Rethinking What Constitutes "Work"

As Americans, we have been taught from the time we are children about the positive values of hard work. History lessons for children emphasize the work ethic of our national heroes, Lincoln splitting rails, Grant valiantly working to finish his autobiography while dying of throat cancer, Mark Twain hitting the lecture circuit to pay back his debts from bad investments. Indeed, until recently we honored the “workaholic,” the person who never seemed to tire of labor, who put in voluntary overtime and forestalled retirement as long as possible. What we failed to pay attention to was the “holic” at the end of the word. Anything, whether it be drugs, alcohol, gambling, or work, which takes a person away from his or her duties as a parent or spouse cannot be good.
Furthermore, many adults have insisted that their children work part-time jobs to teach them responsibility and the value of labor. I have nothing against this concept. I was a lifeguard in high school and picked up other odd jobs here and there. But, the one thing that my father would never allow a job to do was take time from what he considered to be my most important responsibility: school. My father was determined that I would have what he never had, a college degree, and he would allow nothing to detract me from that goal. So, while the part-time job was a way to pick up spending money, it was never the most important responsibility I had.
How that has changed. We have parents who insist that after their kids reach sixteen, they will provide all the money for any clothing they might need as well as any other necessity. In my youth, parents were responsible for housing, clothing and feeding their minor children, not forcing them to become financially independent. These parents are extreme, no doubt, but there are far too many parents who turn a blind eye while their children put in far too many hours at their jobs. These kids are losing sleep, failing to complete homework, sometimes not even showing up at school because they are tired and unprepared. Students will tell you that they work to save for college but that excuse is ludicrous. What part-time job will make a significant dent in a five or ten thousand dollar yearly school bill, let alone cover the fees for a private college? No, they’re working for their cars, their car insurance, their gas and oil, their social lives, and to buy things that they want now. These things have replaced study as the primary focus of teenagers’ lives. And they’re allowed to continue on this path by their parents.
Adults complain about the failure of schools. It’s easy to fail when many of the students and their parents do not value education. You may want your child to do well, but will you monitor his work hours and regularly discuss his classes with him? I heard a parent complain to a teacher about the work load that she was assigning her class, but when the teacher pointed out that the woman’s son had four part-time jobs and inquired whether it might be wise to insist he quit some of them, the parent refused, saying, “That’s his decision, not mine.” Who is running that house? Where’s the responsible parenting that should be taking place?
My father taught me many things but one of the most important was contained in two words: “not yet.” “Dad, can I have a car?” “Not yet.” “Dad, can I have a stereo (or any other thing which seemed to be a necessity at the time)?” “Not yet.” He taught me that you can’t expect to get immediate gratification in life. Some things are worth the wait. In fact, some things should wait. But for many adults, it’s easier to knuckle under and let their children take time away from studies and buy things they really don’t need instead of letting them get those things gradually on birthdays or Christmas or not get them at all.
This is a labor town and we have a proud tradition of hard work to look back on and maintain. We recovered from the loss of AMC and rebounded at a time when everyone else said we would crumble and fail. But work, like everything else in life, has its time and place. Work as a focal point in life belongs to the world of adults. Children can and will learn responsibility by applying themselves to their studies, keeping the long range goals of life in mind. They will learn very little spending far too many hours in a low-paying dead-end job that will allow them to buy the trinkets they want, but not prepare them to become successful adults, spouses and parents.