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My point is that, if you don't need the money, you are better off getting an unpaid internship than working a job like a concession stand.
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<p>So you've said, many times now. The bottom line appears to be that most others posting on this thread disagree with you.</p>
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The bottom line appears to be that most others posting on this thread disagree with you.
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<p>Yes, that is what I said. I was summarizing the discussion. In high school, paid or unpaid internships during the summer are not desirable, instead students should get "traditional summer jobs" in the commercial sector, for instance at a fast food restaurant or at a concession stand. Volunteering or summer school is not a good option, unless the student is also working in the commercial sector during that time. Almost everyone agrees on that.</p>
<p>In addition, some people feel that children should work during the school year as well at a part-time job.</p>
<p>Note, all of the above has no relationship to the family's resources. Regardless of the family's wealth, the children should work as suggested above.</p>
<p>I have a daughter going to UCDavis this fall. We are SOOO happy she finally got a job at a local video store chain a few days a week. It's $8/hr 10-20 hrs/wk, and daughter is learning to deal with it pretty well. Her Dad & I wish we had gotten her out there sooner (she's been "looking" for a job since Feb.). No, we don't need the $. It's possible someone who "needs" the job more could benefit from it, but I don't think a lot of employers want to hire people who are desperate for a job that pays $8/hr as their sole source of income. Employers for places such as this are looking for nice-looking, responsible, clean, intelligent people that have reliable vehicles & not too much drama in their lives. Good luck to your daughter. You & you're husband are correct in thinking a job helps her make the connection between hard work & money.</p>
<p>Not sure if anyone has suggested this: the OP's daughter should take the job, and then put the money she earns in a Roth IRA. Unless the OP is extraordinarily well-off, the daughter will eventually need to save for retirement and possibly a house. Being able to start saving for these major long-term expenses will put compounding magic to work, and will get the student into the habit early of saving for retirement. </p>
<p>That's money that absolutely everyone is going to need, unless your parents are going to leave you an 8-figure estate. So the qualifier "if you don't need the money, you are better off getting an unpaid internship" is a nonstarter. OK, to be fair, it means that in addition to the work ethic benefits of working a minimum wage job, there are also some financial benefits. That all needs to be fairly weighed against a potential internship. There may be internships which offer unique opportunities that outweigh the minimum wage job, but the converse may also be true. One is not automatically better than the other.</p>
<p>I agree with Slithey Tove, of course there are internships that are wonderful learning experiences, but one shouldn't underestimate the value of paid work either.</p>
<p>I see this question at least indirectly related to the current thread entitled "toughest curriculum question." Sure, a kid could take every AP course offered at the school and look for every opportunity to do an unpaid internship, etc. But much of the real world has to work for a living. I completely agree with the posters who state that having your daughter work at an unchallenging job (at least in terms of academic requirements) is a very good idea, specifically for being able to get along with a lot of different types of people, especially to be positive around grumpy co-workers, customers, etc (I am assuming that this job is in a relatively safe area). Your daughter might even make friends with people in a different socioeconomic class. I worked construction in high school and even after my freshman year of college, and I was very different from my coworkers, but we still had a great time working together.</p>
<p>Many universities are going more toward group learning (even in math and physics at schools like MIT), so to succeed your kids need to be able to get along well with others. Of the students I have interviewed for MIT, not too many work at "regular" jobs, but I think a greater percentage of them are accepted. Taking 12 AP courses (or the maximum that is offered at your school) and jumping through all of the right hoops may seem like the perfect recipe to get into college, but in reality it is not. There is absolutely no substitute for being a kid every now and then. The interviewers I have spoken to who see a kid who always does the statistically right thing and never does anything fun do not have favorable impressions. Working and excitedly saving up over the summer in order to buy something that costs $500 to $1000 is a much more interesting anecdote during an interview than telling me that you went to your father's work and counted cells all day long (unless you can convince me that you personally love to count cells).</p>
<p>PAfather - so glad to hear your perspective.</p>
<p>When I first started to read posts on CC last year I thought DD was doomed. We had obviously failed as parents. Why did we allow her to continue to participate on a silly summer swim team as a mediocre swimmer and lifeguard when she could have been working on a cure for the common cold? </p>
<p>Honestly, she had many interesting and challenging experiences, but we also encouraged her to just do some things she just enjoyed. As it turned we weren't failures and things worked out okay for her. I think her normalcy worked in her favor. JMHO.</p>
<p>Just because a student is working in an office for a summer does not mean he/she has an internship! The "internships" or office jobs that students get in high school or freshmen yr of college are completely different from those that they get as sophs/juniors in college; in the second instance, they are usually part of a program -- whether it is organized as such or not -- that allows them to complete some small projects, work in different departments, and generally see if they what to work in a certain field or not.</p>
<p>In contrast, the high school "internships" that are often acquired through friends and family almost always turn out to be office jobs where students are filing, answering phones etc. Sure, there are some opportunities to sit in on meetings and observe, but because these opportunities don't present themselves for 8 hrs a day and because the students aren't experienced enough to handle stand-alone projects, they generally end up helping out around the office with filing, faxes, data entry etc. As someone stated, these don't end up being 9-5 five days per week because it seems like businesses don't need as much help now as they used to, given that everyone does their own typing.</p>
<p>It's entirely up to the students and parents whether this type of job is preferable to one at a restaurant/retail etc, but don't assume that an internship will put you on the fast track over someone who was a waiter/cashier etc. While some of the skills may be somewhat useful, it is entirely possible to learn how to file, fax, and use the copier in the first day of a new job without having spent 3 months doing it in HS!</p>
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I was summarizing the discussion.
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<p>Badly, in an attempt to once again push your point of view. Sheeeeesh!</p>
<p>It is true that most HS "internships" differ from college internships. But some kids are lucky enough to have friends or parents in a business that can actually use them in a meaningful way over the summer. I know high schoolers who have worked in medical offices, who have written computer programs, and done research for professors. In addition to probably doing photocopying & filing.</p>
<p>But even given that the cushy air-conditioned office job is educational and valuable, I STILL think one summer doing retail is also educational and valuable.</p>
<p>Agreed -- it is esp true with computer programming related work/discrete projects that HS students can be useful and I'm actually thinking back to my experience with such an "internship." While those types of projects are great, they don't always take 8 hrs/day, five days a week for the whole summer, so if you commit/plan to work there the whole summer, there may be a good deal of time spent on office work since the employer may feel compelled to keep you around but may not just be able to create another project. The solution may be to combine an internship with something else for the rest of the summer.</p>