Although still much lower than in foreign countries,the percentage of university students taking part-timejobs in China is on the increase. Some peoplecriticize these students on the ground that part-time jobs distract students' attention and exposestudents too early to the issue of money. However, Ifirmly believe that working during universityeducation can be very beneficial to students.
First of all, taking part-time jobs can help reducethe financial burden of the students' families. Generally speaking, the income of most parents isnot very high. As many universities are increasing their tuition, the education of their childrenis becoming an increasingly heavy burden for many parents. Some parents in the cities find ithard to pay this cost, not to mention those parents in the countryside. But if students can takesome part-time jobs, their income can cover part of the expenditure, thus lowering the burdenof their parents. One of my classmates pay for daily expenses completely from his own earings,and both his parents and he are very proud of it.
Furthermore, taking part-time jobs can teach students much about hardship. Chinese students aremostly the only child at home, and their requests are usually met at any cost. This advantageactually deprives these children of the oppotunity to experience hardship, which can teach thema lot about the society. By taking some part-time jobs, students can not only learn that it ishard to earn even a little money, but also learn to cultivate a correct viewpoint about life.
Most importantly, doing part-time jobs can sharpen students' awareness of the society. Ifstudents spend all their time on study, they will not have sufficient understanding of thesociety, and this insufficient knowledge may be dangerous when these students leave universityfor the society. But through part-time work, students will not only get a good understanding ofthe society and prepare themselves psychologically for the future career and life, but gainmuch experience in dealing with realities and people of different kinds.
It is true that taking part-time jobs will take away some time that can be spent on study andthat it is not good for students to focus their mind on money. But it is equally true that takingpart-time jobs can bring students the benefits of less financial burden, more experience ofhardship as well as more awareness of the society. They definitely surpass the harms of thework. What we should do is to teach students to arrange their time well and not to focus toomuch on money, and then encourage them to take part-time jobs.