Analyses of Youths Working in Fast Food Industries - Essay Example

?In "Working at McDonald's," Amitai Etzioni argues that this work is bad for kids due to the fact that it undermines their school attendance and involvement as they concentrate on part time jobs to earn money. The teens often finish work late and this negatively impacts on their schoolwork such as completing homework. This kind of work also imparts little skills that will be useful in future life among the teenagers. Etzioni also argues that most teen jobs are “highly routinized” and they offer entrepreneurial skills among the teens compared to the kind of work that is offered at McDonalds. The risk for youths working in fast food industries like McDonalds is that they often tend to dropout from school to pursue this career which unfortunately does not provide marketable skills as well as career ladders. The other problem with working at MacDonals according to Etzioni is that the work ethic is characterised by little supervision by adults since these teens are responsible for supervising themselves. This entails that there is little learning in terms of skills development taking place (180 words). This article is well written and the author tries to portray his argument in a clear and succinct way. The author substantiates his arguments with factual information that has been drawn from other studies related to this particular problem. For instance, the author quotes the Charper-Freser Study (280) which posits to the effect that teenagers often work for about 30 hours per week and only 20 % of them work for 15 hours or less. A critical reading of the article also shows that the teens often finish work very late and this is likely to impact negatively on their school work. Obviously, by the time they get home late at night, they will be tired so they cannot be in a position to complete their school work. In terms of academic development, these teens are likely to lag behind and they may not be in a position to get better paying jobs due to lack of appropriate qualifications. The other important point that has been portrayed by the author is that most teen work these days is not providing early lessons in the work ethic. For instance, it fosters escape from school and responsibilities and it provides a short cut to the consumerist aspects of adult life (283). This is very bad for youth development since they will fail to concentrate on their studies in pursuit of earning quick money which may negatively impact on their career development. Indeed, the teens need to learn to be self reliant from a tender age but they often find themselves in a trap where they fail to balance their academic life and the need to earn extra income while they are still at school. The result is that most of these people will drop out of school in order to concentrate on these part time jobs that can offer them quick money. Once this has happened, career development suffers and these people end up doing low paying jobs throughout their lives as a result of the fact that they will be lacking requisite skills to perform other professional jobs that are better paying and secure. The other interesting point raised by the author is that “there is no father or mother figure with which to identify to emulate to provide a role model and guidance,” (283). It can be observed that these teens have little room for skills development since they do not have anyone to guide them so that they can improve in their work. It can also be noted that there are less adult values that are transmitted to these teens since they are forced to supervise themselves at work. This is a strategy by some of these fast food restaurants like McDonalds that intend to cut costs by avoiding hiring experienced supervisors. These in turn can impart vital knowledge among the youths but this is not the case. at the end of the day, it can be seen that there is no development taking place among the youths but they are exposed to a situation where youth delinquency thrives. Whenever there is no adult leadership or guidance, the problem that is likely to be experienced by the youths is that they will not be in a position to develop in a professional manner. Finally, I find this article meaningful given that it is supported by concrete evidence and it shows the trends that are happening during the contemporary period. The author has portrayed all major points in a very clear and simple manner where it can be seen that something ought to be done in order to address this particular problem. After reading this article, I can safely say that Etzioni’s article is convincing since most youths are often affected by this practice. Studies have shown that many school dropouts can be attributed to this practice where the youths tend to concentrate on part time jobs in fast food industries at the expense of their studies at school. In the end, such people will fail to secure better paying jobs due to lack of experience and knowledge. Work in fast food industries provide little skills that can help the youths to sustain their lives in future since it does not provide any room for learning as well as career development. Overall, this article has been well written and it appeals to the interests of many people especially parents who should be role models to their children. Read More