RE: [pf] the future for young folk/rites of passage

At 19:21 29/1/2001 -0800, Julia wrote:
>Diane and David,
>This is from today's New York Times, about how the long hours teenagers
are working are compromising their schoolwork.  Most of the communities
mentioned in the article are by no means poor.
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/29/nyregion/29TEEN.html
>
http://partners.nytimes.com/2001/01/29/nyregion/29TEEN.html
  starts:

January 29, 2001
Problems Seen for Teenagers Who Hold Jobs
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
 
Some weekdays, Alicia Gunther, 17, works past midnight as a waitress at a
New Jersey mall, and she readily admits that her work often hurts her
grades and causes her to sleep through first period.

Jason Ferry, a high school junior, loves working 30 hours a week as a
cashier at a Connecticut supermarket, but he acknowledges that when he gets
home from work at 9:30 p.m. he usually does not have enough time to study
for big tests.

For decades, the conventional wisdom has been that it is great for
teenagers like these to hold after- school jobs because they teach
responsibility, provide pocket money and keep the teenagers out of trouble.

But in a nation where more than five million teenagers under 18 work, a
growing body of research is challenging the conventional wisdom and
concluding that working long hours often undermines teenagers' education
and overall development.

In the most important study, two arms of the National Academy of Sciences —
the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine — found that
when teenagers work more than 20 hours a week, the work often leads to
lower grades, higher alcohol use and too little time with their parents and
families.

Influenced by such studies, lawmakers in Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Alabama and other states have pushed in recent years to tighten laws
regulating how many hours teenagers can work and how late they can work. In
Massachusetts, several lawmakers are seeking to limit the maximum amount of
time 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds can work during school weeks to 30
hours, down from the current maximum of 48 hours.

In 1998, Connecticut lawmakers reduced the maximum number of hours
16-year-olds and 17-year-olds can work during school weeks to 32 hours,
down from 48, and last year they debated imposing fines on employers who
violate those limits. In New York, students that age are allowed to work up
to 28 hours during school weeks, while in New Jersey the maximum is 40 hours. 

The impetus to tighten restrictions grows largely out of concerns about
education, especially fears that American students are falling short on
tougher standards and are lagging behind foreign students in comparative
tests.
 ...

Studies by the National Research Council and professors at Stanford
University, Temple University and the University of Minnesota found
negative effects when 16- and 17- year-olds work more than 20 hours a week.
These studies concluded that students who work long hours often do not have
enough time or energy for homework and miss out on social and intellectual
development gained from participating in school clubs and athletic teams.

Several studies also found that 16- year-olds and 17-year-olds who work
long hours tend to use alcohol more than others in their age group, largely
because they have extra pocket money and copy older co-workers.

"It's probably safe for kids to work 10 hours or less each week when
they're in school, but probably not such a good idea for them to work more
than 20 hours," said Laurence Steinberg, a professor of psychology at
Temple University. "That's when we and other researchers find decreased
academic performance and decreased engagement in school."
 ...
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Rebecca Gohsler, 16, works part time at a dry cleaning shop in West
Hartford, Conn., and concedes the job can undercut her schoolwork.  
[image: 
http://graphics.nytimes.com/images/2001/01/29/nyregion/29teen.1.jpg ]
Thomas McDonald for The New York Times  
---------------------------------------------------------------------
  
Jon Hawkins, 16, a high school junior, cut back on work at a gas station in
Berkeley Heights, N.J., when his grades suffered.  
[image: 
http://graphics.nytimes.com/images/2001/01/29/nyregion/29teen.2.jpg ]
Don Standing for The New York Times  
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sent on by David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
http://www.geocities.com/davdd.geo/index.html#top
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