Jordan Scaglione is a student that balances school, a job, and daily life. He is among the 20-30% of U.S. high school students that work after school. Jordan is a student that tries to balance work and school work with the addition of daily life. Jordan has been attending Toll Gate High School since freshman year and he is now a senior. He has worked multiple jobs throughout his high school experience and he states that, “Working a job and having school takes a lot of energy and it can get exhausting. It reflects on grades and attendance.”
The goal of this interview is to see how students with jobs struggle in school and out. This helps us better understand the lengths students have to endure before they realize it’s too much to deal with.
Question: What is your job after school hours?
Answer: “I work at Dick’s Sporting Goods.”
Question: How many hours do you work per week?
Answer: “I usually work around 26-30 hours a week.”
Question: Do the amount of hours you work affect your mental state and your ability to attend school?
Answer: “Yes, when I work I’m mainly exhausted afterwards because of how late it is. Then when I get home and try to go to bed I would think, I really don’t want to go to school. So then that will affect my grades and my education.”
Question: Do you prioritize your job over school?
Answer: “I personally think I do prioritize my job over school but some kids don’t have that choice. Some students have to work for their family.”
Question: When you do attend school, do you have to be excused from some classes because you have to go to work?
Answer: “No, but I do have a tight schedule to work with because I have to get ready for work and leave to go to work. So this will affect homework and vital learning because of the hours I have to work.”
These sets of questions help us better understand what the 20-30% of high school students go through when having to work a job. It can be stressful, exhausting, and time consuming. Teachers need to be more appreciative for these students to show up because you don’t know how they are feeling or when they got home from work. It shows how dedicated they are to work for money and to work for an education. Also, every student struggles just in different ways, so be kind and understanding of each other because at the end of all of it everyone is seeking an education for their future.
