"Last year, Department Of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis proposed rules that would restrict family farm operations by prohibiting youth under the age of 18 from being near certain age animals without adult supervision, participating in common livestock practices such as vaccinating and hoof trimming, and handling most animals more than six months old.
"anyone under the age of 18 would be prohibited from operating farm machinery over 20 PTO horsepower; completing tasks at elevations over six feet high; and working at stockyards and grain and feed facilities. The language of the proposed rule is so specific it would even ban youth from operating a battery-powered screwdriver or a pressurized garden hose "
The obvious obstruction between the American mind and the reality of child labor can easily be seen from the reaction to recent statements on the Republican campaign trail. Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich had stated that children in schools should be put to work to teach them responsibility. The statements were met with consternation by many who felt he was advocating for cheap labor through children to supplant unionized labor. As he had later explained though, assigning children work duties during school would teach them not only responsibility but by working at their schools, would teach them a sense of pride and ownership for the school environment.
"Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor, and pay local students to take care of the school," said Gingrich, the former Speaker of The House of Representatives. "The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they'd have pride in the schools. They'd begin the process of rising." Teaching them work ethic as part of their education is a value and necessary to teach them how to function in a normal, responsible, adult role. By completely and extremely negating any form of work for children in the nation, many do not come to understand what work ethic is or the value of money earned until a later time in their lives which could be viewed to be in and of itself, an injustice. We hear reports of obesity and disconnection of children from reality because of electronic media but insist on feeding the problem with continued control by an already over reaching, governmental system.
Not sure about the reader but when this author was growing up, chores were a responsibility to the family unit; not illegal child labor. Scholl work assignments were also required for copy making, kitchen service and clean up in the cafeteria. Was it forced labor, though? Well of course it was, no child likes chores but these labors taught responsibility and a sense of what work was as well as an understanding of what it meant to reap what you sow, how to exert effort to do so and how to participate in the family structure and in school. The new Laws to "protect" children from labor are only serving to increase the already high numbers of lazy, obese ridden children we have now. How sedentary do we need our children to be before the act of "saving them" from labor only forces them into the even worse situation of habitual laziness or ill prepares them for adult responsibility?
The Real Problem
Because forced labor or rather, child slavery has been all but abolished in this nation, many Americans believe that child labor or rather, its prevalence around the world is no longer an issue. Even fewer understand that the pleasures they enjoy from products ranging from chocolate to clothing are all too often manufactured using a child labor and is perpetuating the problem. This ignorance is partly due to lack of reporting on it by popular, corporate owned media but partly it stems from not wanting to admit they are adding to it by indulging in so many foreign products.
Chocolate is a product enjoyed richly by many Americans. This sweet result of cocoa beans is indeed a wonderful treat but as UNICEF estimates that nearly a half-million children work on farms across
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