the other aspect of this child labor conversation: the assumption that poverty is more about work ethic than it is about the economic policies that have led to a shrinking middle class.

That same assumption made an appearance over the weekend in the debt-ceiling deal, in which Republicans insisted on expanding "work requirements" to deny food assistance to certain people.

Are there lazy poor people? Of course there are. But when the policy's nickname is "welfare to work," it is clear lawmakers saw "the poor" and "the lazy" as synonymous. It was a popular trope when President Clinton used the phrase in the 1990s, and it's popular again today.

I can't tell if the rolling back of child labor laws - with disingenuous talk of a "worker shortage" or "providing teens more opportunity" - is an avoidable disaster or an intended one.

Is the worker shortage real? Yes. But so is the party's disdain toward poor families - the kind of families that will feel pressure to send kids out into the highest-paying jobs they can find. According to a Pew poll, more than half of Republicans say people who are rich got that way because they "worked harder." More than 40% say the poor "have not worked as hard as most other people."

That last point irks the hell out of me. That idea has been measurably disproven in urban and rural America for decades. But blaming poor people for being poor works well on the campaign trail.

I remember growing up in Detroit, when my family would drive by this one McDonald's on Gratiot Avenue each time we visited relatives on the west side. At the time we lived on the city's east side - the "wrong side of the tracks," so to speak. There was crime and violence, yes, but more importantly my neighborhood was filled with hard-working families who just struggled to get ahead. My stepfather would work double shifts, but shutoff notices would still occasionally be found taped to the front door.

Still, nothing taught me about poverty like that drive down Gratiot Avenue, where I always wanted to stop and where my mom would always say: "Do you have McDonald's money?"

If I had a penny for each time I heard that rhetorical question ... I would have McDonald's money.

Early on, I thought my parents were just being mean.

Then one day you piece together that the shutoff notices, the blocks of government cheese in the fridge ... late-night fights ... they all meant no one in my family had McDonald's money. As you grow older it's only natural to want to help. I know I did.

That's why we have child labor laws. Think I'm being overly dramatic? The Department of Labor reported recently that two 10-year-olds in Kentucky had been found working in a McDonald's kitchen as late as 2 a.m. Kentucky is our fifth-poorest state. That's the kind of exploitation that we tried to put behind us.

A century ago, desperate Americans were forced to send children into dangerous situations like coal mines and slaughterhouses to help put food on the table. We put a stop to that. And you know what else came with that wave of labor laws? Minimum wage and paid overtime.

When hardworking Americans were struggling, the government acted in their interest, to make sure work paid off. Instead of vilifying people for the economic conditions that made getting ahead nearly impossible, elected officials tried to change the economics. And they set up safety nets for families that hit hard luck.

Is there fraud?

Absolutely.

Everywhere - not just with welfare.

Welfare fraud has become a fixation for the right not because it is rampant but because it is an easy target.

Sen. Ted Cruz imagined the "slacker barista" to critique President Biden's college debt relief plan for the same reason Reagan conjured up the "welfare queen." The effect: Voters hate the thought of being ripped off by the undeserving poor, even as the ultra-rich fleece so much more through tax breaks and other distorted policies.

Clinton even made work requirements sound heroic, suggesting the bipartisan reforms would end poverty by inspiring people to join the workforce. In fact the cuts to welfare made life so much worse for hardworking poor people.

In the 2015 book "$2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America," there's a passage about a mother who sold plasma twice a week to help feed her family of four. That's what it looks like to get by in the "welfare to work" era.

So forgive me if I don't have a lot of confidence about the effects of these policy trends that have continued in the past week: the erosion of child-labor protections and the expansion of "work requirements" for welfare. How long until children are forced to choose between working long hours on a school night or losing their food stamps?

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Granderson: Rolling back child-labor laws? Has the GOP never read Dickens?

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This is 'welfare to work' all over again. Next kids will be forced to choose between working long hours on a school night or losing their food stamps.

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"By reducing homework, students have proven to get more sleep which leads to better physical and mental health. "

Homework doesn’t necessarily always equate to higher achievement.

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First and foremost, excessive amounts of homework can be detrimental to students' mental and physical health. It can lead to increased stress and anxiety, as well as sleep deprivation and other health problems. When students are overwhelmed by too much homework, they may become burnt out and lose motivation to learn. I believe that teachers should give out less homework because many kids have work or responsibilities outside of school and don't deserve to be overworked. By reducing homework, students have proven to get more sleep which leads to better physical and mental health. So instead of benefiting students' learning, it can actually be detrimental to it. Homework doesn't necessarily always equate to higher achievement.

Muntaha Ibrahim, a student at South, thinks there's too much going on in most students' lives to stress about homework. "Teens are stressed and overwhelmed." They are more likely to have problems focusing on topics for extended periods of time. Many students have family problems at home and some are babysitting their younger siblings when they don't have time for homework. It can be difficult to make homework a priority when you have other responsibilities. Some students have jobs to financially help their parents. Students of color especially often have expectations from their families that they contribute to the household. When you consider inequities in students' home lives, giving out the same homework to students becomes much more complicated.

In addition, homework doesn't motivate people, it just causes extra work and stress. In fact, it might make a student less interested in the subject because they feel overwhelmed. When students do end up doing homework, it is often only to get a good grade, not to actually learn the content. Aisha Ahmed said, "Too much homework can cause students to lose interest in the class because students doing a lot of homework, they're not able to do their other work properly and wind up losing focus in class." Despite this, there are also disadvantages to not giving students homework. In some cases, homework gives students the time that they don't get in class to work and be independent on their own time. Giving homework is teaching in its own way, so students can learn on their time. As a teacher though, it's effectively their job to do most of the teaching so students' lives aren't centered around school and homework.

A potential solution to this situation is that teachers give out homework only if students don't finish all of their work in class. This way students can complete their unfinished classwork, but it is not so much that it is overwhelming or too much stress. This may improve students' mental health. This also benefits teachers because students are more likely to finish their work without feeling overwhelmed.

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First and foremost, excessive amounts of homework can be detrimental to students' mental and physical health. It can lead to increased stress and anxiety, as well as sleep deprivation and other health problems. When students are overwhelmed by too much homework, they may become burnt out and lose motivation to learn.