News Item with Widespread Ramifications, excerpted from a longer article by Heather Wilhelm:
A new study suggests today's young people haven’t learned the value of hard work. Last week, an eleven-year-old hero meticulously pushed his way into the national spotlight, intending to inspire America and “show the nation what young people like me are ready for.”
I’m referring, of course, to Frank Giaccio, the budding entrepreneur from Virginia who asked President Trump if he could mow the White House lawn. “I have been mowing my neighbors’ lawns for some time,” he wrote, offering weed-whacking services in addition to a waiver of his usual $8 fee. On Friday, Giaccio got his wish: He showed up, industriously mowed the lawn, wowed the nation with his laser-like focus, and provided some amusing Trump-meets-boy viral video clips in the process.
Alas, not everyone was delighted. Former New York Times labor reporter and apparent occasional wet blanket Steven Greenhouse, for one, was unimpressed. “Not sending a great signal on child labor, minimum wage & occupational safety,” he declared on Twitter. He was being serious.
Laugh if you will, but when it comes to putting kids to work, Greenhouse is not alone. Using surveys of 8.3 million 13- to 19-year olds between 1976 and 2016, a new study published in Child Development reports that in addition to significant delays in “adult” activities like driving and dating, only 56 percent of America’s high-school seniors have ever worked for pay.
Hmmmm...Is it any wonder 44% of high school seniors have no clue as to where money comes from?
How many of us can list a half-dozen things we did for pay before being seniors in high school? I'll go first:
1. Mowed grass on two properties not owned by family members.
2. Had a paper route for at least two years.
3. Worked in two different gas stations, being entrusted with the keys to lock up one of them, by myself, at the close of business (9PM) at age 15.
4. Prepared a 1954 Packard Clipper Sportster for repainting by a friend of Dad's. When the car was sold, we split the profit as agreed beforehand.
5. Bought, advertised, and sold (for a net profit of $13!) one car with my own money. (If you have a November 1961 issue of Hot Rod in your collection, notice the first ad in the middle column of Page 131. I was 15 years old when I placed that ad...and with no assistance from anybody. IIRC, I mailed in cash to pay for it! Imagine that today.)
6. Painted house trim and cleaned up a lady neighbor's yard.
7. Bought, fixed up, and sold at least two bicycles.
(Yes, and as a card-carrying CASO, I've likely got that first earned dollar around here somewhere! )
Is it any wonder indeed? You have to feel genuinely sorry, as I do, for high-schoolers who have not learned such rudimentary things by the time they are seniors. If they haven't had at least a basic course in such matters, they'll be on the steepest learning curve imaginable in only a few years. (And if reality gets too close for comfort in college, they'll demand a "safe space" in which to "study.") BP
A new study suggests today's young people haven’t learned the value of hard work. Last week, an eleven-year-old hero meticulously pushed his way into the national spotlight, intending to inspire America and “show the nation what young people like me are ready for.”
I’m referring, of course, to Frank Giaccio, the budding entrepreneur from Virginia who asked President Trump if he could mow the White House lawn. “I have been mowing my neighbors’ lawns for some time,” he wrote, offering weed-whacking services in addition to a waiver of his usual $8 fee. On Friday, Giaccio got his wish: He showed up, industriously mowed the lawn, wowed the nation with his laser-like focus, and provided some amusing Trump-meets-boy viral video clips in the process.
Alas, not everyone was delighted. Former New York Times labor reporter and apparent occasional wet blanket Steven Greenhouse, for one, was unimpressed. “Not sending a great signal on child labor, minimum wage & occupational safety,” he declared on Twitter. He was being serious.
Laugh if you will, but when it comes to putting kids to work, Greenhouse is not alone. Using surveys of 8.3 million 13- to 19-year olds between 1976 and 2016, a new study published in Child Development reports that in addition to significant delays in “adult” activities like driving and dating, only 56 percent of America’s high-school seniors have ever worked for pay.
Hmmmm...Is it any wonder 44% of high school seniors have no clue as to where money comes from?
How many of us can list a half-dozen things we did for pay before being seniors in high school? I'll go first:
1. Mowed grass on two properties not owned by family members.
2. Had a paper route for at least two years.
3. Worked in two different gas stations, being entrusted with the keys to lock up one of them, by myself, at the close of business (9PM) at age 15.
4. Prepared a 1954 Packard Clipper Sportster for repainting by a friend of Dad's. When the car was sold, we split the profit as agreed beforehand.
5. Bought, advertised, and sold (for a net profit of $13!) one car with my own money. (If you have a November 1961 issue of Hot Rod in your collection, notice the first ad in the middle column of Page 131. I was 15 years old when I placed that ad...and with no assistance from anybody. IIRC, I mailed in cash to pay for it! Imagine that today.)
6. Painted house trim and cleaned up a lady neighbor's yard.
7. Bought, fixed up, and sold at least two bicycles.
(Yes, and as a card-carrying CASO, I've likely got that first earned dollar around here somewhere! )
Is it any wonder indeed? You have to feel genuinely sorry, as I do, for high-schoolers who have not learned such rudimentary things by the time they are seniors. If they haven't had at least a basic course in such matters, they'll be on the steepest learning curve imaginable in only a few years. (And if reality gets too close for comfort in college, they'll demand a "safe space" in which to "study.") BP
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