Should Child Labor in the US be Banned?
By: Lea Kwok
Some people have never heard of this, but there is such a thing as child labor, even here in the very U.S. of A.! The same people who know about child labor know that internationally there are children who work hard to support their families and they strive to survive, but somehow, they only get paid a dollar working in dangerous conditions. However, what people don't realize is that the same thing is happening in the U.S., only that children are working on farms. In my opinion, child labor in the U.S. should be banned.
One reason I think child labor in the US should be banned is because kids can get very sick. The farm owners spray pesticides on the crops, while the children are working on the crops. This leads to pesticides getting on the skin and rashes on the skin. This makes me think that the farm owners are heartless people who only care about money and themselves. Also, working in the fields for 12 hours a day, non-stop, would lead to heat stroke or other illnesses. The children would become very sick and have to stop working for a while, which leads to a short term loss of income.
Another reason is because the children don’t even get paid enough to support their families. This shows that the farm owners would rather pay a little amount of money for kids, who have their whole lives ahead of them, to work, than hire adults who they need to pay more. These children have barely enough to survive! Survive! It’s not like “can’t afford the best and newest phone and TV” poor. It’s “can’t afford necessities of life” poor. In all, the child farm workers get paid about $1,000 each year!
Last but not least, the kids won’t get a chance to get a good education! The kids either have to drop out of school because they are moving to different farms, or don’t even have time to go to school. The children are too busy supporting their families and trying to survive. Because of not having an education, these children won’t have a chance to get a good paying job in the future. They would have to follow in their parents footsteps and keep working on a farm. They may not earn enough money for a good life in the future.
In conclusion, these kids have a right to at least have a decent childhood and thus, child labor should be banned in the U.S. What they are being taken advantage of doing right now is more of adulthood. And so, people should try and spread the news about this issue.
Last but not least, the kids won’t get a chance to get a good education! The kids either have to drop out of school because they are moving to different farms, or don’t even have time to go to school. The children are too busy supporting their families and trying to survive. Because of not having an education, these children won’t have a chance to get a good paying job in the future. They would have to follow in their parents footsteps and keep working on a farm. They may not earn enough money for a good life in the future.
In conclusion, these kids have a right to at least have a decent childhood and thus, child labor should be banned in the U.S. What they are being taken advantage of doing right now is more of adulthood. And so, people should try and spread the news about this issue.
The Cruel Side of Child Labor
By Justin Murdock
By Justin Murdock
Ever went to Walmart, Target, or a shoe store and go to the Nike section? You would probably think, "Woah these are the best shoes ever! They glitter! They gleam! They’re good overall! I want these! They’re also cheap! What a deal!" Yeah, what a deal. Wrong! Nikes are probably the Darth Vader of all shoes. It’s not that they use animals to make it. They don’t use any poisonous materials in it. It doesn’t damage your feet so much. The problem is the shoes were made by kids like me in Asia and other parts of the world. Shoes are not the only problem. It’s also chocolate, crops, cosmetics, I could list a thousand more. Child labor is something to take seriously and is probably one of the dangerous things in the world that affects children.
Callous Care
One reason is that they do not get much attention or care by the owners of the industry. For example, they get cut and other forms of harm a lot. A former 10-year old boy named Santos Polendo doesn’t have any safety equipment while he’s working on the farm. Too often, kids also suffer from on-the-job injuries. Santos recalls an incident when he accidentally stabbed himself with a pair of scissors. Another victim of child labor was former 15-year old girl named Dora Perez. Like Santos, she does not get any safety. She remembered a time when she didn’t have shoes, tripped on a hoe, and slashed her toe. Blood was all over her sock and there wasn’t any medical service, so she had to suffer. She also recalls poisonous pesticides and chemicals dropping on her from airplanes in the summer. This could lead to more pain, and red marks (rashes and bumps) on her skin. Not to mention it, they do not get something to cool the heat, so they have to work in degrees more than 100. Kids that handle chocolate get sliced skin. This taught me that farmers have to do a better job taking care of their workers, or they won’t have any.
Horrendous Health
Another reason is that migrant farmers do not get good health. A 15-year old boy takes the name Ralph has horrible health compared to you, or I. He has to work in hot and humid weather that the minimum is 106 degrees. Among the kids that have to labor, they wake up from times between 4 to 6 a.m. Even I couldn’t wake up that early! It’s not that they also get a lack of sleep. If I were them, I would think, Hey I wanna sleep! I’m tired! If you were Ralph, how would you feel? They also get cut with sharp objects, that eventually get infected because of almost no medical care. They also do not get any education which MET (an education team) which helps tutor and teach kids to have an educated and better life.
Human Trafficking + Slavery
Human trafficking and slavery is what child labor feeds off of; especially cocoa laboring. In recent years, a handful of organizations and journalists have exposed the widespread use of child labor, and in some cases slavery, on cocoa farms in Western Africa. Since then, the industry has become increasingly secretive, making it difficult for reporters to not only access farms where human rights violations still occur, but to then disseminate this information to the public. In 2004, the Ivorian First Lady’s entourage allegedly kidnapped and killed a journalist reporting on government corruption in its profitable cocoa industry. The owners boss the kids around that rarely get any money. They also get whipped trying to escape; it’s not just the setting.
Helping Humans
We can help these kids by giving them education. Over the years, Farmworker youth drop out of school at four times the national rate, according to government estimates—one third never graduate from high school. Now, MET is giving more education, which will get rid of the one third. Also, we could help support laws. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows child farmworkers to work at younger ages, for far longer hours, and under more hazardous conditions than all other working youths. We could also donate as another way of helping.
In conclusion, we need to help these children. Many suffer and have a hard time getting a good life. We have to support them by donating, giving education, and influencing laws. Even though 1 person boycotts, it will still make a change.
In conclusion, we need to help these children. Many suffer and have a hard time getting a good life. We have to support them by donating, giving education, and influencing laws. Even though 1 person boycotts, it will still make a change.
Bibliography
"Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry." Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-chocolate/>.
"TAKE ACTION: End Child Labor in US Agriculture | Human Rights Watch." TAKE ACTION: End Child Labor in US Agriculture | Human Rights Watch. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.hrw.org/support-care>.
"Child Labor: Small Hands Legally Picking Our Food." NBC News. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/03/13106022-child-labor-small-hands-legally-picking-our-food>.
Fanning, Karen. "Young Migrant Workers Toil in U.S. Fields." Young Migrant Workers Toil in U.S. Fields. Scholastic. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=5426>.
"TAKE ACTION: End Child Labor in US Agriculture | Human Rights Watch." TAKE ACTION: End Child Labor in US Agriculture | Human Rights Watch. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.hrw.org/support-care>.
"Child Labor: Small Hands Legally Picking Our Food." NBC News. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/03/13106022-child-labor-small-hands-legally-picking-our-food>.
Fanning, Karen. "Young Migrant Workers Toil in U.S. Fields." Young Migrant Workers Toil in U.S. Fields. Scholastic. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=5426>.