Posted on 08/22/2002 7:58:33 AM PDT by sheltonmac
The Labor Department has been raiding workplaces for years, looking for children working illegally. They almost always find what they are looking for.
The law says no child under 14 may hold a job. And there are strict rules about 16-year-olds. The laws were passed in the 1930s to protect children who might be exploited by factories, or forced to work by their families.
But when we watched the bureaucrats at work these days, we didn't see "victims" who wanted rescue.
In Georgia, a newspaper caught a minor league baseball team, the Savannah Cardinals, with an underage batboy.
"The day the story was published, the Labor Department was at my front door," remembers Rick Sisler, the team's general manager. Your tax dollars at work.
The crime? Some baseball games last later than 7 p.m., and the child labor laws say that a child under 16 may not work that late on school nights.
So was this batboy being exploited? He didn't think so. "I was disappointed that somebody would take somebody's dream away like this," said the boy, 14-year-old Tommy McCoy.
Why stop him? If it's terrible for him to be at the ballpark past 7 p.m., then how come it's OK for so many little kids to watch the game?
When the batboy was fired there was so much publicity that the Department of Labor, intervened. Tommy lucked out and was reinstated.
Child actors luck out, too. The Labor Department gives them a special exemption. Farm workers, too and — get this — wreath-makers. But is that how the law should work? Give special breaks to some?
Isn't something off here? Kids routinely baby-sit until 10 p.m., if not midnight. They do yard work and deliver newspapers. Isn't this good for them?
Some businesses are eager for workers. Many kids are hanging around after school, bored stiff. Wouldn't it be better if they did some work, say at Wendy's? But they can't — Wendy's won't hire anyone younger than 16. Why? Because Labor Department regulations require so much time-consuming record-keeping, plus a risk of a big fine if you make a mistake, that Wendy's says it's safer just not to hire young people.
The Labor Department says it is "committed to modernizing child labor laws." Good. I don't see how the current rules help kids.
In Snowmass, Colo., a grocery store used to hire kids to bag groceries, sometimes to carry them to people's cars. It was never more than a few hours a week. But when someone brought up the child labor laws, the kids were immediately fired.
"I was really sad because, I mean, they're not, like, putting us in sweatshops and making us work," said 12-year-old Joey Stokes, one of the kids who was fired. "I mean, we wanted to do this."
Their parents supported their working.
"They let a child that's 12 years old baby-sit, be responsible for younger children. So why can't they bag somebody's groceries? There's something wrong with that picture," said Leslie Boyer, one of the parents.
And after the kids were fired, how did they use their time?
"I've just been sitting at home, you know," said Stokes, laughing. "There's nothing really better to do in the summertime."
"I don't think the government should be able to tell us if our kids can work or not," said his mother, Staci. Good point. Our government should decide what's best for every kid and every parent? Give me a break!
She wanted so badly to work this summer as an assistant to our veterinarian (who has looked after our animals since 1973). She is a dab hand with dogs, cats, and horses. They all love her and do anything she asks. But the vet can't hire anybody under 16!
On the other hand, I can't see these kids sitting home doing nothing. My 11 year old son by his own unaided efforts got a job doing yard work for a neighbor. He is thrilled with the money, and I am thrilled that a kid with serious learning disabilities and ADHD went out and got a job and stuck with it!
Fat.
Television( liberal/brat box )
Lazy.
Useless.
Clueless.
No pride.=
The next democrat.
ROTFLMAO
I agree 110 percent!
If the state had stepped in they would have destroyed him. I thank God for the good business owner who taught him all these things and gave him all these opportunities. And yes, we still continue tutoring him even now in his reading and writing, so he is not lacking with that. In my opinion the child labor laws have caused as much damage to our culture as the public school system. Children need to work in some manner. The schools do NOT prepare kids for the future.
FDR's memory should be cursed rather than praised. He was our first communist president and did more to destroy our form of government than anyone before him since Lincoln.
Education is extremely distorted by public funding. The bias is all towards college-prep. Students with mediocre grades in English Lit and Algebra are steered toward community college where they get some two-year degree in "business management." Then they go to work for some copy service.
Lincoln, Wilson, F Roosevelt, and LBJ condemned us all to slavery. The old Republic is a distant, fading dream.
What kind of stupid remark is that? Are you assuming that because kids want to learn to work hard and earn money rather than sit around and be bored they have no future?
Let the families and businesses decide for themselves. I have never noticed work interfering in education - usually it helps the kids learn responsibility.
The labor laws are poorly written, poorly understood and are really not helpful.
I would like to see my son work through his learning disabilities, and we have him in a special school that works with LD and ADHD kids. Lots of one on one tutoring, and the school allows the kids to move around an open classroom and do "hands on" work rather than have to sit still in a desk and listen to a teacher drone on for 5+ hours.
But he is very clever with his hands, and if he can't manage college level academics I will be very pleased to see him learn a trade and earn his own living in a way that gives him pleasure. Not sure yet whether he will go with auto repair, carpentry, or one of the other building trades, but he'll find his niche.
People are too focussed on college prep -- there ought to be decent trade schools to teach kids who can't/won't/shouldn't do college the skills they need to open their own shop in whatever trade they choose. Basic business correspondence, bookkeeping, and the finer points of their trade. Why not? Most of my ancestors on one side were small tradesmen, shoemakers and tailors and so forth. (The other side were all Alabama dirt farmers with a few merchants and cotton factors mixed in).
I would like to see my son work through his learning disabilities, and we have him in a special school that works with LD and ADHD kids. Lots of one on one tutoring, and the school allows the kids to move around an open classroom and do "hands on" work rather than have to sit still in a desk and listen to a teacher drone on for 5+ hours.
But he is very clever with his hands, and if he can't manage college level academics I will be very pleased to see him learn a trade and earn his own living in a way that gives him pleasure. Not sure yet whether he will go with auto repair, carpentry, or one of the other building trades, but he'll find his niche.
People are too focussed on college prep -- there ought to be decent trade schools to teach kids who can't/won't/shouldn't do college the skills they need to open their own shop in whatever trade they choose. Basic business correspondence, bookkeeping, and the finer points of their trade. Why not? Most of my ancestors on one side were small tradesmen, shoemakers and tailors and so forth. (The other side were all Alabama dirt farmers with a few merchants and cotton factors mixed in).
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