Does where you work part-time as an adolescent determine your future vocation?

Does where you work part-time as an adolescent determine your future vocation? By watching NBC's "Building Doctors For The Future" and comparing it to chapter seven in Laurence Steinberg’s Adolescence, you may find the answer to this question along with: why adolescence choose to work, why certain employers hire them, and the positive and negative results of premature affluence. The video and the text both explored studies of adolescent work history and future goals; however, the workplaces that were explored were far from similar. 

While reading chapter seven in Adolescence, I noticed Steinberg focused on adolescents today that, “leave school early in the afternoon and go straight to their part-time jobs” (Steinberg, 2010 p. 216) until about nine or ten at night, and when they receive their paycheck, go on and spend it superfluously with out understanding saving or money management (Course Content, Week 5). Steinberg then goes on to explain that most of these adolescents are in entry level work positions such as childcare, fast-food employment or waitressing, and may have worked other informal jobs during early adolescence. 

In contrast, the NBC video “Building Doctors For The Future,” focused on three adolescents who are apart of a work-study program at a local hospital, who have an interest in the medical field. These three individuals have part-time work in an area most adults attend school for. The adolescents perform research, check on patients, and stock surgery supply carts while their friends are home doing nothing or at their part-time job at a local fast-food place or restaurant. Something that really caught my eye about these students is their desire and appreciation for that profession and opportunity. One of the program participants Devine Williams mentions “If [he] can do this without getting paid, [he] would . . . It's all about the experience” (NBC Video). Can you look back on your first formal part-time job and say the same?

In my opinion, the way adolescent work is described in the text is more so based off statistics rather than the reason why adolescents work. The Twenty-first Century is an era in which everyone is fighting to succeed and live the lavish life they see their idols living. Most adolescents today work to get what they want and to either save for school, buy necessities, or put gas in their cars. The way adolescent work was portrayed in the NBC video was the total opposite. In my opinion, it was more so in your face “this is what you should be doing, if this is the profession you wish to succeed in.” Most adolescents that age hate their part-time work and the fact they have to balance work hours with school work, and school work with extra curricular activities.  As mentioned, those participating in the work-study program love it and appreciate the opportunity like any part-time working adolescent should today. 

Works Cited

Steinberg, L. (2010). Adolescence, 9th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.