Sweatshops Benefit Children

I am strongly against the idea of child labor; however, I inadvertently support the system every day. For example, every time I go shopping, play a game, use a computer, etc I become a child labor and sweatshop fan. Ask yourself, how often you look at a T-shirts tag and read "made in China". That label represents a factory from another country in which child labor policies are practiced. Our world has become highly dependent on trade; consequently, America has become supporters of child labor indirectly because child labor is not illegal in other countries. By trading with other countries and not fully understanding the work ethic in which the product is coming from, then consumers begin to support child labor. Most of our trade comes from third world countries. Sweatshops and child laborers are necessary in third world countries because they prosper their economy. As horrifying as child labor and sweatshops may be, this article suggests if we ban them then the country will suffer more financially, and third world countries must do all they can to keep their economies running! The article included a conversation between a reporter and a father from Thailand about work and how he is able to stay away from a life of poverty. The father told the reporter that his daughter, Darin, who is fifteen, works in a factory in Bangkok (Thailand) making clothing for export to America. To the reporters’ surprise, the father told them that she only made two dollars a day and worked nine-hour shifts, six days a week. This means that Darin is working fifty-four hours a week! The reporters compared this work ethic theirs- forty hour max workweeks, sick leave, and vacation. The reporters looked at their work ethic as gold, whereas the man thought that his daughter was being treated fairly and given good pay. America realizes that two dollars a day isn’t even minimum wage, whereas two hours a day is “good pay” in Thailand. Although Darin must work in a sweatshop for less than minimum wage, for long hours and under dangerous conditions, it is better than living on the streets, homeless. Taking away sweatshops would lead to more problems because “sweatshops are a crucial and necessary step in most economies’ evolution to prosperity”. People living in third world countries look to sweatshops for opportunities because people, especially children, knew they had two choices, “kids worked, or they went hungry”. This shows that although sweatshops and child labor is an appalling concept it is necessary for the county which means that the only way third world countries will be able to eliminate child labor and sweatshops is by creating a more stable economy. Therefore, shutting down all of the sweatshops and stopping children from working is not a solution to this problem. In the article it discussed s situation which went about shutting down factories to stop child labor and change the ways of sweatshops. However, this plan backfired and resulted in people “in crime, begging, or working as prostitutes”. This shows that although sweatshops are extreme ways of earning money, without them people would result to working in even more extreme circumstances. Overall, no matter how horrifying child labor and sweatshops are in reality an economy in trouble depends on them for financial aid.

MLA:Radley Balko. "Sweatshops Benefit Children." At Issue: Do Children Have Rights?. Ed. Jamuna Carroll. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010 .

America and I Response

Much of the American lifestyle is based off of work. It is very difficult for one to live without money, and the only way people get money is by earning it through their work. An immigrant from Russia shares her story on what it was like coming to America, what she thought was the land of happiness and opportunity, and how she was able to survive. Anzia Yezierska's short story, America and I, takes the reader through the roller coaster ride through America. Back in the eighteen and nineteen hundreds America had a reputation for being the "land of living hope, woven of dreams, aflame with longing and desire" (68). Part of why this was thought was because it was common knowledge that one could easily find work. Life I know it to be today is much different. The unemployment rate has significantly risen ever since America plunged into a recession. Today, many unemployed Americans are stressing about how they are going to be able to feed their family, keep a roof over their heads, and clothes for their bodies or as Anzia Yezierska put it, “Money to buy a new shirt on my back- shoes on my feet” (70). Not having a job is a scary and unstable thought. The necessities such as food and shelter are supported by work, without work there is no way one could earn money to receive these basic necessities. This shows how important jobs and work is to America, it ultimately is what keeps the country running. More specifically, it is the work of the people that keeps America successful. This work is not always easy. Especially back then, our country had immigrants and the unemployed placed in sweat shops and factories which people worked for maniy hours a day and low wages. Yezierska explained how her life simply consisted of work, “while the morning was still dark I walked into a dark basement. And darkness met me when I turned out of the basement” (72). This idea of long hours, hard work, little pay was not exactly what Anzia Yezierska had in mind as the perfect America. What she longed for was, “My America, where I would work for love and not for a living” (72). If only America was based off of that people all over the world would be happier with their lives. This notion of happiness was discovered when Yezierska realized, “Happiness is only by working at what you love” (74). Personally I was fascinated by how true this statement she shared was. After reading this story I question how many American's are currently happy with their lives and work? My answer, not very many. Unfortunately the pressure of finding a well paying job and need for efficiency often times overtakes the idea of doing work in which people love to do. It was soon understood in the story that the welfare men is actually the real America.


Yezierska, Anzia. “America and I.” Jewish Stories: Ilan Stavans. New York: Oxford, 1998. 69-77. Print

workplace

New Deal

America’s most difficult times in the workplace were faced during the Great Depression era which included about five years of suffering. It was the people such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt who got America out of the rough times and back on track. The Great Depression was a times when America went into recession. The economy was “unbalanced” meaning that there was too much production and not enough consumption. Therefore, people had to be laid off, wages had to be lowered, and tax prices needed to be altered. The New Deal was and act put in place to fix this imbalance and get the economy back to the way it was. The New Deals goal was to create the best balance “among all producing segments- agriculture, capital, industry, workers in the industry, the services, and the segment engaged in transportation and distribution, there would be almost no limit to our consuming capacity”. It is common knowledge that perfection is impossible, but the New Deal suggested that everything such as “all administration and all popular effort must be directed toward that goal instead of away from that goal”. By working towards a common goal, collectively it would be easier to create a change. The New Deal was put in place when the world was virtually run by “individualism” (people working for themselves) because everything was chaos. There was the “let-us-alone” gang which fought against the government and wanted the individualism to continue on. However, it was quickly realized that the government was the only group that could help get the people out of this tough situation, so the “let-us-along” gang quickly turned around during 1921 and 1929 and “became the guiding principle of government administration”. The nation finally recognized the only way to get out of their situation was if they worked together. Therefore, with the help of the New Deal, the government, the “let-us-alone” gang as well as the other people, balanced perfection was the goal people strived for; by doing so the nation was able to get back on track and put people back to work.

Personal Reflection

Within the course of five days I have come to learn a lot about “labor”. There are many key aspects that particularly stood-out which caused me to be more focused on certain aspects within labor rather than other topics. For example, I was extremely surprised when I read an article that stated that people had to work SIXTEEN hours a day during the Great Depression. This number amazed me; especially compared to the average work hours in the twentieth century (6-8 hourrs a day).
As I was going through the general background and history of the research topic, “labor”, I found it easiest to focus in on and relate to “child labor”. As I am currently a sixteen year old student searching for a well paying, few hours a week job, I find it extremely hard to imagine my life revolving around my work at this young age instead of around school material. I find it to be unfortunate that child laborers must focus on their work rather than basic knowledge because i understand first-hand how beneficial the material learned in school is in life. I take my education very seriously and find it unfortunate that the children trapped in “child labor” are unable to obtain this education, which is why I chose to narrow my research topic down the “Child Labor”.

Child Labor

This year at Deerfield High School students were given the chance to sign up for a course called “Tech Campus” which is a class that allows students to have hands-on experience with the field of work one is interested in. Tech Campus is not offered to students in grades lower than nine because throughout those younger years of schooling, according to schools curriculum, students should still be receiving “general” education instead of pin-pointing out a job right away. Our school system chooses not to offer Tech Campus to the younger students so that the children are able to have time during their younger years of development to gain general knowledge on aspects and useful key ideas to know in life, allowing children to lead more successful futures. However, not all school systems are designed in this way. In fact, about sixty years ago the school system was designed in an opposite manner; Instead of blocking out the early education years for general education, children would jump right into the work environment. This idea of throwing young children and having them work is a part of “child labor”. The children were removed from gaining general knowledge in school and instead became laborers working for little pay, long hours, and under bad conditions. However, this notion of “child labor” was looked upon by England as, “a good thing that the children should learn to work. We are carrying on schools to teach them to work”; In other words, the children’s life is based off of work. Being a child myself, I understand and recognize the importance of basing my education off of the general knowledge learned, and continue to learn. It is unfortunate that the child labor takes away from the ability to increase one’s knowledge about skills necessary in life.
As i was reading i came across this passage that really hit home, "Two years ago I saw 150 children working illegally at 20 minutes past 10 o'clock at night in a perfectly reputable dry goods store in the city of New York on the Saturday night before Christmas. If one of those children had stolen any small article, a doll or a penknife, the heavy hand of the law would have carried that child promptly into the Juvenile Court. But 150 children were robbed of sleep in violation of the law; and the merchant, their employer who robbed them, has never been prosecuted to this day, and will never be prosecuted."

Why have we endured being left with no official means of ready comparison of the statutes of the different states and the prosecutions of violations of the child labor law in the different states?

MLA: Florence Kelley " Obstacles to Enforcing Child Labor Laws," Annals of American History. <http://america.eb.com/america/article?articleId=386709>[Accessed February 2, 2010.]

FDR's First Inaugural Address

In Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inaugural speech he stated, “This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper”, allowing all of America to regain hope. Roosevelt played a major role during the Great Depression and positively changed to the workplace. My very first blog was about Obama’s inaugural speech and what his hopes were for our nation today, considering we are currently in a bit of a crisis ourselves. Within his inaugural speech Obama made “putting people back to work” his main goal for 2010. Similarly, during the Great Depression era Roosevelt recognized this problem within the US as well and stated, “Our greatest primary task is to put people to work”. Both presidents felt the need to make the unemployment rate decrease clearly symbolizing the importance work is in America. Roosevelt recognizes how terrible times are and how people must feel scared, frustrated and uneasy. However he reassures the people by stated, “These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellowmen”. He suggests, by working together collectively, for you and for others, the nation has a better chance in success.

Franklin D. Roosevelt " First Inaugural Address," Annals of American History. <http://america.eb.com/america/article?articleId=386936&query=Roosevelt-+Great+Depression>[Accessed February 22, 2010].

Samuel Gompers " The Laborer's Right to Life," Annals of American History. <http://america.eb.com/america/article?articleId=386362&query=Samuel+Gompers>[Accessed February 21, 2010].