We spend four years of our lives attending high school. Going through high school is supposed to prepare us for college and "the real world." Throughout these four years we begin to better understand our choices for college majors, but we don't get presented with the financial and time struggle that we will face. College costs money, along with everyday living. When attending college we become more independent and are faced with the problem of coming up with money and finding a balance between time for work and school. Though it may seem like working through high school is a bad idea, it could better prepare students for "the real world.".
Having a job has many benefits. One of these benefits is obvious, earning an income. With an income comes responsibility. When a student becomes an adult, he or she has to learn to depend on their own income, and there is nothing they can do to prepare themselves for that except to begin to get a feel for the responsibilities earning an income brings. Students can gain experience by working through high school. This brings the opportunity to learn how to budget money, which is a vital part of being independent. Budgeting takes a lot of self-discipline and trial and error, but is possible to learn. It is also important for students to start making purchases that result in monthly payments, such as cell phone or car payments. Not only does this give students the ability to establish credit, but also a feel for what having bills is like. These are things that all students need to gain exposure to and begin become experienced with. It would be much more difficult to learn these things when one is dependent on themselves. It raises the risk of struggles with money. .
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There are many students that have the ability to stay very focused on their educational goals. These students tend to do very well academically and do not need a lot of stimuli to help them get moving.