“I’m sorry, what am I signing now?” “A 401 what?” “Wait! That’s how much I have left after taxes?!”

Once you have a job, you realize just how many hoops you have to jump through to be a part of the ‘real world’. Once you are on your own and there is an endless stream of bills and expenses coming at you, you finally start to understand why your parents always gave you ‘the look’ when you said you were tired. You have my respect, fellow working class, tax-paying citizens. I have only been doing this for a few months and I’m already exhausted.

However, fear not fellow students, because I will freely admit that going to school is like having a job that never ends. You’re stuck on a smelly, cramped bus in an endless tunnel of calculus and chemistry. Not only are we at school for seven hours, but we also have to finish homework from all of the ‘only two hours a night’ teachers. All seven or eight of them. Then there is sports and after school clubs and activities. Plus that teeny tiny bit of free time that is left for some small amount of sleep and a Walking Dead marathon.

My point, and trust me there is one, is that there are both positives and negatives to having a job in high school. You may be tired and slightly behind on your homework, but you’re also learning time management and responsibility. You find out pretty quickly that the excuse “I had to work last night” won’t get you out of a pop quiz. Besides time management, you also learn money management and customer service skills (depending on what kind of job you have).

So, if you’re trying to decide if you want to try getting a job during your high school career, just be sure to take into consideration all of your other obligations at school. Having a job is a great way to learn how the world works, but making sure you have the time to dedicate yourself to both your job and school is important.