What is your opinion on the increasing difficulty for teens to get summer jobs

Date published: 7/8/2008

BY BEN GREGSON

"We [teens] should be a major work force."

"Most teens are too inexperienced, anyway."

"I think it's extremely difficult to find a job as a teen. Personally, as a person being a prime example of this, I can't find a job. There are many theories or ideas as to why this may not be: hard times with money and economic issues that go on here in the United States, or just the plain fact that teens are seen as incompetent and ineffective in the business and job world. It's ironic, though, with that situation, because many adults that are a part of the hiring process were once teens and started out at their first job as one."

"I think that some people just judge teens, and they base everyone on things and stuff that do not matter."

"Well, I think it's not that it's hard to get the job--I think it's hard to maintain it. Not a lot of teenagers drive, so it's hard to get to work. In the area of Fredericksburg, there's just no money--that's why a lot of parents go and work elsewhere in D.C. or Richmond, so I don't believe in this area a [job] just working at McDonald's or FunLand would be difficult to attain."

"Well, my opinion is that it's harder for teens to get summer jobs because: a) the economy, and b) many other people like illegal immigrants are coming in and taking the summer jobs that used to be open for teens."

Ben Gregson is a rising sophomore at James Monroe High School.

Date published: 7/8/2008