why fast food restaurants are bad
Nowadays when teens are job hunting, one of the first places they go to are fast food establishments. Some may say this is an excellent way for teens to start off as they prepare for their lives in the real world, however not all agree. Amitai Etzioni the author of the article “Why Fast-Food Joints Don’t Serve up Good Jobs for Kids” argues that these corporations offer very little, if any, positive feedback or any useable knowledge and are basically just plain bad for these adolescent teens.
As these kids punch in and out day after day, the knowledge they could have gained is loss in repetitive tasks which most would render useless. In the words of Etzioni “There is no room for initiative creativity, or even elementary rearrangements” (280). Fast food enterprises control all marketing and regulations for serving sizes and prices, all that’s left to do is to take peoples orders and serve, no skill or critical thinking needed. Some of the employees may say that they learned a number of skills, including how to manage the till box and push a couple buttons on the appliances in the kitchen. According to the author “Little attention is paid to how long it takes to acquire such a skill, or what its significance is” (280). In other words the “skills” learned in these low-proficiency jobs are acquired in a matter of minutes and are usually counterproductive trades which most will find useless when and if they choose to pursue a career. With no skills or usable knowledge these young adults are no better than the machines they operate.
Having a job and being a student at the same time isn’t always the easiest of things to manage. “58% of the seniors” quoted Etzioni “acknowledged that their jobs interfere with their schoolwork” (281). A lot of these fast-food restaurants often have their employees work extensive hours which usually go on until late evening or even midnight. There are some instances where some students even dropout and continue working in the same subpar
As these kids punch in and out day after day, the knowledge they could have gained is loss in repetitive tasks which most would render useless. In the words of Etzioni “There is no room for initiative creativity, or even elementary rearrangements” (280). Fast food enterprises control all marketing and regulations for serving sizes and prices, all that’s left to do is to take peoples orders and serve, no skill or critical thinking needed. Some of the employees may say that they learned a number of skills, including how to manage the till box and push a couple buttons on the appliances in the kitchen. According to the author “Little attention is paid to how long it takes to acquire such a skill, or what its significance is” (280). In other words the “skills” learned in these low-proficiency jobs are acquired in a matter of minutes and are usually counterproductive trades which most will find useless when and if they choose to pursue a career. With no skills or usable knowledge these young adults are no better than the machines they operate.
Having a job and being a student at the same time isn’t always the easiest of things to manage. “58% of the seniors” quoted Etzioni “acknowledged that their jobs interfere with their schoolwork” (281). A lot of these fast-food restaurants often have their employees work extensive hours which usually go on until late evening or even midnight. There are some instances where some students even dropout and continue working in the same subpar