Should America's youth be encouraged to enter the labor market?
We have, haven’t we, been privy lately to a number of spontaneous outbursts from the Republican presidential candidates. A late example of off-the-cuff, so it would seem, impulse comes from Newt Gingrich, who may well be one of the few Republican contenders who can be taken as a serious potential president of the United States. If we are to believe what the former Speaker of the House says, Newt has strong feelings regarding child labor; he feels that impoverished youngsters would do well to work themselves out of poverty.…
Article comments
26 - Dr Dreadful
The "toughen 'em up, learn 'em respect, walk through 400 miles of snow every day backwards in your underwear" shit makes for a good meme, but in practice it usually doesn't work out well for kids.
The late Tony Capstick spoke to that...
27 - R.Kimble
Cindy is either not a parent or a poor one if she let her children decide what was best for them. Chocolate cake for every meal. Skipping school for cartoons and video games. Typical irresponsible lib
28 - Dr Dreadful
I didn't realise that liberals had exclusive rights on poor parenting.
29 - cindy
That's one way dominated children might act R Kimble. What do you expect to see you train them to be that way. Children who are respected and learn to make their own choices and who are taken seriously develop differently.
30 - Cindy
In other words: Children under a capitalist liberalism are not the only incantation of children that exists in the world.
31 - Jordan Richardson
Sometimes I wish this site had "Like" buttons in the comment section.
32 - Clavos
MOST of the time I wish we had "dislike" buttons...
33 - Jordan Richardson
Really? And here I took you for a positive person...
34 - Humility
The crux of it is that, no one wants their child placed in a job they are intellectually or physically incapable of doing. 15 year old kids trying to mix "mud" on an oil platform is ridiculous.
What Gingrich said was that all child labor laws are stupid. What he meant. ? I don't know. I can agree that children need to learn responsibility and that life isn't going to hand them everything but calling the laws or sub sections that keep them from ferrying nuclear fuel between chambers in a reactor facility are not stupid.
if their were NO child labor restrictions then somewhere sooner or later children will be doing jobs in excess of what their not quite developed sense of logic and reasoning can handle. It won't be their fault when people die. (them or others)
The problem with kids getting jobs is that no one WANTS children working for them, I do remember getting that first job when I was 15 and it took months just to find someone outside of the supermarket (which had enough baggers and wasn't hiring) that would hire a kid.
When he realized he had misunderstood what I said and that I was 15 and not 16 the owner arranged for me to no longer be needed. I had that job for about a week.
The era of the paper boy is over, 15 year olds have no business crowding around 450 degree deep fryers or crawling around in basements with pesticide canisters.
If there are states with stricter laws than the federal laws that's the residents of those states business.
The federal laws are adequate to keep kids out of dangerous jobs. what needs to be done is convince those who have teen performable jobs to open their doors to this group and start hiring them.
35 - Michelle
From a kid's point of view: I'm 13 years old and I really want a job. The neighborhood I live in now isn't the kind of place where it's safe or even reasonable to babysit or wash people's cars for them. I'm so sick of people assuming that things like that are always an option for people my age. If I had a job, everyone in my family would benefit greatly. If I could apply at an animal shelter or a hospital, even as an errand girl or something, it would be great. I'd work at any place, to be honest--the mall, the library, a fast food joint, ANYWHERE. That child labor laws are preventing the people who NEED and WANT a job from getting one is just ridiculous. Child labor laws should take effect when a kid is endangered in the workplace or when they're forced to work. But I really and truly WANT to work. I'm prepared for the responsibility that comes with it. WHY WON'T ILLINOIS EASE UP ON THE FUCKING LABOR LAWS?