Speaker Gingrich says that such work would increase self esteem and devotion to the school, the center of learning. Their labors could also place some handy cash in the pockets of the stalwart young. Child labor laws, he says, entrap poor children in poverty. Newt criticizes those who tell poor children in poor neighborhoods they shouldn’t work, shouldn’t get a “hamburger flipping job.” Newt says that enterprising young folk should accept any job that requires them to show up on Monday, and any job that teaches them to stay on all day, in spite of their life crises, in spite of perhaps an ongoing fight with a girlfriend. Maybe Newt is on to something.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Cannonshop
It might be interesting to examine Gingrich's context-because Child Labor laws in some areas have gone a bit toward the excessive, no longer protecting actual Children as demonstrating regulatory excess.
REmember being a teenager, and getting a part-time job? I did it when I was fourteen, today, that employer would be facing fines and jail-time for HIRING me at that age. Admittedly, picking is hard work, and it doesn't pay a lot, but that's the point of a part-time summer job when you're a freshman in high-school. Similarly, kids who get part-time work in their school years learn things like self-reliance, how to deal with people, get exercise, and build REAL self-respect, things that the self-esteem and 'Wrap 'em in cotton' culture doesn't teach.
It also broadens horizons that the Internet can't reach. You'll never learn to hang a door or fix a sink off the box on your desk, nor will facebook show you how to deal with sore muscles and skinned knuckles, and MySpace isn't going to show you how to deal with obnoxious customers,irritating co-workers, or unethical bosses, and nagging mom and dad to buy your shit isn't going to teach you how to handle money, or that it represents hours of your life.
Why is there an Obesity problem in this country? Why is there an illegal immigration problem? maybe the two are linked? Maybe our Labor laws need a re-vamp, to make it less competitive to hire illegals, than it is to hang a flyer up at the High School for anyone who's willing to get a little dirty picking spinach, or corn, or apples for X$ a box?
Dunno. Not my department, but maybe the issue's treated as too inclusive. I don't think even Newt-the-Nasty wants eight year olds out in the fields, but what's wrong with fourteen and fifteen year olds? Certainly it's better than renting Felons from the County or hiring illegals under the table...
2 - Nematoda
Sorry, Cannonshop, most states allow 14-year olds to work on farms. Indeed, I wonder if you read the article: the writer makes a point of emphasizing that child labor laws aren't as restrictive as many people assume.
3 - Cannonshop
#2 On the Federal level, no, but in many (not all) states, they are...or worse yet, they have the reputation of BEING, even when they aren't.
Personally, I'm kind of wondering why "Human Rights Watch" is worrying about hazards in AMerican agriculture, to the point of publishing frequent reports-have human rights suddenly improved in Africa, East Asia, and Central America to the point where it's worth the ink and study time to worry about Kansas, Nebraska, and Illinois? I'm given to the understanding that non-profits like HRW have limited budgets...
4 - One American's Rant
It hurts me, deep inside, to agree with Gingrich on this issue, but I do. I don't see any particular harm,it could definitely help some lower income families, and give some children a self-esteem boost (and some cash).
5 - Dr Dreadful
Certainly it's better than renting Felons from the County or hiring illegals under the table...
Not if those two groups do a better job.
Thing with hiring 14 and 15 year olds is that they're teenagers, and tend to spend a considerable portion of their time daydreaming about how interesting it is that the opposite sex has suddenly grown all these wobbly bits.
It's hard enough to get anything worthwhile out of them in school, never mind in the workplace.
6 - Dan(Miller)
Doc,
Mightn't being fired because of this
Thing with hiring 14 and 15 year olds is that they're teenagers, and tend to spend a considerable portion of their time daydreaming about how interesting it is that the opposite sex has suddenly grown all these wobbly bits.
help a bit with this?
it's hard enough to get anything worthwhile out of them in school, never mind in the workplace.
It is probably easier and more effective to fire, from a paying job he had sought, a kid who doesn't want to work than it is to expel or even suspend from school a kid who doesn't want to learn.
7 - Dr Dreadful
Possibly, Dan, but that wasn't Cannon's justification.
8 - roger nowosielski
Not to defend excessive regulation which in itself is no lesser evil than the forces which make it seem necessary, is Newt's a plan for a brave new world?
I suppose we're quickly approaching a standard of living comparable to that of a Third World, so Newt is providing the necessary push and shove to make certain we get there quicker, and all in the name of building character and developing work ethic.
Which might be fine if the unemployment figures weren't staggering and jobs aplenty. Twenty years ago it might be a believable, if not workable proposition.
Which only goes to show the extent to which Washington is out of touch with Main Street. Either that, or it's but an example of pandering to the base by suggesting an alternative to the administration's jobs initiative.
It's long past the time when politicians from either side of the aisle should be taken seriously.
9 - roger nowosielski
Actually, Newt's proposal isn't as unique as it might appear. If memory serves, our own Dave Nalle was arguing on behalf of re-instating workhouses, on the Dickensian model, as a viable solution to the problems of homelessness and abject poverty.
10 - Glenn Contrarian
Cannonshop -
The child labor laws and once-liberal immigration laws have squat to do with our obesity problem.
What have everything to do with it is the fact that - unlike forty years ago - we expect to have meat in every meal. Not only that, but our food is cheap and we've a greater variety of it than at any time in human history.
On top of all that is the combination of our rush-rush-rush culture that makes it not only far easier but also in many ways cheaper (since time is money even to a parent) to buy fast food on the way home or to order out for a pizza or Chinese food.
And on top of all that, there's another big reason for the Child Labor Laws that you're missing: teenagers want money and they think school sucks. Give them the option of (1) staying in school and not having as much money as they'd like to have, and (2) quitting school and going to get a job...
...many would choose the latter. I already know your arguments, that our schools do suck and that learning to work is often a better thing than school...but the solution isn't to get rid of Child Labor Laws that enable such a situation (and enable grand-scale abuse of kids).
The solution is to fix our schools AND our economy...and to have the political intestinal fortitude to spend taxpayer dollars to do it.
11 - handyguy
I can't believe anyone takes anything Gingrich says seriously. After one of his previous outrageous and totally insincere eruptions ["If anyone should be in jail for the financial crisis, it's Chris Dodd and Barney Frank"], NBC's Chuck Todd said, "What will he do for an encore now? Set his hair on fire?"
In the wise words of Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon!"
12 - REMF(MCH)
Gingrich's statements on child labor laws were meant soley for the purpose of getting everyone to talk about something besides the $1.6 million he was paid as an "historian" for Freddie Mac...
13 - peter petterson
Protecting children from abuse and exploitation, and allowing them to earn some pocket money are two different things altogether. I used to work in a butcher shop after school during my secondary school years in NZ, and actually commenced an apprenticeship as a butcher when I left school. the fact this didn't last long is another story in another time. America doesn't stand too tall among the enlightened international community in regards to human rights. You may have a federal law, but this can be disregarded in the states.
14 - John Lake
America went wrong during GWB (maybe earlier; there were gruesome stories out of Vietnam) with Guantanamo Bay, the remote detention centers, waterboarding, sleep-deprivation, and worst things we see photos of, but don't talk about.
Bloody Bachmann doesn't help the cause.
15 - Cindy
OneAmerican,
Yeah the poor teens will fucking glow with self-esteem acting as the janitors for the rich kids.
16 - Cindy
(Hey let's presume some shit about kids and then make them grow up based on our flawed rationalizations. Who cares, they don't have any power, they're just kids.)
17 - Cindy
Have any of you asked any kids what they think? Or do you fucking white guys get to decide what's good for everybody?
18 - Cindy
Also: Newt needs to crawl back under his rock. He's a scumbag and shouldn't ever represent human beings.
19 - Cindy
Bachmann is a psychopath.
20 - Jordan Richardson
How much more shit do you want to heap on your nation's children? School workloads are already higher than they were when most of you were kids. There are more stressors and there is more abuse.
And when most kids can't see a future worth living for, can you blame them when they turn to drugs, booze or "delinquent" behaviour? Is adding a "job" on top of that really helpful to "self-esteem?" I doubt it.
21 - shantel
NO ONE ASKS WHAT THE KIDS THINK!
there is not much child labour now wich is good but why would such a thing be bought up anyway. i think that becuase that there was child labour back in the day with teenagers ( aged 14) that could be why teenagers go out and get jobs becuase they think it is a part in life and they have no choice or they are presured into it ( thats only some teenagers these days though)
22 - zingzing
hey now, i had a job when i was 15. summers and christmas breaks, i'd work my ass off. it was great. i could afford bud. weiser and kind.
23 - Jordan Richardson
I had a paper route for some time and then worked a job at a knife and saw factory when I was 15-17.
Life was easy "back in the day," I "turned out okay," yadda yadda yadda.
But I also had what appeared to be a good future. There weren't a lot of additional stressors and I was lucky to have a good family and circle of friends for support.
Suggesting that getting a job is good for self-esteem is all well and good in ideal circumstances, but most kids aren't so fortunate - especially these days. 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.
Maybe we should let kids be kids while they still can.
24 - pablo
Newt is a fascist scumbag, nuff said.
25 - REMF(MCH)
@ Cindy;
Hey, I'm a "fucking white guy." But I was told by the brothas in the Navy I had "soul"...