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FOX News: A Case For Child Labor

Present day laws and attitudes on young people working border on the asinine by completely overlooking the benefit that youth receives by working.

y'all have fun with that thought. :)

Thom Paine
 
Helix said:
an alternative option is to educate them. this is the option that i support.
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One would think that banning child labor would drive up wages for adults as the labor pool.will be smaller.

Maybe that's why conservatives support it. Gotta keep that foreign labor cheap.
 
What if...? said:
One would think that banning child labor would drive up wages for adults as the labor pool.will be smaller.

Maybe that's why conservatives support it. Gotta keep that foreign labor cheap.
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What proof do you have that conservatives as a group support sweatshops? Or were you just being snarky?
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Why is this even a topic of discussion?
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Why shouldn't it be? Tell me what would happen, exactly, if the child labor laws were repealed in this country. And before you rattle off some knee-jerk response, think about it for a minute.
 
eohrnberger said:
If the choice that he's presenting the child and their families need to make is a real one (no reason not to I guess), child labor or child prostitution, surely child prostitution is far more damaging.

Still, if child labor was a survival requirement, then I'd at least like to see some form of education as part of the child labor part. How else to help the children get ahead to a better life?
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Jesus Christ! Why should any family have to make such a choice in the United States of America?? What the hell am I working and paying taxes for if its not to provide a minimal safety net to protect any family in America from having to make such a choice. This ain't Haiti or Somalia. I think we pretty much all (other than some of the ultra-libertarians) decided in the last century that we would have enough of a safety net in place in this country that no child would be forced to work in a sweatshop or enter into child prostitution to avoid starving to death.
 
joG said:
Why can it be a topic for discussion? I often ask myself how it can be other.
In a quantitative research project I participated in on time use in Thai farming it was quite obvious that even with substatial participation in the labor force by very young children the parents could not nourish their families and were putting newly born but also young childeren usually females out to die in the rice paddies.

At the same time we were fighting to prevent child labour at the wto, probably because it was unfair competition for rug mskers and the like in our countries.
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Exactly. If anyone bothers to watch the actual debate, they would hear that the children work, because otherwise their family would starve. And that when you ban child labor, the children end up in worse jobs, drugs or prostitution. I have to assume the op and whoever made the graphic doesnt value intellectual investigation.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Jesus Christ! Why should any family have to make such a choice in the United States of America?? What the hell am I working and paying taxes for if its not to provide a minimal safety net to protect any family in America from having to make such a choice.
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So that others dont have to work period. The money doesnt go to the needy, it goes to the slackers.
 
What if...? said:
One would think that banning child labor would drive up wages for adults as the labor pool.will be smaller.

Maybe that's why conservatives support it. Gotta keep that foreign labor cheap.
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I was thinking the same thing. What the hell do they want children paid for their labor? When so many unskilled adults are living off of minimum wage, we can't expect children will be paid fairly. The fact that we are having this discussion is so messed up.

I couldn't imagine my seven year old niece working in a factory or being trained to do anything in a job setting. She's seven. Work for her should be school work, and she help around the house doing many, many things. Not all life skills can be learned in a job setting. You don't learn how to cook for a family of four at work, you don't learn how to read or write on the job. WTF.
 
SheWolf said:
I was thinking the same thing. What the hell do they want children paid for their labor? When so many unskilled adults are living off of minimum wage, we can't expect children will be paid fairly. The fact that we are having this discussion is so messed up.

I couldn't imagine my seven year old niece working in a factory or being trained to do anything in a job setting. She's seven. Work for her should be school work, and she help around the house doing many, many things. Not all life skills can be learned in a job setting. You don't learn how to cook for a family of four at work, you don't learn how to read or write on the job. WTF.
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Then don't send your 7 year old off to work. WTF
 
Fletch said:
Why shouldn't it be? Tell me what would happen, exactly, if the child labor laws were repealed in this country. And before you rattle off some knee-jerk response, think about it for a minute.
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Given that wages are stagnate, and for years family households were able to handle stagnate wages by women/mom entering the workplace along with accumulating credit card and other debt, then I guess the next step could be children entering the workforce and helping to support their family.

Children shouldn't support their families financially, and the growing disparity between rich and poor can and should be addressed a better, more humane way.
 
Paleocon said:
I'd disagree with him here. If children below say, 14, are to work, it must be part of educating them in some specific trade. Children below that age should not be involved in unskilled labor.
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Oh bullcrap. I had my first job at about age 12, it taught me the value of hard work and money. I think I earned a buck and a quarter an hour. My second job was a paper route at about 13, and my third was at 15 working as a fry cook. None of thee jobs affected me negatively, and none of them harmed me in any way. That's the trouble with kids today, they want everything handed to them.
 
Fletch said:
Then don't send your 7 year old off to work. WTF
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This discussion isn't a matter of personal choice, It's about how society should value and respect children and their needs.
 
SheWolf said:
Given that wages are stagnate, and for years family households were able to handle stagnate wages by women/mom entering the workplace along with accumulating credit card and other debt, then I guess the next step could be children entering the workforce and helping to support their family.

Children shouldn't support their families financially, and the growing disparity between rich and poor can and should be addressed a better, more humane way.
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Is it child labor laws that prevent you from sending your 7 year old off to work each day? And lets say you did, who is going to hire that 7 year old?

The answer to these questions are NO and NO ONE. So your fears are unfounded.
 
Fletch said:
Is it child labor laws that prevent you from sending your 7 year old off to work each day? And lets say you did, who is going to hire that 7 year old?

The answer to these questions are NO and NO ONE. So your fears are unfounded.
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The argument isn't about me, it's about society as a whole. Yes, I think there are people in the US who are messed up enough to try to send their seven year old kids off to work instead of school. There are people messed up to sell their own children for sex in this country. There are people on so many drugs, that their kids are raising themselves. Our laws should be about protecting children and moving them out of a unsafe environment and into a safe environment. A child spending his or her day working to support the younger siblings because mom and dad are too high, is not acceptable and shouldn't be an option in the United States. That isn't giving a kid an opportunity. That child should stay in school and we should find a better home for the child to thrive in.
 
SheWolf said:
The argument isn't about me, it's about society as a whole. Yes, I think there are people in the US who are messed up enough to try to send their seven year old kids off to work instead of school. There are people messed up to sell their own children for sex in this country. There are people on so many drugs, that their kids are raising themselves. Our laws should be about protecting children and moving them out of a unsafe environment and into a safe environment. A child spending his or her day working to support the younger siblings because mom and dad are too high, is not acceptable and shouldn't be an option in the United States. That isn't giving a kid an opportunity. That child should stay in school and we should find a better home for the child to thrive in.
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So we should have laws in place that punish everyone because of a few scumbag deadbeats?
 
SheWolf said:
The argument isn't about me, it's about society as a whole. Yes, I think there are people in the US who are messed up enough to try to send their seven year old kids off to work instead of school. There are people messed up to sell their own children for sex in this country. There are people on so many drugs, that their kids are raising themselves. Our laws should be about protecting children and moving them out of a unsafe environment and into a safe environment. A child spending his or her day working to support the younger siblings because mom and dad are too high, is not acceptable and shouldn't be an option in the United States. That isn't giving a kid an opportunity. That child should stay in school and we should find a better home for the child to thrive in.
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And who is looking to hire this victimized 7 year old?
 
Paleocon said:
I'd disagree with him here. If children below say, 14, are to work, it must be part of educating them in some specific trade. Children below that age should not be involved in unskilled labor.
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At 12 I started working summers at my Uncle's tire shop. Learned to recap large truck tires. I learned so much about life and work and making my own way while working there. Never went into the tire business as an adult. But I'm extremely thankful for those times.
 
Fletch said:
And who is looking to hire this victimized 7 year old?
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Probably the same people who hire illegal labor now, because of the cheap cost and hire profits...
 
countryboy said:
So we should have laws in place that punish everyone because of a few scumbag deadbeats?
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You're not making a clear argument. I oppose child labor. Children should be in school. They should be full time students, not full time employees. I called nobody a scumbag.
 
clownboy said:
At 12 I started working summers at my Uncle's tire shop. Learned to recap large truck tires. I learned so much about life and work and making my own way while working there. Never went into the tire business as an adult. But I'm extremely thankful for those times.
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I have been working for as long as I can remember--cutting lawns raking leaves shoveling snow, a paper route, all before I was a teenager. Child labor laws prevented McDonalds from hiring me until I was 16. Yet the idea that I was working at a much younger age is nonsense. My daughter just turned 16 and is seeking employment out there and there isn't a whole lot of options. Imagine how vast those options would be for they mythical 7 year old.
 
Fletch said:
And who is that?
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What do you what? A list of names? US companies hire seven year olds and children in their foreign sweat shops, so what would prevent them from hiring an American seven year old willing to work on American soil? It's the same company, isn't it?

What makes you think nobody would hire a seven year old even if they legally could?
 
Helix said:
not much.



where we disagree : i want children to be formally educated. you seem to be ok with child labor as long as it teaches them a skill.

getting rid of child labor in favor of education for all kids took thousands of years. i don't support reversing this progress.
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I also support formal education.
 
What if...? said:
One would think that banning child labor would drive up wages for adults as the labor pool.will be smaller.

Maybe that's why conservatives support it. Gotta keep that foreign labor cheap.
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most conservatives don't support it, at least not here in the states. also, i think if they saw the foreign factories firsthand, they would have trouble with it there, too. the poster who supports it has expressed a desire to take us back to the middle ages, which is hardly mainstream conservatism.
 
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