The thought of receiving a paycheck every other week is something most high schoolers dream about. However, some high schoolers aren’t cut out to start working yet. The phrase “talk is cheap” is synonymous with high schoolers because they blindly put themselves in stressful situations. 

Although it’s a dream-crusher to hear this, students need to realize that school work is still important. By pushing oneself to work and put their homework and sleep aside, it’ll end up being a habit. Perpetuating this self-destructive behavior shouldn’t be ignored by the prospect of gaining money.

Before sending in your first application, self-reflection should be considered. How are your grades looking right now? Are you satisfied with your academics? Do you have anything else going on in your life other than school? What some students don’t realize is that there’s no point in having a job now if your future is still being compromised.

There’s a reason why students are told to do well in school—getting an education leads to a successful career. It’ll be much harder to make a living if you wasted your chances at a scholarship so you could cover a shift at Jamba Juice. Instead, a part-time job should be an additional responsibility, not a number one priority.

I’m not saying that being employed will end up ruining your life, but wasting the time of both your employer and yourself by quitting prematurely is something to avoid. Building up one’s resume with positive references and experiences is a step towards a dream career.

However, there are indeed situations where high school students don’t have a say whether they want to work or not. Life sometimes hits hard and students have to work in order to provide for their family—in that case, go for it. For me, family and my own personal health take priority over everything. Keeping yourself off the streets and helping out at home definitely a situation where a part-time job is necessary.

At the end of the day, I’m not trying to tell you what you can and can’t do. If you want to start working and make some money, then, by all means, do what you have to do. I’ve been working part-time since the beginning of the year to pay for college and it’s been a process to get used to clocking in and out. From my experience, time management is a hard skill to master and being able to handle a large workload is something only a few students can handle.