It is sadly not a satire article and comment section there has taken it quite seriously as well.
I would have posted an archive.org snapshot instead but the latter refuses to crawl the site due to pay wall restrictions.
It is sadly not a satire article and comment section there has taken it quite seriously as well.
I would have posted an archive.org snapshot instead but the latter refuses to crawl the site due to pay wall restrictions.
The article isn’t about child labour specifically, but part time jobs for teens. Technically, child labour, but not really the same as a 8 year old coal miner or loom operator. Good click bait!
I worked through my teens but with some important caveats. I worked next to my boss every day, and they started before me and finished after me. I worked outdoors, in relatively decent weather. I was able to take vacation as I desired - even though I only had a few weeks to work, I still was able to take 2 weeks of vacation.
I don’t think my kids will be able to have a similar experience (given my location and market forces), and I don’t want them to grind away their leisure time at minimum wage working in a shitty retail environment with unpredictable hours. When I was working, (50-60hrs a week for the summer) the sum total of my all my teen years up to university didn’t cover the first year’s rent. I hope that I’ll be able to find suitable activities, volunteer opportunities, and learning experiences that they can participate in instead of a job.
I think it’s great for teenagers to have jobs, provided they’re not paying living expenses with their wages.
I washed dishes after school at a local cafe, and it was a great feeling to get a paycheck for the first time. I started because I wanted an iPod classic and my mom said no.
It was honestly a great life experience. I learned the value of money, I learned to work with people I didn’t necessarily care for, and it taught me that I didn’t want to do manual labor the rest of my life so I worked a bit harder in school.
There’s a lot of value to teaching kids the value of their time - and how little they get for it.
The “worked harder in school because of manual labour” didn’t work for me though.