Volume 1 (1999/2000)
Issue 1 (March 1999)
Issue 2 (Nov. 1999)
Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
Issue 4 (Feb. 2000)
Issue 5 (March 2000)
Issue 6 (April 2000)
Issue 7 (May 2000)

Volume 2 (2000/2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2000)
Issue 2 (Oct. 2000)
Issue 3 (Jan. 2001)
Issue 4 (March 2001)
Issue 5 (April 2001)
Issue 6 (May 2001)

Volume 3 (2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2001)
Issue 2 (Nov. 2001)

Categories
Sport: 1 2 3
Lifestyles: 1 2 3
Commentary: 1 2 3
Review: 1 2 3
Writing: 1 2 3
Event: 1 2 3

Working Girl

Ellen Brickley
Institute of Education, Dublin

A part-time job is not just something that interferes with school - sometimes it's just as important. I was studying for my German Oral the other day, specifically the topic 'Work and School Don't Mix'. My notes were full of words like 'tired', 'poor grades', 'strain' (I'm keeping German out of this, partly out of respect to those of you learning French or Italian or Spanish, but mostly because I'm lousy at German). Being, as I am, lousy at German, I don't have the vocabulary to explain what I really think. Which, incidentally, the examiner doesn't care about. But I have to tell somebody.

In Fifth Year, I held down a job - one evening a week and Saturday - for a month (I know, not long. I have a commitment problem). This, combined with working over the summer, is teaching me a lot of things that I'll never learn if I spend that time studying (which I won't. I'll spend it watching TV and promising to get up at the next ad break). I learned, for instance, that I am hopeless with money, even when I must wipe endless tables in order to get more of it. I gave up my pride (one job involved a uniform - just don't ask) and emerged a better, if stupid-looking, human being. Also - if a cafe is closing, and you're tired, and it's ten minutes til seven o'clock, and someone comes to the door asking if you are open - don't say 'no'. Pretend you can't speak English and no one gets offended.

School is a highly sheltered environment. I'll admit that no type of institution is better at teaching you facts, but we ecounter a strange kind of human contact at school, unlike anything else we'll ever meet. For instance, you will never work for a boss to whom you have to defer as you do to a teacher. The simple fact is that it is assumed you are fairly proficent at wiping tables or stacking shelves, and a strange kind of respect goes with that. People will ask you to please attend to Aisle Seven when you have a minute. They will not demand that you write out exercises they have decided you need to practice. Although a boss will teach you things and correct your mistakes, you don't have to just take their authority as given. Also, you won't go into the workplace in a few years blind to ideas about team work and cooperating with colleagues. By the way, I'm not working right now, and all of this is great in theory if you've forgotten how much your feet hurt after a shift.

Oh, and it does interfere with your schoolwork. But, here are two arguments to shut those people up. Firstly, most of what you study for school is unusable after your Leaving Cert, whereas, should you need a few extra quid at college, or decide to take a gap year, or need a job at any other time in your life, you can reutilise your table-waiting/ checkout/ shelf-stacking skills. Secondly, you know yourself how much time you need to study, and young people are intelligent and sensible enough to consider this before taking a job. We do not just want to make money and meet fellas.

And if you believe that...

P.S. If somebody could translate this into German and send it to me in time for the orals, I'd be very grateful.

Back to the top