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Look, I'm not defending their work ethic----this is the result of post-industrial society's epmphasis on completing high school and college before getting a "meaningful" job (or "career"). Suburban teens know that the jobs they take during high school are largely for spending money. They will still have a roof over their heads, food on the table, and clothes on their backs if they don't work. We have moved the transition from childhood to productive member of society back about 10 years from where it was during the industrial revolution. Kids are expected to go to the national day-care for teens called high school, because in a skilled, post-industrial workforce, there is less demand for unskilled work, and more of a stigma attached to it, requiring more training and schooling to get the skilled jobs. Unskilled teens aren't much good in such a specialized workforce, but we don't want them running around wild either. Therefore we stick them in high school until they're legal adults and can begin their *real* preparation for the work they will live off of the rest of their lives.

If you really want your teens to develop good work ethics, pull them out of school at age 14 and let them become apprentices to blacksmiths or carpenters like kids used to 150 years ago. I doubt this will happen, however.

Not a lot of openings for blacksmiths in a lot of places these days. My kids grew up mowing grass, painting, washing dishes, and helping dad change the oil rotate tires or replace a transmission in the driveway. My daughter changed her first light switch at 10 because she knew where the spares were and I was at work so she tripped the circuit breaker and replaced it. Having some security is a good thing.