From the moment that an individual becomes a freshman, there is a noticeable level of pressure put on high schoolers to succeed: but not just to succeed, but to achieve some level of perfection, one that is most likely impossible. And they are forced to compete among their peers for the admiration of college admission counselors.

Why is it, then, that there is an additional expectation for teenagers to have financial responsibility, and be expected to hold part-time jobs? These jobs interfere with their social life, their academics, and add extra stress to what, for many, is an already stressful situation. Although there are some advantages to having a job in high school such as obtaining money to meet the expected financial responsibilities imposed on them from society, such as paying for gas for their car or starting to pay bills as they start to form a more independent lifestyle from their parents.

But the cons dramatically outweigh the pros. In attempting to train teenagers for balancing responsibilities by forcing them into having a job and expect them to excel in athletics and academics instead stresses a student too much in most cases and can lead to a stark decrease in productivity in school, house life and relationships. Instead of effectively preparing a student for college, having a job instead decreases the student’s chances of getting into college in the first place.

Therefore, negating any potential positive effects because, in some cases, it’s all for naught anyway. Teenagers shouldn’t be expected, by any means, to hold a job, even part-time; the stress can cause both mental and physical health issues that can affect nearly every part of their lives and their ability to function. There’s no justifiable reason why students should feel the need to fulfill the financial expectation that their parents should be doing for them: perhaps it’s a glaring and obvious sign of how a capitalist economy and biased academic system has failed the very people it’s claiming to help, and an ominous foreshadowing of what happens to those who are underprivileged and must work multiple jobs while still going through high school.

When you are under 18 and have to put work before school just to make sure that there’s enough food on your family’s table, there’s a larger issue that needs to be addressed, and right now, it’s being swept under the rug. No one, especially not teenagers, should feel that pressure when they’re already juggling more than one responsibility, one that should take up most of their focus and effort. Something must be done about this.

Having a job during high school is no different than any other extracurricular activity many students choose to partake in. While common student extracurricular activities, like sports, help with responsibility, jobs provide help with these aspects of life plus more.

The greatest benefit of having a job as a high school student is the aspect of responsibility. Having and maintaining a job along with regular coursework as a student is one of the most efficient and effective ways one can learn leadership skills as a youth; few other situations or experiences can instill such a prominent sense of responsibility in someone. With a job, students not only have to focus and develop their maturity in order to succeed with keeping up with homework, attending school, maintaining good grades as well as the responsibility of showing up on time for work, being productive, and not letting down employers or fellow employees.

The most obvious and desirable benefit of working as a student is the paycheck. Everybody could use extra money. With more money, students are given the ability to do myriad things: buy personal goods, chip in on family bills, save for college, and chip in on bills.

The most common job available to and taken by high school students are those working in retail or food, such as being cashiers for fast food places or retail stores. While customer service is widely agreed upon as grueling and tedious work, it’s perhaps the most beneficial for personal growth and development of teenagers into adulthood. For introverted and shy students, social interaction and talking with others can be an agonizing experience. Yet communication and social skills are a vital part of life that only better and benefit the quality of ourselves and our experiences. And, like any other skill, they are always improved with practice. These common retail positions provide valuable opportunities to advance these communication and social skills through the common obligation of interacting with and assisting customers.

Beyond the tangible interpersonal benefits of taking on the responsibility of a high school job, specifically, the manner in which student workers grow more adept at communicating and working through conflicts of interest that may arise in the workplace, those social abilities extend beyond the position one holds in high school. When interviewing with prospective employers in the future, however, such speech and problem-solving abilities will serve to complement the palpable résumé improvement synonymous with work, regardless of the station, concurrent with academics at the secondary level. By establishing connections to employers early on in one’s vocational life, they attain valuable references who can vouch for their work ethic, character, and qualifications, improving their likelihood of being hired in their next line of work, provided they view their job as an opportunity rather than an obligation and act accordingly. Moreover, by demonstrating their ability to manage their time properly by balancing their focus and effort on class and customer service, prospective college students can not only place high school jobs on their résumés but on their college applications, where students can demonstrate how they have advanced their interest or skills in a desired profession. Rigorous post-high school education necessitates the ability to manage one’s time between self-care, academic pursuits, extracurricular activities, and their social life, and such aptitude rarely goes unnoticed or uninitialized, both after high school and after one’s first job.