I had 3 kids go through our public schools here. They all went onto college and are very successful because they didn't start out at $20 per hour for some half arsed loser boss. That's no way to start.
I disagree with that. I am not saying that your kids didn't have a good experience, and more power to them. I would hazard a guess that they either were active in some way, or possibly had an internship, or something.
I don't know if they simply had the genes, or if you actually taught them well as a parent. Larry Elder, had his father drilling into his head "hard work wins in the end". Which is why he was successful. Other people like Thomas Sowell, just genetically were naturally motivated people.
And maybe it was a combination of both.
However, research consistently shows that people who work their way through school, do better than those who don't.
A new study from a Rutgers research center also finds that students who work while in college earn higher salaries afterwards.
hechingerreport.org
For example, a student who earned between $5,000 and $15,000 (roughly equivalent to a standard 20-hour a week part-time job) during the first year of a two-year associate degree program subsequently earned $4,200 more a year, on average, than a student who didn’t work. For students who earned more than $25,000 during their first year, the annual earnings bump was more than $18,000, compared with a classmate who didn’t work.
I had to laugh when they said "a new study"... I remember reading about this back in the 90s, and they found the same conclusion. People who work during late high school and college, end up doing better.
The only exception is if you work so much, that you have to drop out. Obviously if you work Wendy's until you have to drop out of college, then that's a fail.
But this research is consistent over the past 30 years. Students who work, even McDonald's jobs, do better in the long run.
This matches my personal experience as well. Employers do not like people who have zero work experience. People with zero work experience, generally speaking... make lousy employees.
They don't show up on time. They don't understand that on-the-clock means working. They want to chit-chat and yack, like they were still in the college cafeteria. They get "tired" and think they should have a break time. They want to mess with their phones.
I can tell within usually about 15 minutes, whether a new hire is someone who has had a job before, or if this is their first job. People who have worked before, get their butt to the work, and start making stuff happen.
Again employers know this. Getting an employee that has zero work experience, is like finding a software program on the internet. You want the free demo. You don't want to spend a dime, until you know that program is going to do what you want.
A few of the employers I worked for, they wouldn't hire even an
engineer, unless he had worked *somewhere* before. I have actually had people talk to me, who had 4-year-degrees... and could not get hired, because they had never worked a job before in their lives. Never volunteered, never been part of a missions trip, never worked a McJob, nothing.
And they get offered like entry level mail room jobs, or assistant jobs, and they don't want those jobs because they have a degree. But then they simply don't get hired.
Now again, I am ecstatic that your kids did well. More power to them. I want everyone to win. That's wonderful.
But my advice to everyone is, get a job. Even a part time job. Do something productive while in school.
The only exceptions to that would be like... computer programmers. Because you can write programs, and document your code, and send that with your resume to a company, and they can review your code and verify your skills. So... that's being productive, without needing a job, and that can get you in the door.