Blog #5 re:hidden problems of Child Farm Workers

What first attracted me to writing this last class blog on this particular topic is that my mother was the daughter of migrant farm workers in Arkansas, and my father picked cotton on the family farm from the time he could walk [yes, literally] until he left home at age 18. He told me once that my grandfather had him get up and pick cotton all day in the hot sun when he'd gone out with his friends and drank whiskey at age 16 the night before. Dad drove home in the family car, but he did not rememer driving home. When my grandfather saw the state of his car and my filthly slumbering dad, he had Dad and his brothers clean up the car, then hit the fields. My father never drank another drop of whiskey. He did pick a lot more cotton!

In addition, I teach in a very rural area. At times, I've asked students where they were the day before and gotten a "Balin' hey," reply. We actually have "Drive your tractor to school day" and "Ride your horse to school day" out here in the sticks for certain school pride weeks. Also, I grew up in Texas; I left at the age of 22 to move to Tennessee. So, you can see how this course link subject hit "close to home" as it were.

I was, quite frankly, appalled by the video on the course link entitled "Hidden Problems of Child Farm Workers" under this blog. I watched a little girl working in an onion field in Texas who had the flu and could hardly talk. Her whole family was working on the farm at the time. I saw a 17 year old young woman who had dropped out of school because she was having to work so much on the farm that she did not have any time to study.

I read and read and seemed unable to stop reading. Having just taken a 19th century French literature course last semester, child labor in coal mines and factories during that time is not something that was new to me. However, the fact that young children are not protected under child labor laws when working on the family farm or on a farm where their parents work [in this day & age!] astounds me. Yeah, I know, I read . . . I understand that there are laws in place that protect kids from hazardous materials, tractors, and other dangers of the farm up to a certain age (see the link posted below for more on this). And, I am grateful for the protection NCLB gives even homeless children in that they are supposed to be educated by law in this country. But, I feel sure that abuses do still occur, espeically when children's parents work on a farm and need the extra money that their children's wages can supply just to suvive--i.e., pay the rent and eat.

That said, I know I have had numerous kids in class whose jobs help feed their families. Sure, their jobs are not always on the family farm, but they feel great loyalty to thier families, especially to single parents, grandparents, and younger siblings who are struggling just to have enough to eat. School attendance and homework truly pale in light of big issues like having your electricity cut off , being evicted, or buying groceries.

My students are high school aged. It makes me sad to see some of them with such large responsiblilities at their ages, but children carrying that sort of load is just maddening. There is no way for children to get off the migrant farm and into a safe job without completing their education. It seems to me that without Congress changing these laws, this country is allowing children to be abused by the system. If a parent left their child in the sun all day for 10 hours until they were sunburned while they had the flu, it would be considered child abuse. Why is this ok if it happens on the family farm or on a farm where a parent works?


The link provided below gives a very succint overview of child labor laws as it advocates for children. Check it out:

http://www.stopchildlabor.org/USchildlabor/fact1.htm


Signing out,
GC