The rate of summer jobs for teenagers has significantly decreased from the previous generation. There is a lot of disagreement about whether this decline is due to an overall lack of opportunity in the workforce, or laziness on behalf of the current generation. Listen to this story to hear from two struggling teenagers, a skeptical mother, and an economist as they discuss the many factors that go into the severe decline in summer jobs for high school students.
Story Length: 2:59
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March 23, 2017
7:37
A communal listening experience can decrease social anxiety and boost empathy. An artist is collaborating with high school teens to create a “Sound Lab” at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The Sound Lab gives community members the opportunity to listen to recordings that the high school teens made of their families, nature, and their own original monologues. The teens found that listening to their recordings with community members in the Gardner’s concert hall had a stronger emotional impact than listening alone. Engaging with the Sound Lab may help people to pay more attention to the sounds that surround them everyday. Listen to learn more about this sound project and its impact on teens and the community.
Read MoreMay 19, 2016
5:18
Teenagers from low-income, immigrant families must overcome challenges in order to graduate from high school. For many new immigrants, work and family can become difficult to balance. These students often work to help support their families, which can take priority over schoolwork. One high school senior has been able to find success despite some difficult circumstances. She helps her family earn money, plays the viola, and is on track to graduate high school. Listen to her story about defying the odds.
Read MoreMay 21, 2014
4:00
Young workers who aren’t old enough to buy a pack of cigarettes are allowed to harvest tobacco in the United States. Human Rights Watch says while it’s legal to have kids as young as 12 pick tobacco, it’s not legal to put children’s health at risk of nicotine poisoning. Human Rights Watch is calling on the major tobacco companies to stop putting kids to work in tobacco fields. Listen to this public radio story with your students and discuss.
Read MoreJanuary 23, 2014
11:50
Since the Syrian Civil War began, more than 2 million people have fled the country. Half of the Syrian refugees are children. A majority of Syrians have crossed borders into neighboring countries in the Middle East. Listen to this story to hear about a seventeen-year old Syrian refugee in Lebanon that must now support his family.
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