In the state of Texas, the compulsory education laws require students to attend school if they are between the ages 6 through 18. School averages around 7 to 8 hours a day starting from 7:20am to 2:35pm. Even though the school day might have already ended, many students’ days have not as most attend their part time jobs as soon as when the dismissal bell rings.

Junior Prince Mayah works at Rue 21 for approximately 15 hours a week to 20 hours a week, averaging around 5 hours a day or 4 hours a day for 3 to 4 days a week.

As school ends at 2:35, on the days he works, he gets home around 8pm in which he crams in both his dinner and homework in just that short span if he wants to get enough sleep for the next day of school. Senior Angie Olguin shared that her job of being a pharmacist at CVS is “almost every day straight after school from 3:30-9:00pm.”

As senior year is the last year of high school for students, many of them stress over turning in college applications and financial aid documents but for many others, they are overwhelmed by hav- ing to balance out the responsibilities they must take care of and also attending work daily.
Mayah adds that he be- lieves that it does affect his school performance because if he has to work on Sundays and then have school on Monday, he is drained by the workload and working Thursdays means he will not have time to study for his tests on Fridays.

When coming home from late night shifts, students are drained from having to attend school during the day and also work late at night. Having to come back to complete their school work can add on stress and negatively impact how they per- form in school. They are not able to accomplish all of their assignments without being deprived of sleep.

Junior Hayam Zaydon, who works at The Rustic Brush discloses that “sometimes teachers don’t consider the circumstances of their students as [the teachers] don’t care. [It] feels like they are just trying to do their job but they forget that sometimes kids have different situations like some have to work to help their families and some don’t.”

On average, students take 7 classes in one school year and many feel that teachers tend
to disregard their circumstances at home or life outside of school. Though they might express that it is only one assignment, one assignment for each class piles up to being 7 assignments. With many uncompleted homework, working students often fall behind in class

Olguin adds that she is working because she needs to help her mom pay the bills. Olguin said she feels that it’s unacceptable how she is old enough to help but hadn’t done it before – even though she saw her mom struggling with paying the rent while still trying to satisfy Olguin’s wants even though they weren’t necessary.

Working at a young age may seem like a choice for all but a handful. However, considering most students that attend Alief high schools are from low income families, most work in order to help get bills paid on time. Students take on a difficult task in balancing their jobs and school in order to support their families financially.

Notably, every student’s circumstances are different and even though it may seem like they have it easy, many have obligations outside in which it can affect their performance in school.