A serious question about Lebanese youth and work...

[Patriotic]

ok but in talking in general ya3ne.
Of course we have guys that works as security, ...
kel chi bas el mouhem n3ich

[WiseCookie]

people please don't start theorizing about what us high school students should do. First of all we don't have time because of the strict lebanese bac. cirruculim that has an outdated history book and program which makes u forced to memorize 200 pages of useless details and not to mention the countless hours u r suppose to spend studying and reading because of geography, sociology and philosophy. We just don't have enough time because unlike in the american program we're forced to study 13 subjects where only a quarter of them will be useful to use in the future.

[Sayyan Benghazi]

wiseCookie you have point here but the guys weren't theorizing but were discussing an interesting subject.

[liberte_toujours]

Amirkani,

There is NO WAY that my parents would've allowed me to work while I wasn't 18 yet. Now, while I'm still at university, I don't think they'd have a problem for me to work, but why should I?

Honey we live the DOLCE VITA over here in Lebanon, we don't need to work! Get a bit deeper into the question... let's say 50 000 ll. per week from the folks, 10 000 from teta, 15 000 from 3amto, 10 000 from khalo... ;)

Talking about numbers, I think 10% of the university students work. 2/20 in my class work. The 2 are girls, one works in a hostess thing, the other USED to work in Virgin... babysitting, virgin, are ok, waitress, a bit less but still accepted, but gas stations, supermarkets? no way...

The students are open minded about the thought, in a certain optique if u wanna. It's the parents that are a bit "méfiants" about it...


PS: I'm talking about USJ students.

[Rubisco]

I think there is alsot an issue of prestige in lebanese society.
I'll tell you about my own experience: when I was was in lebanon i used to work during the summers, not because I needed money bad but more because I didn't want to stay at home eveyday and sleep till noon. I worked in several places, in a computer store, home appliances store and finally as a "mandoub" in downtown (you know those guys who try to sell you real estate in the mountains or that ask you to take part in a contest). The pay wasen't that good, but at least it kept me occupied and allowed me to gain experience interacting with people in a business environment.
I was the only guy among my group of friends and acquaintances who was working, and so I felt that they didn't approve of me working in those types of jobs, and I heard many times that we students shouldn't worry about work, we should just have fun now and leave work for after we graduate from university.
Basically, I felt they were talking to me in a patronizing tone and considered what I was doing to be bad for my reputation.

If any one of you guys has had any similar experiences, I would like to hear your point of vue about it so that we can try to figure out why some people think that way.

[Amirkani]

What I can gather from the posts so far is that students, in general, wouldn't mind working if the parents allow them. However, they do face some barriers or difficulties or whatever you want to call them.

I will list them here in the order of most prevalent to the least prevalent (the way I understood it from the posts, but I could be wrong):

1) Damage to "prestige" (I am going to give a very loose definition of prestige here. I will define it the way I think the Lebanese society sees it in general (not that it's the correct definition): "Prestige is how other people PERCEIVE our family's financial well-being and/or extent of influence".

2) Lack of incentives for students to work as long as they are (over-)sheltered by family members (I like the Teta, Amtou and Khalou example).

3) The difficulty of the Lebanese high school curriculum.

4) Lack of jobs with reasonable pay that a student can do.

This is the list for now. We could always add to it as the discussion progresses. I hope our students keep telling us how they feel about any of these points.

[Superman]

supermarkets? no way...

Why in the supermarketr is no way, for marketing students, being a "placier" in a supermarket is really great for a start liberte.

amirkani, i think parents would allow their children work in lebanon cuz maybe they're not able to give them an income. Enno the children work and get their own income.

Between liberte, USJ students don't need to work , if u know what i mean

[Amirkani]

tazzzi,

I don't think Liberte disagrees with you or is saying that USJ students shouldn't work. I think she was just being sarcastic to stress the point that some parents "spoil" the students. In other terms, she was saying that the parents are usually the "barrier" not the students.

Basically, I think the two of you agree on the issue.

[liberte_toujours]

Amirkani,

thx for getting the sarcastic tone I was talking in.

Tazzzi, u didn't get my point!

SHE (liberte) was trying to show that the parents don't usually allow their kids to work, even if they r in need. What I'm saying is based on many experiences of me and my friends.

It accepted for one to work when we r in university, but the question is : what about the parents? do they accept it as easily as the youth do?

And in high school it's worse, as someone said before, there's no time to work!!!

[Amirkani]

Sorry Liberte, it has been noted and corrected.

Why do you guys think that parents resist letting their kids work? Does it have to do primarily with points 1 & 2 in the list?