Before praising the fact that having a job as a high school student may reflect a certain responsibility, one should consider the fact that the adolescent mind works differently than its version adult. There are still areas of growth. Deborah Yurgelun-Todd, director of neuropsychology and cognitive neuroimaging at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, says, “I think the frontal lobe, that part of the executive region that we've studied, doesn't always function fully in adolescents; or at least our data suggests that perhaps this is not the case.” (“One reason teens respond differently to the world: Immature brain circuits.”) Their logic and reasoning differ greatly from that of their adult counterparts. Responsible adults understand that sacrifices must be made when faced with equally important tasks. For example, many adults who work full-time jobs and attend school, either full-time or part-time, often sacrifice a rich social life. This is because they understand that there are so many hours in a day and that sleep and other human activities must be included in those hours. On the other hand, much of what it means to be a teenager lies in your social life. They prefer to take a lot of pills and powders to stay awake, Red Bull or even sleep in class or at work in an attempt to make more time for their social life. They don't mind losing sleep if it means they will increase in social status. However, sleep loss can be extremely harmful to them. Since Etzioni states that one-third of fast food employees work more than 30 hours per week (251), when are these students?
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