Teens today are “educated.” We have privileges that children in the past didn’t. They worked over 20 hours a day for 2 dollars a day and had no education.
Safety standards were virtually “non-existent,” and many children were killed or maimed by accidents at work. As a result children were small and pale, and their growth was often stunted by bad conditions.
The Past
Back in the 1800’s, children and teens were forced to work in factories. Some kids only got paid a dollar an hour, and worked up to 20 hours a day with little food, sleep and an unsafe work environment. Imagine making 20 dollars a day and not even getting it until the end of the month. Even after the child laborers got their money, their parents would usually take it to pay for rent and food, so the children got none.
Then Robert Owen changed the factory industry.
Owen lived in the height of the industrial revolution during the 18th century in The United Kingdom. He worked in London before relocating to Manchester at eighteen. At the time, textile manufacturing mills did not have the best conditions which resulted in a bad work environment. Eventually in 1824, he borrowed £100 and began his life as an entrepreneur and social reformer. With the money, he made better work environments for a lot of people.
He also shortened shifts, created safer work environments and provided education and food to his employees – all while paying a higher salary. This caused many factories to shut down due to their worse conditions and lack of staff since they left for the benefits that working for Owen brought. t. With Owen’s influence, other factory owners made the same changes so they would not lose their staff. Owen changed a lot of people’s lives for the greater good.
The Present
Does child labor still happen?
In recent years, child labor violations have jumped. Some kids are getting severe burns from cleaning machines and most of these kids are from the ages of 13-17. All of these kids are losing sleep and failing in school due to overworking and injuries. Child labor has gone up by 37% in the last 2 years.
Most of this is happening in America, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening in other places around the world. One such place is Ghana, where they are sending kids to random islands. While on the islands, the kids are sent to gather ingredients for chocolate bars like Snickers and Mars. In India, kids sit at sewing machines and stitch up clothes,embroider and hand glue gems onto apparel. Kids in China also make some of the toys and clothes we wear, while others make the material. They also make a lot of the shoes like dress shoes and sandals.
