Some peolpe think there are more advantages for colleges students to take part-time jobs than disadvantages, others don't think so. What's your view on this? And tell why.

A serious problem has arisen in recent several years that more and more college students abandon study because of their taking part-time jobs, so quite a few people are opposed to part-time jobs. However, taking part-time jobs has at least three benefits for college studens in my eyes.

First, students can promote their study through part-time jobs. For instance, If a law student finds a part-time job in a law firm, his practice will enable him to better understand what he's learned from books. What's more, the part-time job can offer him opportunities to go beyond what he's been taught in class, and he'll learn something that doesn't exist in books but in practice.

Second, students can also accumulate work experiences through part-time jobs, which will benefit their future job-hunting. Actually, part-time jobs act as warm-up exercises for students to take full-time jobs after they graduate, and help them prepare for their future careers. In addition, as fresh blood in the society, graduated students are often unfavored in job-hunting markets for lack of practical work experiences. It's easier to find jobs for those who have accumulated experiences in part-time jobs.

Last but not the least, part-time jobs can partly relieve students' financial burden, especially those who are from poor families. College tution fees have greatly increased in the past ten years due to the new educational policy. Many students from poor families cannot afford college fees, and our bank system fail to loan college students as effectively as it does in developed countries, so taking part-time jobs becomes a way for them to meet their great expenses in campus lives.

It's an undenied fact that students break the balance between their jobs and studies, especially when they fall into conflict with each other. But I think students should spend their spare time taking part-time jobs. Only following this principle can they benefit from their part-time jobs.

Written on June 18, 2005.