Child Labor Laws and Keeping Kids Safe

I was reading in the news about the Supreme Court case that upheld the law that states that indigenous children should be placed for adoption within their cultural groups/tribes. I am, for one, surprised and pleased that the SCOTUS made a ruling that was a/ compassionate, and b/ culturally sensitive. I know, I sound (and am) a little jaded about the current Supreme Court, but given the last few years' worth of rulings, it seems logical to be a bit skeptical. 

There are other lawsuits and high-profile cases in the news as well, well beyond the media circus surrounding TFG. One that is really worth following is the argument that children under 14 ought not to be working... a child labor law case that agricultural folks are fighting, though the bill does carve out exceptions for family farms. What it seeks to do is make it less likely that children from immigrant families are not put out into the fields to work, which seems logical to me. They should be in school. Yes, working teaches a myriad lessons, but at age 12 or so, being put into the harness for low wages and even lower respect is not going to teach them marketable skills or problem solving-- in fact, it's more likely they'll learn some harsh social truths instead. 

The situation surrounding child labor laws is one that is bubbling up all over the country, not just in agricultural areas. Many GOP-controlled legislatures are promoting lowering the working age or getting rid of work permits altogether. They say it's critical for the economy to let young kids work. They say it's teaching them valuable life skills. The age group they are looking at --the middle school aged children-- can barely remember to use deodorant. 

Yes, they would like kids to be working. To state that the available workforce is so thin that we have to bring in children who are not even old enough to babysit for pay to work in chicken packing plants is absurd. And then they bitch about test scores? 

They cannot have it both ways. During the remote learning phase of the pandemic, many of our local corporate employers chose to schedule high school aged kids to work during the school hours. Kids went to work instead of online to class, because they were afraid to lose their jobs if they complained. The governor did nothing to tell employers not to do this, and then we all hear about learning loss. If keeping kids safer by keeping them home from social groups was the goal, then letting them work in big box stores and fast food places undercut the whole point. 

Kids are always an expendable group, at least to many business leaders. It's time to protect them again.

Have a good day,

C