Part-Time Work: Against

by CLAUDIA LIST

It’s past midnight on a school night, and I’m still working on this article, trying to get it finished before the due date. As a student, and a journalism one at that, I’m used to tight deadlines. But lately they’ve got harder to keep.

There are many reasons students struggle to submit work on time, but a major reason is the need to balance study and work.

At university it’s better to focus on study, and not work.

Its’ hard enough trying to balance study with extra-curricular activities, commitments to family, some sort of social life and all those other things you need to find time for. Add work to the mix and something is bound to suffer as a result.

Most of us (let’s be honest) know that we should devote more time to university, and even a part-time job means 25 fewer hours a week that could be spent studying.

Anecdotal evidence suggests tertiary students who also work find it difficult to strike the right balance between work and uni commitments.

“You either fail uni or get fired from your job,” one student said.

Another student, who works part-time, said instead of trying to concentrate on work or study he concentrated on neither, and both suffered.

“I just do both really half-arsed,” he said.

John, an Adelaide University student believed balancing work and study is like a continuum. There is a certain amount of time that must be divided between the two. Therefore the more time put into study the less time you can spend working and vice versa.

“It’s like a scale…The more you put into one, the less attention the other one gets,” he said.

John also said his grades clearly reflected how much time he had spent working or studying.

Most uni students prefer good grades to bad grades, and a Distinction is much more welcome than a Credit. If work becomes a priority over study we may as well leave university.

Another excellent reason to forget about work while at university is the chance to enjoy the uni lifestyle.

After lectures your friends will be free to enjoy a coffee or beer, or sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. You’ll be rushing to work, or to the library to catch up on all the homework you’ve missed.

When other time in life do you get the chance to go to the beach on a Tuesday afternoon, or go partying on a Wednesday night?

One of the main arguments for working part-time while at uni is financial, but part of the uni lifestyle is having no money and managing to make it fun.

You’ve got your whole life ahead of you to spend in an office. Devoting more time to study now means you’ll get the most out of uni, and not just academically.