Yap 1 Justin Yap English 91X Mr. King 11/25/07 Final Draft Will Denise Ever Work During High School? Denise Liu is the second-oldest child in her family and she has just started her high school year as a freshman. She has made a couple of friends at high school in which happens to be females who have jobs. Denise in the other hand does not have a job and is influence from her girlfriends that if they have a job, she can do so while having good grades at school. Denise asked her parents if she could have a job and go to school at the same time, but Mr. Liu wouldn’t let her as he says that she needs to use “…her free time to help her mother with the cooking and housekeeping” (39). However, Mrs. Liu is more sympathetic of her getting a job as long as her schoolwork is her first obligation. However, Denise’s older sister did not work when she was in high school. Now she is majoring in computer science and is attending a good college. Denise’s parents want her to follow in her older sister footsteps as she sets a good example for her. I agree with Mr. Liu, as she does have to focus on her school since having a job can add stress, consume homework time, and study time. Even though Denise wants to make money while she is in school, she should not work for she has school, family responsibilities, and her social life that is more important rather than work.
Yap 2 Denise’s first reason upon why she should not work is that there is higher possibility of having her grades going downhill as Alice said on page 40. If she were going to work, she would not be able to have enough time for school, her social life, and her family. Her school is more important rather than working for she can go long ways with education. Without education, she would not have a good of a job if she did have education. If she were working, she would focus more on the paycheck that comes in every two weeks rather than her homework or studies. If you look at Alice, she said, “When my parents saw my report card, they made me quit working. If I couldn’t work, I wouldn’t study either, and my grades really went downhill” (40). I believe this will happen with Denise if she does work and it will not show a good reputation as the grades will be on her permanent record. She will lose time for study and for homework when she works because she will be working right after school. When she comes back from work, she will only have a few hours for study and for homework and that is not enough for she is in high school now. For a child as young as her working and going to school at the same time, she will be focusing too much on working because working is a new thing for her and will be used to getting the paycheck every two weeks. As you can see, working is a big distraction for school. In addition, there will be many more years to come for her to work and she should not start early. Instead, she should take it slow. Denise’s second reason for why she should not work is that she is the secondoldest child and she still has responsibilities over her siblings - watching them and helps her parents guide them. She would even be farther away from her family relationship if she was to work, and being away from family relationships will reduce the family
Yap 3 responsibilities. Having family responsibilities is just as important, just like school. Like what Denise’s father believes, “daughter’s place is in family...use her free time to help her mother with cooking and housekeeping” (38). With family responsibilities, Denise’s family would keep the house working smooth and clean, but without it, or with less of it, it would be hard to upkeep the house. If she was to work, her work will pull her away from her chores and she will be force to put it off to the side. Her work will pull her away from her family quality time and she is more prone to argue with her parents since both of her parents disagree of her working. Denise’s third reason why she should not work is for her to learn on how to manage her time. It would be hard for her to manage time, as she has to manage time for her school, family responsibilities, social life, and her work within the seven-day period. She would not be able to keep with school, family, and her social life will demand more of her as time progresses. Having a job will consume up her free time within the week and that is a very crucial thing for having that time is like having time to your own self. If she does ever find her free time, her father believed that she “should use her free time to help her mother with the cooking and housekeeping” (38-39). Time is a precious thing and she should not waste it. In addition, if you look what Glenisha said, “didn’t have time to go out or do anything except work and keep up with classes” (39). Having a job will definitely be a difficult thing to manage her plans around her work schedule. If she were to work, she would not get enough sleep for she is going to school and immediately going to work right after. By the time she gets back from her work, she would then have to do her homework and study for the next day’s assignment. She would be low on stamina for
Yap 4 her to awake in class and fully comprehend the material that taught from the teachers. She will then realize on how badly she needs to learn on how to manage her homework time, study time, school, and work time. Denise’s fourth reason, out of the four arranging from best to worse, on why she shouldn’t work is because she’ll lose her social life with her friends and wouldn’t be able to do anything much. Having that social time with her friends is very precious during her teen life since the high school years are one of the best years that she will remember from decades down the road. Her other friends who don’t have work will probably be more distant from her since she’s committing most or some of her time to work. Look at what Glenisha said when she worked, “25 or 30 hours a week…I didn’t have much time to go out” (39). Denise will lose her time to go out with her friends if she does decide to work. If her friends make plans, such as going to the movies or shopping, Denise would not be able to go with them since she is too busy with work. Her friendship for her friends will slowly decrease, as she is not able to spend that quality time with them. She should enjoy her four years in high school as the high school years are one of the highlight years in anybody’s life. Her high school years should be one of the best and she should make plenty of friends, as some of them will not always stay in contact with you. When the school has activities such as dances, rallies, events, etc., she would not be able to attend, as she is more focus on her job. To conclude this, she should not work while she is schooling for she has to focus on other things that are more important than working such as school, family responsibilities, & social life. In a working environment, it takes time and dedication to
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keep on going through each day because school and work both add stress, so having work in your schedule will even add more over of what she will get from school. She would have less time with her friends and family if she were to work. Her grades will possibly go down because she is using up her homework and study time for work, so her work quality would not be sufficient if she was to work. She will also be distant from her family because her time would mostly be involved with work and family time is very important since you need a family that is close to you when times are good and bad. However, if she were to work and go to school at the same time, she would be making money towards a car, college, gifts, etc. She does not necessarily have to work right after school and use up all her free time on work for she can just work two hours a day. If she was to work two hours a day, she will get money and she will both have enough time for school, her friends, and her family. Even though she may be working for two hours a day and going to school at the same time, it will limit her time for sleeping, social life, family, etc.