Teens Struggle to Balance Jobs, Classes

Looking back on the last year, Ivanna McFaul admits her work schedule was a little extreme. The Pacifica High School senior held down two part-time jobs that had her working seven days a week--on top of school.

“It was just too much. I didn’t have time for anything,” said Ivanna, 17, of Garden Grove. She quit one job and now works about 20 to 25 hours a week at a coffee shop in Santa Ana.

She had found out for herself what a new national study has discovered: that teens who work moderate amounts reap the benefits commonly attributed to part-time jobs--increased maturity and responsibility, better time management and, of course, more spending money.

But those who work more than 15 to 20 hours a week can face far less positive results, including dropping grades, delinquency and increased drug and alcohol abuse.

The report by the National Research Council in Washington, D.C. confirms what most educators and students already know through experience: A good balance between school and work is key.

Adrienne Henigan, a college and career specialist at Fountain Valley High School, counsels her students to be wary of taking on too much work.

“I tell them that trying to work full time and going to school full time is impossible. Something is going to give. Unfortunately, that’s normally school because kids like having the money,” she said.

Part of Henigan’s job is to make kids understand the value of education even when the lure of extra income from a part-time job seems more appealing.

“When you’re 16 or 17, $6 an hour sounds pretty good. But I tell them they need to have that educational background because the jobs they have now won’t lead to them leaving home and living on their own,” she said.

Underlying the broad concern about students and jobs are dramatic changes in the world of teenage work. Before 1950, fewer than 5% of students held jobs during the school year. Nowadays, work has become a part of the teenage experience. Nearly 50% of 15- to 17-year-olds--5 million--work regularly during the school year, the National Research Council reported.

Whether an after-school job builds needed skills or simply takes away from study time depends largely on the student, said Sue Buettell, an assistant principal at University High School in Irvine.

“I’ve got some kids who are saving for a car and they’ll work to the detriment of their grades for that car. Other students are able to handle jobs and school very effectively,” she said.

For some Orange County students, working is a necessity because of the economic situation at home. But for many others, after-school jobs pay for cars, insurance, CDs, movies and clothes their parents won’t pay for.

“I counsel many kids about school and work, and one question I ask is whether work is the right choice right now,” Buettell said. “I tell them, ‘You have four years to do school and 80 years to work.’ ”

For the most part, teenagers disagree with the notion that working is harmful to their studies. Some even argue that work has improved their study habits by forcing them to manage their time better.

Ivanna McFaul said that before she started working, she had a tendency to put off her schoolwork. Because her free time is so limited now, she hits the books in every spare moment.

“When I had all that time, I’d choose to hang out with friends instead so I’d end up studying late at night anyway,” she said. “Now I’m not slacking off. I’m getting to my work right away. I have to keep my grades up or they won’t let me work.”

Overall, work can be a very positive experience, said Mary Sterling, a career specialist at Costa Mesa’s Estancia High, in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, where about a third of the school’s juniors and seniors have jobs.

“It helps them learn what they’re good at,” she said. “It helps them know what they don’t want to do. It gives them incentive to go to college so they’re not working in a hamburger stand their whole life.”

Under state law, students who want jobs must have work permits issued by their school. It allows schools to keep track of working kids and ensures that employers don’t overwork them, Sterling said. If students don’t maintain their grades, counselors can require them to cut back on work hours.

“We keep real good tabs on our kids and their jobs,” Sterling said. “If we see their work at school is being hurt, then we can take some action.”

As the mother of three teenagers who worked, Sterling said she is an advocate of its benefits: “If they’re doing nothing, that’s when you start worrying.”

As long as kids have a healthy balance between work and school life, they will get positive results, says Omar Gutierrez, a senior at Saddleback High in Santa Ana.

“School always comes first with me, but when I turned 16, I wanted to get a job,” said Omar, 17. “But I told myself I wouldn’t work later than 9 so I could still do homework.”

He works 20 to 25 hours a week at Gary’s Tux Shop in Costa Mesa and easily maintains a 3.5 grade-point average. What he likes about his job is that he feels he’s not being a burden on his parents.

“I like that I don’t have to ask my parents for money,” he said. “They work hard [and] I know they have to pay a lot of bills. It’s hard enough to ask to go out, I don’t want to ask for money too.”