新视野大学英语第三版第一册

6.1. Text A To work or not to work- That is a question

1 There are numerous and reliable ways by which one can measure the impact of employment on student achievement, and we used several in our research. We compared the grades of students who work a great deal with those who work in limited amounts or not at all. We also contrasted workers with non-workers, on different indicators of their commitment to education. Additionally, we followed students overtime as they increased or decreased their work hours, and we assessed how different patterns of employment altered school performance and engagement.

2 We have simplified and classified the data and the results are clear: Thestakes are high. A heavy commitment to a part-time job during the academicyear, say, working 20 hours per week or more,undermines andsignificantly interfereswith school achievement and commitment. Overall, our study offers proof that students who worked more than 20 hours weekly were not comparable to their classmates. They earned lower grades, spent less time on homework, cut class more often, and cheated more frequently. And they reported lower levels of commitment to school and more modest educational aspirations.

3 On the other hand, we also detected a different pattern. Working forapproximately 10 hours per week or less seeminglydoes not take a consistenttoll on school performance. Nevertheless, given that half of all employed seniors, about one-third of all juniors, and about one-fifth of all second-year students work above the 20-hour limit, indicationsare that a large number of students are at risk ofcompromising their school careers with their part-time jobs.

4 Whereas it is true that more disengaged students are more likely to work long hours to begin with, it appears that working makes a marginal situation worse. In other words, over time, the more students work, the lesscommitted to school they become. When studentswithdraw from the labor force or cut back on their work hours, however, the results are striking: Their interest in school isgenerated anew. This then is good news:The negative effects of working on schooling are notpermanent.

5 We uncovered numerous explanations for the undesirable effects of working on students' engagement in school. First, owing to their demanding work schedule, working students have less time to devote to school assignments. One common response to this time pressure is that they cut corners by taking easier classes, copying assignments from other students, cutting class, or refusing to do work assigned by their teachers. Over time, as these become established practices, students' commitment to school iseroded bit by bit.

6 Second, in order to work 20 hours or more each week, many students must work evenings. Evening work interferes not only with doing homework, but with both sleep and diet. Studies show that working students get less rest and eat less healthy meals than non-working students. Burning the midnight oil makes working teenagers more tired in school. Teachers frequently complain about working students falling asleep in class. Nearly a third of the students in our study said they were frequently too tired from work to do their homework.

7 Third, it appears that the excitement of earning large amounts of spending money makes school seem less rewarding and interesting. Although mind-wandering during school is characteristic of young adults, working students report significantly more of it than non-workers. Indeed, the rush from earning and spending money may be so strong that students who have a history ofintensive employment, those who, for example, have been working long hours since their second year, are actually at greater risk than their classmates of dropping out before graduating.

8 Finally, working long hours can be associated with increased alcohol and drug use. Working

students use drugs and alcohol about 33% more often than non-working students. Our long-term study shows that working long hours leads to increased alcohol and drug use for entertainment andrecreation among working students. Teenagers with between $200 and $300 of monthly surplus income frequently have more money to spend than their peers, and often they become accustomed to spending their earnings on drugs and alcohol. According to our study, alcohol and drug use, in turn, may be linked to disengagement from school, and therefore, is likely to depress school performance.

9 To summarize,convention has long held that early employment builds character. Our findings indicate that for many students, working 20 hours or more a week can contribute to decreased school performance and increased drug and alcohol use. We know that these findings may seemcontroversial to many. To our own surprise, our findings make us question how long we have held on to the conventionalassumptions about the great value of work in ourformative years. It's time to abandon this appealingmyth! We conclude that students should resolve to work no more than 10 hours per week if they want to be successful in school.