Student Community: A Cultural Space in Higher Education - Essay Sample

Introduction

The student community is the term referring to a body or a group of learners in higher education. The student community has some standard cultural practices such as attending classes, having part time jobs, student loans, and holding party events. One of their everyday practices is to gather around the school canteen. The school canteen is a cultural space for most of the students in this learning institution. During lunch breaks and after classes, the student community gathers around the school canteen in large numbers to discuss various issues. As a result, the school canteen served as a good source of information on the issues affecting the student community. One of the problems that kept coming up during the research was finances which lead to the main research question of the study. Is it possible to possible to have a fulltime job while attending college?

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Many students have weighed the issue of having a full-time job while still in college. For most people, it is an issue that significantly affects their life because of its direct impact on finances. Having a full-time job would not only increase the student's funds, but it will also provide a good foundation for future financial security by helping them avoid student loan. However, there is a price to pay especially in regards to time. Having a full-time job would consume at least 60 hrs a week which is approximately the same amount of time that college requires. Having such a schedule would be difficult for one to maintain, but it is still manageable. According to Rebecca, the issue of having a fulltime job in college can be complicated by other variables such as dependents. Some people think that it is impossible to juggle between a full-time job and being a full-time student; an opinion that I happen to oppose. The article by Rebecca shows that it is possible for a student to manage the two. Rebecca argues using the real-life experiences of previous students who have had to juggle between full-time employment and full-time student. The author uses a report by Georgetown University to demonstrate that a "significant number of working students with dependents live below the poverty line" (Carnevale, Smith, Melton, & Price 42). The article recommends for students to learn from those who have been through the struggle of juggling between their studies and fulltime employment. Therefore, it is possible to have a fulltime job while attending college because fewer family obligations, age advantage, flexible school schedule, plenty of motivations to do so and availability of jobs that pay per work done instead of per time spent.

Family obligations. Most of the students interviewed in the school's canteen had no family obligations or dependents. That makes it easier for a student to undertake other commitments such as full-time jobs. The after class hours in the evening could be diverted to work. Additionally, the student can take a nightshift job because he or she has no family to attend to. In an interview with Janet Brisk, a parent-student explains the struggles of juggling between studies and parenting. Brisk says, "I'm usually up by five, and my child is usually up by 6:30," (Brisk). However, time is not the only resource that gets compromised by dependents. Money is one of the primary resources that gets strained when the student has family obligations or dependent. The student has to choose between spending on his or her education or family obligations. In most cases, family obligations are urgent and end up taking precedence over education. The student-parent is most likely to drop out or defer if he or she has family obligations. However, for most students, they don't have to undergo the difficulty of managing between studies and family obligations hence making it possible for them to have a fulltime job while undertaking their studies.

Another factor that enables the student community to have full-time jobs is that they have the time advantage. Time advantage, in this case, refers to their youth. Data from the United States Census Bureau indicates that the majority of college enrollments are between the ages of 20 to 24 years old ("Table 5"). The second dominant group belongs to those between the ages of 15 to 19 years. The least number of students is those above the age of 35 years. As a result, it is evident that most of the members of the student community are young and energetic; hence can handle the struggle that comes with juggling a full-time job and studies. At such an age, most of the members have good health that could enable them to withstand the strain that comes with such an endeavor. Beyond a certain age, it becomes increasingly difficult for a person to multitask or handle two equally demanding activities. Seeing that those above the age of 35 contribute the least number of enrollments, it is evident that it is possible to have a full-time job while attending college for most students.

Another aspect of college that makes it possible for its attendees to have a full-time job is its flexible schedule. Most of the courses offered on campuses allow students to select the classes that they would like to attend (personal observations). That flexibility in courses selection gives the student some wiggle room hence allowing the student to schedule their classes at a specific time. There are still some discrepancies because the students don't have control over the time of the lessons that he or she selects. On most occasions, the student has to fit the times of the classes. However, this method combined with other factors can allow the student to have a full-time job. For example, the student can try to avoid the classes that start very early in the morning in a bid to get him or herself some early hours of morning time at work. Or they can opt to avoid the classes that extend very late into the afternoon because they will be trying to get to work during the evening hours and continue late into the nighttime. The flexibility of lessons is not perfect because of the lack of control on the time that the lessons are taught. But it does show one way for a student to have full-time employment while attending college.

One thing to note is that college students have plenty of motivations to have fulltime employment. As stated in the introductory paragraphs, finances are among the primary concerns of those attending college. One way to ease the financial struggles is by looking for full-time employment. Unlike, short term employment, full-time employees get a chance to earn more from their work. They are also eligible so some other employment perks such as housing allowance, transport allowance, and healthcare coverage. All these are items that the students could capitalize on to help them reduce their financial expenditure. If the reduced financial burden is not enough motivating factor, the student should also consider the impact of such an experience on his or her future carrier prospects. Full-time work would provide a boost to the students' curriculum vitae hence increasing their employability. There is also the work experience. Regardless of whether the full-time job is related to the students' career, there are certain aspects of the job that would be applicable in other fields as well. Things such as workplace relation and time management are essential in the job sector regardless of the field of study. Lastly, there are life skills that one learns while juggling between full-time employment and attending college. A college student with a full-time job would most likely learn how to work hard, accountability and even street smarts. These are essential life skills that will most definitely prepare the student for what is to come in the future. They are in a much better position to handle the challenges in life. From where I stand, people attending college have plenty of reasons to have a full-time job, just for the sheer advantages that it would bring to their life.

A large economy such of that of the United States runs for 24 hrs, and that provides students with plenty of opportunities to find night time jobs. A large portion of the workforce is employed during the day. A much smaller number works at night. Most people are less attracted to the night shift because of the changes in lifestyle that such an endeavor would bring to their life. According to my survey, most members of the student community would prefer working during the say as compared to during the night (Student's Last Name). That goes to show that the problem does not lie in the lack of full-time jobs, but rather the lack of willing parties. Night shift provides an excellent opportunity for students to work on full time because the work schedule is less likely to conflict with the school schedule. Regardless, of the effort required to pull off such a feat, it is possible. Fast food chains and 24 hour retail store all have entry-level openings for students looking to gain entry into the labor market. There is also less traffic during the night which means the student is less likely to be inconvenienced by traffic jams and human traffic. For some service companies, there are fewer customers at night than during the day, and that means the student will have less work which allows him or her to conserve her energy. But the most exciting part of nightshift work is that some companies would pay a higher salary for nightshift as compared to working during the day. So not only does the student have the opportunity to earn while attending college, he or she gets to make a higher amount than his or her peers who are in the same line of employment. Therefore, one can argue that it is possible to attend college while working a full-time job based on the number of available job opportunities available for working at night.

Furthermore, some jobs offer pay per work done rather than pay per time spent. Some types of work such as sales allow one to earn based on the number of goods that he or she sells. That might seem like a lousy opportunity, but it is, in fact, a perfect opportunity for those people who are good at sales. A good salesperson has high productivity. That means that they can produce a high amount of work within little time. With such a job, the student will not need to control the school's timetable because he or she has control of his or her work's schedule.

Alternatively, the invention of cloud-based computing is changed the work environment for them by eliminating the need for physical space (Miller 31). Organizations that have embraced cloud computing have enabled their employees to work away from the office environment without compromising the quality of work. A student can make use of online computing to juggle between fulltime employment and college attendance. The technology can come in handy especially for computer students who are likely to be spending most of their time around computers.

Counter Arguments

One of the main counter-arguments against full-time employment while attending college is the psychological toll that such a schedule is likely to have on the student. Opposers of the motion might argue that can be no way to handle such a program without compromising the quality of studies or the quality of work produced in the job. However, as evidenced by the report by Rebecca, there are those people who have managed to live such a life and didn't have to compromise the quality of work at either end (Rebecca). The schedule is likely to be hard at first, but as one gets used to it, they gain more experience and become efficient at either end. A person only needs 6 hrs of sleep a day to ensure optimum activity. Avoiding early lessons or late lessons would enable the student to get some few additional hours of sleep in the early morning or an early start of sleep in the afternoon.

Also, another counter-argument is that a...