Since this past week was “Student Employee Appreciation Week,” it behooves us to devote some time and thought to discussing the merits of working while in school, the work-study program and also the value of workplace experience coupled with education.
Although this week may be little known and scantily-publicized, it is important to recognize the contribution of students who work to the functioning of the university.
DU could not function with hundreds, if not thousands of students put to work staffing phones, desks and assisting in offices like financial aid.
Their contributions are valuable and enrich the entire university community by providing jobs and keeping money “local.” Student employees on campus also enrich campus through their unique perspective.
As down-to-earth staffers in various DU departments, they assist students more personally than an employed adult might. Students in the DU community can easily relate to a student employee helping them with a problem rather than an adult professional doing the same. While it might be difficult to maintain a balance of working, social life and school, this balancing act of prioritizing will be fundamental in our future lives as career folks and family people. We will have to, in the not-too-distant future, balance a family, social life and employment.
In addition, work gives one the sense of personal accounting one needs to succeed: earning and having control of your own money is an exceptional learning tool to develop responsibility and accountability to oneself, a skill that many people our age lack.
Working in college, specifically in work-study positions, provides students a sense of satisfaction based on the knowledge that they are directly working to finance the cost of their education.
When we have a personal investment in something, it makes the experience or purchase inherently more special. Imagine one’s first car: If one’s parents simply bought it for a young driver, he or she has little or no incentive to invest in upkeep and repairs, yet if one bought a car oneself or had only some help financing from a parent, that investment is going to be precious, something that is kept in tip-top shape because it is the product of so much work and toil. Imagine, from an employer’s perspective, two candidates.
One was handed a university education from a wealthy family, and the other came from more modest means but worked hard to earn their way through the education.
I am not suggesting, however, by any means, that people from wealthy backgrounds are lazy, as some hard working students do not qualify for work study.
I am simply commending those who do and take advantage of it, as each student employee is working hard to finance an education that, without hard work, may otherwise be unavailable. Working provides some of the most sublime traits of mankind: humility, compassion and dependability.
These cannot simply be taught through the formal education system, and are rather learned through toil.
Experience, possibly learned through work study, is one of the best teachers in the “real world.” Are we not but a product of the sum of our experiences in life?
