One of the earliest tasks that one completes as they enter into the life of young adulthood is the tedious obligation of filling out forms. Whether they are school/work related, for an online service, or even a BuzzFeed quiz to find out which fall vegetable you are, it becomes a daily task to enter your information into various databases in order to receive certain services or data in return.
Over the past few months, this activity has become almost an hourly occurrence, as I found myself filling out numerous job applications in hopes of summer employment. While not all applications are made equal, I did notice one recurring theme. Under a tab that asks your current employment, one option always caught my eye.
“Full-time student” almost always sat at the second to last spot above the “other” option in the list of employment descriptions. While this slot at the bottom is slightly mimicking to one’s academic career, it is also both a refreshing and flattering accolade for a (then) first-year college student to hear. With each and every employment description that encompassed the line “full-Time student,” I found myself slowly edging up to the question that eventually became acceptable to ask: “Am I unknowingly employed?”
Obviously, school doesn’t pay me, the hours are less than regular, and on a resume, my major and years completed go under “education” rather than “experience.” With some influence from these employers’ very own applications, I made some personal realizations of my own. There is a reason that forms on these websites acknowledge one's academic career as a full-time job.
Given my current status' recognition on the highly acclaimed pull down bar of an application, I got to thinking. If college is a full-time job, why is there constant pressure to take up a part-time position? Between grueling classes, extracurriculars, homework, and a social life, college students are strung out enough as it is.
Obviously, the need for a job would come from the desire to earn money at this time, but this normalized dichotomy of giving a school all of your time and money only to be expected to fend for yourself financially is one small depiction of a larger problem.
College is expensive. There's no doubt about it. Combined with pressure to perform, personal issues with such a bustling environment, down time, and all of the other scarily true cliches that any college student will gladly rant about, what is an undergrad to do?
The hypocrisy is real. If these institutions value our currently underway bachelor's degree, yet look for extracurriculars and part-time jobs to occupy the rest of our time and make us "stand out," then take a second to ask yourself, "Why is our status as a full-time student listed as a job?"
