It’s 9 a.m. on a typical Saturday morning when senior Henry Ling wakes up, sometimes wishing he could stay in bed longer. But he can’t — he has to drive himself and his 5-year old little brother to Kumon, a learning center located near the entrance to downtown Saratoga, where he has a part-time job.
Students at Kumon come to the center at least once a week to complete appropriately-leveled reading or math packets and then get assigned additional packets to finish at home. The program’s packets teach students various math skills or reading strategies and include many problems and other materials for the students to practice. Unlike in a tutoring center, however, students do not work side-by-side with other students or teachers; they work independently and consult teachers only when they need help.
Ling’s job is to grade the packets of homework and classwork that students bring to the center.
“This job isn’t exactly the most exciting because [I] just sit there grading papers and recording scores and occasionally help some students with questions,” Ling said. “It can get pretty repetitive, but it teaches me to stick with things that aren’t fun, even if I don’t like [them] that much.”
In fact, Ling, who earns $10 an hour at Kumon, believes the demand from his work is beneficial in the long term.
“I like how it develops my work ethic,” Ling said. “I have to grade a huge stack of papers and so I’ve learned how to be efficient with my time.”
Ling said he found out about the job opening while sending his brother to Kumon one day. Though he had not been explicitly looking for jobs, he decided to go for the opportunity in order “to get some [work] experience and earn some money to save up” before the end of his high school career.
“[During] second semester, I [have] a bit more time now that college [applications] and the marching band season is over,” Ling said.
Ling said the job is a good experience to have before he goes off to college.
“I would advise people to get a similar job just to gain some [exposure to] work,” Ling said.
