Developmental Education And Academic Programs: Effects Of Student Employment

Discuss about the Developmental Education and Academic Programs.

According to Robotham (2012), a noticeable rise has been noticed among the students about their employment activities in a country. Being employed in an early stage, when the individual is a student himself, is an impact of various factors that affect the lifestyle of the referred individual. The students readily agree to the jobs that are offered to them due to the presence of various financial issues in their life. Though, by being employed, the students are able to overcome their financial needs, yet, there is a deep impact on the academic performance of the individual (Darolia 2014). In most cases, being employed at an early age would throw a negative impact on the academic performance of the individual, which leads to poor performance of the students.

In this essay, the effects of employment on the academic life of the student have been analysed, which would help in portraying the effects that are experienced by the students with regard to their academic performance. The effects could be both positive and negative if the opportunities are employed in an efficient manner. The analysis of such an issue would help in attaining a guideline to be learnt from the various effects of student’s employment.

The cost of higher education in a country is increasing at a rapid rate. To incur the educational costs by the students, it is quite vital from them accept a job being offered to them. The employment helps the students in overcoming the expense of higher education, financial necessities and provides support to their lifestyle (DiPaola and Tschannen-Moran 2014). The employment opportunity also provides the individual with work experience that plays a major role in attaining jobs once they complete their academics. Students accept various categories of jobs, such as, jobs that demand 20 hours per work, part time jobs or full time jobs. In order to accomplish their working hours and to provide the dedication to the work that they have applied for, the students do not get the necessary time to devote in their academics. After their work hours, there is quite less time to be devoted on their academics due to exhaustion and lack of time. Hence, it could be stated that there exists a negative impact of employment on the academic performance of an individual. This negative effect is visible on the GPA scores attained by the individuals. A fall in the grade scores of GPA of the individuals has created a matter of awareness among the professionals, mentors and universities of the country (Bettinger, Boatman and Long 2013). As most of the students have accepted various job opportunities, they have lost their dedication towards academics. this has created an alarming situation for the universities of the country.

Conclusion

There has been a considerable rise in the competitive level of achieving a dream job by the individual. The degree that is attained by the student after completion of the academic program is considered as an important asset of the individual. It helps in analysing the knowledge skills of the person before offering the job to the individual (Applegate and Daly 2006). Yet, with the increase in the literacy rate of a country and the inabilities of creating ample job opportunities for the people, the companies often aim at selecting the most efficient applicants. This raises the competition among the applicants of that particular post. It is quite important to add a differentiated value to the skills and experience of the students, thereby raising the market value of their talents (Scott-Clayton and Lazarte 2015). In order to achieve theoretical experience and skills to be attained before applying for a major job, most of the students are of the opinion to get employed during their academics. This helps them in attaining both theoretical and practical knowledge regarding their coursework. An experience regarding the major subject, experience regarding the workplace and practical knowledge of the particular work, would help the students in making an appropriate choice while selecting better jobs in future. The work experience helps the students in attaining soft skills; enhance the possibility of leading to better jobs and enhancing their applicability. These advantages of work experience during their academics are only possible if the students choose the job that is related to his own subject field. In order to maintain the financial necessities and the lifestyle, many students select jobs that do not belong to his or her genre. These jobs would be helpful in meeting the financial issues, yet, it would not be of any value in future. The experience in a non related field would not be feasible in fetching better jobs for the students in future (Grimpe and Hussinger 2013). Moreover, it would harm the academic performance of the students as there would be no benefits attained in terms of knowledge to be gained. Hence, it is quite important for the student to choose a job that should be related to the field of his studies. It would not only provide the student with income, but also various opportunities of valuable work experience, soft skills and knowledge in the related field subject.

One of the most beneficial ways for the students to be employed is by maintaining a strong balance between the work life and academic life. An individual must divide its hours to be dedicated at work and for academics. This would help the student in being able to attain the best of both the worlds. There should be good choice of the part time jobs undertaken by the individual (Macmillan, Tyler and Vignoles 2015). Applying for the jobs related to the major subject of the individual would help them in gaining knowledge and skills even while working. This would impart practical knowledge to them. By enhancing both practical and theoretical knowledge, the student would be able to achieve better grades in its academic performance. This would even help the student in devoting hours onwards its academics. By accepting jobs different from the genre just to overcome the financial issues, neither would help them in enhancing their skills related to their subject, nor would they help them in gaining better grades (Xu and Jaggars 2013). The work would rather make the students more exhausted and leave no time to be devoted to their academics. Hence, this shows that maintaining work life and academic life balance is considered as one of the vital aspects for the students that are possible only when the choice of the job is correctly done.

Reference

Conclusion

Rise in the cost of living along with increase in cost of higher education instigates the needs of the students to attain employment along with their academics. The jobs that are undertaken by the students could be of various types and of different categories. By being employed to a particular job, the student would devote less number of hours to his studies. This creates a negative impact on the academic performance of the individual. In order to overcome such hindrances, the student must maintain a strong balance between the work life and academic life. This balance is achievable when the student chooses a job, which belongs to their genre or field. It provides the scope for the student to enhance their soft skills, gain practical knowledge regarding their subject and raise their applicability in future. The work experience that is gained by employed under the related field subject would provide a competitive advantage for the student while applying for jobs in future. The most important and beneficial effect of choosing such job would be that the students would not face a drawback in their academic performances. They would perform well as their non-working peers.

Reference

Applegate, C. and Daly, A., 2006. The impact of paid work on the academic performance of students: A case study from the University of Canberra. Australian Journal of Education, 50(2), pp.155-166.

Bettinger, E.P., Boatman, A. and Long, B.T., 2013. Student supports: Developmental education and other academic programs. The Future of Children, 23(1), pp.93-115.

Darolia, R., 2014. Working (and studying) day and night: Heterogeneous effects of working on the academic performance of full-time and part-time students. Economics of Education Review, 38, pp.38-50.

DiPaola, M. and Tschannen-Moran, M., 2014. Organizational citizenship behavior in schools and its relationship to school climate. Journal of School Leadership, 11(5), p.424.

Grimpe, C. and Hussinger, K., 2013. Formal and informal knowledge and technology transfer from academia to industry: Complementarity effects and innovation performance. Industry and innovation, 20(8), pp.683-700.

Macmillan, L., Tyler, C. and Vignoles, A., 2015. Who gets the top jobs? The role of family background and networks in recent graduates’ access to high-status professions. Journal of Social Policy, 44(03), pp.487-515.

Robotham, D., 2012. Student part-time employment: characteristics and consequences. Education+ Training, 54(1), pp.65-75.

Scott-Clayton, J.E. and Lazarte, V.M.M., 2015. The Federal Work-Study Program: Impacts on Academic Outcomes and Employment.

Xu, D. and Jaggars, S.S., 2013. Adaptability to Online Learning: Differences across Types of Students and Academic Subject Areas. CCRC Working Paper No. 54. Community College Research Center, Columbia University.