Should Children Be Working At Such A Young Age

In the late 1700's and early 1800's, power-driven machines began to replace hand labor for the production of nearly all manufactured items. Factories began to pop up everywhere, first in England and then the United States was soon to follow in their footsteps. There were numerous factories and to meet the needs of the owners of these factories they had to get creative and find people of all walks of life to put to work. Sadly, their solution to the in demand workers was putting children, sometimes as young as three years old, to work. Operating the machines did not require adult strength, and children would work for much less than adults would. By the mid-1800's, child labor was a major problem.

Although children had been servants and apprentices throughout most of human history, child labor reached new extremes during the Industrial Revolution.There was a big impact on the daily life of a child labourer as poor children often worked full time jobs with minimal pay in order to help support their families. Young children worked long hours in factories under dangerous conditions. children were easier to manage and control than adults because their size was perfect as it allowed them to move in small spaces in factories or mines.The practice of child labor continued throughout much of the Industrial Revolution until laws were eventually passed that made child labor illegal.

Conditions of factories were not safe for anyone, let alone a small child. Due to these conditions many children died before their prime. Many children “began work at age 5, and generally died before they were 25” (www.victorianweb.org), America was beginning to lose an entire generation due to these working conditions that so many had to endure. Children were hired at an alarming rate. “In 1870, the first time census reported child workers, there were 750,000 workers in the United States age 15 and under, not including those who worked on family farms or in other family businesses” (“Child Labor in America”), these numbers were not something that was looked over, it astonished many. “A cotton manufactory of 5 or 6000 spindles will employ those 200 children” (Bremner 232). The workforce would continuously grow, hiring more and more children each day. Factories were good for using children as a means of their productivity. “Textile factories, for the most part […] were in the forefront of this industrial revolution, and children formed an essential component of the new industrial workforce” (Bremner 232). Many times without these children working some of these factories would not have survived through the revolution.

The use of children sped up production and made the pool of employees much larger. The benefit of child labor for the workers being able to have more people in the factory. The disadvantage was the fact that children are young and should be spending their time learning and playing opposed to operating machines for 16 hours and never attending school (Document 1). Some communities made child labor an option and enforced education at the same time. These communities were known as working societies. They focused on making nice conditions for children that worked. They took good care of kids and paid them in exchange for work. Safety was a big concern so death rates were very low (Document 5). However, not all companies treated their kids well. Some factories abused child labor, allowing kids as young as three years old to help out (Document 9). Politicians are managers claimed that the kids were just fine and even benefited from working. “I have visited many factories, and I never saw a single instance of corporal chastisement inflicted on a child. They seemed to be always cheerful and alert” (Document 4). Child labor was a debatable topic during the Industrial Revolution because many people depended on it but many other people wanted it to stop because it was

Throughout history, children have always worked, either as apprentices or servants. However, child labor reached a whole new scale during the time period of the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the time frame of late 1800s-early 1900s, children worked long hours in dangerous factory conditions for very little wages. They were considered useful as laborers because their small stature allowed them to be cramped into smaller spaces, and they could be paid less for their services. Many worked to help support their families, and by doing so, they forwent their education. Numerous nineteenth century reformers and labor groups sought to restrict child labor and to improve working conditions.

During the industrial revolution in Britain, the usage of child labourers dramatically increased as it became a cheap and easy form of labour. This lead to the continued abuse of many children in textile factories. In 1833, the Factory Act of 1833 was put forth which dictated that no children under the age of nine would work. Children ages nine to thirteen wouldn’t work more than nine hours a day and children ages thirteen to eighteen wouldn’t work more than twelve hours a day. In addition it introduced the circulation of four factory inspectors who were to enforce the new legislation. They were to certify whether children had received their compulsory education of two hours each day and report conditions to the government. This act brought forth attention and sparked debates from the public which made stronger note of the working conditions for children.

I don't want to ever have to witness a child doing the work of a grown adult. Child labor is not okay and isn't for many reasons. Children will miss out on their childhood and their education if they're working. It also puts lots of stress and pressure on them, overlooks them, and not all working conditions are safe for kids.

It is clear to see that in the picture of child labor, from document #10, that children were unhappy. They were also unsafe because of the harsh working conditions. These places are dangerous for adults and even more dangerous for kids. According to The Apostate, by Jack London, he started work before the age of 10. Jack said, “I started working when I was younger than him.” He was talking about his 10-year old brother. Imagine kids younger than 10 working in factories.

One reason why the Industrial Revolution had a negative impact on the world is because it started child labor. Child labor is when businesses and industries take kids from any age and make them work in dangerous and inhumane places. In the document from a British industrial worker, the Sadler Committee in 1832 investigated the workers’ conditions in British factories. It says, “ ‘... When did you first begin to work in the mills? When I was ten years of age … we began at five in the morning and stopped at nine at night … at times we were frequently strapped [whipped].’ ”. This statement from the document shows a negative impact in the Industrial Revolution because kids at young age are sent to work for long hours and are frequently whipped.

This is no place for a child, but day in and day out the youngsters of industrial cities would tend to cotton making machines because their little fingers could easily change the spools of cotton. With no safety measures and children sticking their fingers into rapidly spinning machines, injuries were bound to happen. If you got injured, you would most likely get fired, and there was nothing that you could do about it. From 5 in the morning (till) 9 at night (Document 7), this is how long then six year old Elizabeth Bentley would work at a textile factory, children would have no say in when they would work and for how long the could work. One day it may be a ten hour shift and the next a sixteen hour shift. Child Labor Laws limiting the hours that children could work did not come until later in the Industrial Revolution. (Note that this child is not in school. It was not uncommon for children to be working instead of learning at school. The lack of Child Labor Laws was not just bad the children, but also for society. Without properly educated children, there would be a lack of educated people in the world (Document

Children most of the time worked in mines, glass factories, textiles, canaries, and home industries. A lot of these industries are filled with dangers that can easily kill them. In this quote “Children as young as six years old during the industrial revolution worked hard hours for little or no pay” (Child labor in factories). A good number of these kids were harassed and mistreated by the factory bosses. If children didn’t arrive on time to work, they would have to be punished by the factory bosses. The punishment was that the children would have to sprint up and down the factory aisle until they were completely drained out of energy and they had to do this nude carrying a backpack full of heavy objects. This caused a lot of children to develop

(Laslett, 1970) Coupled with these innovations was the new concept of applying scientific methodology to industrial processes. (Laslett, 1970) All of these changes, while beneficial to businesses, did little to improve the lot of the industrial laborer. (Laslett, 1970) One of the key complaints of an entirely unregulated labor force in the late 1800s was the extensive use and abuse of child labor. In 1870, nearly three quarters of a million children between the ages of ten and fifteen worked in hazardous aspects of manufacturing, agriculture and street trade. (Laslett, 1970) By 1880, that number was over one point one million, or one in every six children in that age group. (Laslett, 1970) By 1900, that number doubled. The conditions under which children worked were very dangerous. They worked the same shifts as adults (about 12 hours a day, six days a week), denying them the opportunity for school and play. (Laslett, 1970) The factories, mills, mines and other work venues in which they labored were unsafe and unregulated. Children were also often used in the most dangerous aspects of industrial work, such as clearing jammed machines or working in confined spaces too small for adults. (Laslett, 1970) In 1881, only seven states had any kind of regulation laws for child laborer. Desperate for money to survive, immigrants and working-class Americans forged

The article on the Industrial Revolution is about how kids work under dangerous conditions. That isn’t the worst part, the worst part is that they allowed kids up to the ages of 6 years old to work in factories even sometimes younger than that. The conditions that children worked in mirrored quite closely that of the conditions that slaves worked in just a few years before the Industrial Revolution began. There are a few similarities in the conditions that they worked in, but there are also many differences to the children working during the Industrial Revolution. The main similarities between the slaves and children who worked during that time was that many of them didn’t even know their ABC’s. When they tried to change the way they were

Do you ever think about kids under 13 having a job. Well yes, kids that are under 13 should have a paying job. They could have a job during the summertime to keep them busy and cause less stress for their parents.