Mcdonalds is not our kind of place

In the article, "McDonalds Is Not Our Kind Place" the author, Amitai Etzioni argues that jobs like fast food establishments, bowling alleys, etc. are not good places for teens to learn good working skills. Etzioni talks about how different it was in the past when teens used to have lemonade stands and paper routes, which the money was often used to help the family. Etzioni argues that the jobs teens have these day don't provide an opportunity for "self discipline, and self scheduling , like the old-fashioned paper route." He states that these jobs do not give todays teens the opportunity to take initiative nor use their creativity.  These jobs are said to provide a low probability for career incentives and provides no marketable skills. Due to the long hours of these "teenage jobs," kids tend to ignore their school work; thereby, reflects on the grades of these working teens. Etzioni says that even though some needy teens due use their money to support themselves, others put away their money for college tuitions, cars, or for a major purchase. He also states that many teens spend their money on "elements of American consumerism" like trendy clothes, trinkets, and other things that are big at the time for teens. The fact that these teens get money to buy the things they want, it is not suprising that they would rather work than go to school or do their homework.


Response:

I believe Etzioni does bring up some good points, but also seems like he lacks of experience and knowledge of an American teenager. These days there are many teens that do work at these places and do provide some income to their family, especially if they are in poor conditions. It is true that most of these jobs lead to almost no career but I believe everyone has to start somewhere. There are obviously more places out there than McDonalds that can let a teen learn self discipline and use their creativity, which can help in the future. I think Etzioni focuses on a lot of the negatives of having one of the teen jobs when I believe that having a job at all does a lot of good for teenagers, from keeping them out of trouble to being able to learn the responsibilities of having a job to spending and spending money responsibly.