I always said it was important for my kids to work minimum wage jobs during high school so they would understand why they wanted to go to college. In order to never have to do that again. The experience and to find out what it is like to punch a time clock is priceless.
I didn’t quite get that lesson in high school. I was on a football scholarship and my GPA first year of college was 1.7. My next summer job was reaming out engine heads in a dirty, nasty plant with no AC. Lost 20 lbs that summer and I was already in shape. I would come home covered completely in black dust and go to bed. Hardest job I ever had.
GPA next year - 3.2 and on the dean’s honor roll. Worked that job 2 more summers, graduated with a 3.0 in engineering. My wife’s GPA also jumped up dramatically the year after we got married and she was making and delivering sub sandwiches. She got to experience both sides of it. Being the grunt labor and seeing the cheapskate business people who rarely left a tip. Our two son’s are in college now and we have made sure they got to work some “fun” jobs. I know they get tired of hearing the “builds character” speech.