The average American teenager attends school Monday through Friday for seven hours a day from August to May, with a few breaks for holidays. They also participate in extracurricular sports and clubs and have hours of homework to do outside of the school day. Over summer break, 2 months of freedom, the last thing they are looking forward to is more back-breaking work. Instead, being an active part of the community in fun, active ways is the best option for the modern teenager’s summer plan. My feelings on the issue of teenagers working during summertime are mixed. I do support Ben Sasse, the author of the opinion piece “What to Do with the Kids this Summer”. Put ‘Em to Work”, when he takes the position that teens should explore books and lend …show more content…
I agree with his opinion that this helpfulness is beneficial to the development of a teenager. Volunteering at a retirement home or doing chores for an older neighbor. Sasse claims that “older kids will benefit from the help,” teaching kids responsibility and how good it feels to help others (paragraph 16). Not only will the elderly reap the rewards of this relationship, but the teenagers “...will gain from the perspective of people who’ve been on the planet longer than they have,” as the kids learn valuable lessons (paragraph 16). There’s never a downside to being a good citizen. Taking care of those in need will help teenagers understand other people, and is a great way to spend the summer that won’t exhaust their free time. These lessons aren’t taught in an English or algebra class, they’re learned through experiences in the real world. If you can’t help the actual people, doing a chore is just as meaningful. After all, “..lawns [can] be mowed and lemonade stands can break even,” to teach the lesson of work and its responsibilities (paragraph 15). These tasks can be fun and still achieve the goal of character development within the growing minds of teenagers. Some of Sasse’s points overlap with my opinions, however some don’t. For example, Sasse’s news on physical labor for