I think summer programs can be great for kids who want to pursue that. Other kids prefer a break from academics or want to get experience outside of schooling. Year round schooling can lead to burn out and it’s not the right choice for everyone. And of course many families need the money anyhow and pricey summer programs are simply not an option.
If the OP’s friends who worked shared some of the disdain for working as the OP, I can fully understand why their parents made them work even if they could afford a program. Their subsequent lack of success in college admissions undoubtably had more to do with their motivation and work ethic than the fact that they were working over the summer. A summer job still leaves plenty of time for test prep or possibly a summer class. Provided the student is motivated.
As far as weaker students working on academics over the summer though, I think the bigger problem is that too many of them don’t take it seriously enough during the school year. Pushing them into summer academics isn’t likely to help much if they aren’t trying very hard to begin with.
I feel like I’m talking to a wall here but with this anecdote, which I specifically responded to, what exactly did you disprove?
It sounds like you are taking the position that working is a bad idea because these 3 cousins who worked didn’t do well on the ACT. Maybe if they’d studied instead of working they wouldn’t be such failures?
I agree that if a kid is behind academically they should work on that first if possible. Indeed, that’s what summer school is for, to help struggling kids catch up. Those kids can still work. And study for the ACT, even. None of that means they shouldn’t or can’t also hold a job.
My point was that the parents of those students were very critical of our decision to keep our student focused on academics, athletics and volunteer work. They talked about how we should make our daughter get a job, and their kids starting working at Chicken Shack by freshman year of high school, and that they worked in summer and during the school year.
I am not saying that working at Chicken Shack was bad, or that working in summer is bad. I am just saying that it is a mistake to assume that what makes sense for one kid is right for all kids.
The kids in my example worked in summer and during the school year, but then did not have the basic level of reading, writing, and math, and science skills to be have a reasonable chance of college success. This lack of college readiness turns out to be true of 74% of all ACT test takers. I do not think the kid is a failure. I do think that the parents were not aware enough to anticipate that their kid was at a high risk for not being able to be successful in college.
If a student is in the 26% of students who have at least developed a base level of college readiness, then work is a great summer option. However, if my student were in the 74% of students who lack those skills, I would make that the top priority over working, unless we had agreed that college was not a reasonable objective for this student.
The point is that the best use of summer depends on the student.
The point of this thread was to ask why older generations cling to this belief that kids need to work over the summer. To learn what it takes to earn a buck? Blister up those hands? I think for most this is short sighted.
Majority of teens score low on ACT/SAT. Majority aren’t college ready. Admissions has never been more competitive. Majority take 5 or 6 years to graduate from college, if ever. College tuition has never been more expensive. Best-case savings of $1000-2000 isn’t even one 4-credit course at a university.
If your goal was to improve standardized test scores, you can do that AND work. They are not mutually exclusive. Lots of tutoring services (on line, face to face, classes at different times of the day/week, self study). To not recognize that a student can both work and study and improve their SAT/ACT scores, now that is short-sighted.
WHY do you insist on making it either/or?! This is not the case in the real world. You can do both. You can succeed both academically AND with a part time job.
OP, are you worried that your soft hands will get rough if you work during the summer? They’ll soften up pretty quickly once you get back into class full-time. Seems like short-sighted worry to me.
@romanigypsyeyes Yes, there is no question that you can do both.
However, the summer priority should be addressing college readiness. If you don’t have a base level of skills in reading, writing, math, and science you are unlikely to be successful at any college without remediation.
If parents can remedy that situation, and work, that is great! If they can only handle one, in most cases, the college readiness is the most important issue. I don’t understand why anyone would disagree with that.
"However, the summer priority should be addressing college readiness.’ - I agree that college readiness is a good thing. But the OP’s example seemed more for resume padding than anything else. Students truly needing remedial help often have lower income families that can’t afford summer programs. But it would be neat if we could use this thread to point some of them (looking later) toward opportunities for free programs.
College readiness? Most students looking at traditional , 1st or 2nd tier colleges (aka most on this site) they likely will not be of the ilk that needs remedial classes. And the OP was talking about attending the enrichment programs, not remedial ones. There are some summer intensive boot camp programs for students who don’t speak English well enough to handle the demands of American universities, but those are commonly attended by internationals after their HS graduation in the summer before they matriculate to US colleges/universities. Now, how their application and essays were written if they don’t have a command of English… that’s another topic.
OP, awesome that you did a summer program. I’m sure it was great. Certainly it’s not always the best for every single teenager to do a summer program OR have a job. What astounds me is the degree to which you don’t understand how lucky you are.
I love school. I’m extremely academic. I was in online schooling for the entirely of my K-11 schooling. My folks refused to enroll me in Honors, AP, or Running Start (RS classes would have been free, too, and I was willing to work and/or give up birthday/Christmas to fund the books) even though I asked. No SATs or ACTs, because I was going to go to community college, transfer to a satellite university, commute from home, not hold a job, and like it, according to my parents. And that story is TAME compared to the lives of some of my community college classmates.
I was my mom’s full time caretaker at 15. I’m a high school dropout with a GED. Before I left school at 16, I had a 3.9 GPA. I’ve held a job since the summer I turned 18. I’m not in community college because I’m a loser, I’m in community college because I had no other choice. You didn’t win, btw, your parents ALLOWED you to take the summer program. My parents allow me to live at home, but I’m paying for my own education with federal loans and work. And they are FIGHTING with me over whether I go away for school for my last two years (again, funded solely by me). And they can stop me by refusing their financial information and/or kicking me out.
You have no f’ing idea how lucky you are that going away to your dream school is a GIVEN in your life.
Anybody else wonder about OP’s parents? Work, don’t work. I guess it’s a family choice, but in my homes (the one I grew up in and the one I raised my own kids in), the high school kid did not bully the parents into giving her whatever she wanted and then cop a superior attitude about it.
High school senior here- I have one significant non-college admissions related regret about my high school experience, and that is that I did not have a normal, minimum wage (or near it) job either during a summer or during the school year. I think it would have been a valuable experience in several ways.
By the time kids are of an age to work, they’ve already spent about 2000 days in school. I have a hard time with the idea that if only they spent another 40 days in summer classes that their academic problems will be fixed and if they weren’t “college ready” they will be after those extra 40 days of instruction. Let’s be real. Many of the kids who aren’t succeeding aren’t trying very hard. Plenty of kids in our schools don’t do their homework, never read, always use a calculator for the simplest math and simply aren’t interested in learning much. How does putting them in summer school help? At least if they work, they may develop some skills that will help them get employed, or perhaps they will find a reason to care about school.
I also question the use of standardized tests as a measure of college readiness. If I recall correctly, for the new SAT, a recent analysis showed that 1/4 of the students who randomly guess all the questions will achieve the college board’s stamp of “college ready”. I am less familiar with the ACT and perhaps their cut off is less ridiculous.
OP- you sound like an average college kid, not as smart as those you will encounter working all kinds of jobs at your school. Many do not have parents with lucrative jobs- their parents may be more intelligent than yours, yours just made a bunch of money. College professors’ kids need money for college. Remember to call some of those workers “doctor” when you meet them in the future.
Many great comments from parents. This kid will hopefully mature.
btw- smart kids don’t need to “work on academics” . They may do gifted programs to be with their peers for a time and to keep from being bored. Many gifted kids need to work to afford things, despite any scholarships. Nongifted kids also need something to do in summers- and most can’t afford summer programs.
OP, what specific summer programs do you suggest for lower income students (affordable programs/free programs for tens of thousands of kids that would provide that academic boost that you apparently so ardently desire for them)? And stop ignoring the question about how you paid for your own program – tell us.
Those academic programs would have to be offered through local high schools or cc’s. Dorming programs are too expensive. Our high school has a few summer classes which cost a few hundred dollars but they are regular level classes for kids who failed on their first try and need the class to graduate from high school. From our high school, kids like that are unlikely to be going to any college.
Even though we are full pay, we wanted our kids to work to learn about responsibility and time management. Additionally, they needed to have some skin in the game! They were all responsible for their own spending money while in college…they were very motivated to make sure that they had some!! LOL