Child Labor... It Is Still Here

During our discussion on child labor I brought up many major points. One of those points was how my outlook was on child labor before I researched the topic. In the discussion I said how I thought that child labor wasn't really existing anymore. I just figured it was a thing of the past. As I began to research I found out that it is not common but still very popular in today's world. Another point I brought up was that I didn't think child labor happened in America, and as I was researching I found out that it did happen in many agricultural fields. In these fields the children were being exposed to pesticides which would then make their skin burn after being exposed to the sun for long hours. When the question was asked would you buy products if you knew they were produced by child labor was asked I answered, that i know finding products without child labor will be hard, but I am going to give it my best effort. I just don't see how any product could be worth more than the lives of children. I don't want to be apart of nor support the act of child labor. 

While listening to others in the group I was forced to really think about some things. Someone brought up the question, if your family was really poor and needed the money would you volunteer yourself for child labor. This made me really think because I know my family would not want me putting myself in danger for them, but I don't think it would be much of a decision if my family needed the money I absolutely would volunteer myself. Someone also brought up a good point and said that children should have a say in child labor. Many of those rely on child labor to get money and food on the table, so maybe they want it to continue and then their are others who are being harmed and want it to stop but can not say anything because they are just children. I thought this was a good point because the adults aren't the ones having to do the labor so they should let the kids decide if it is something they want to continue. Lastly, I was just shocked when someone started talking about how that in many part of the west children are forced to go under water and shake up the reefs and scare the fish out with the potential of getting eaten by sharks, bitten by poisonous snakes or barracuda, or dying because of the low water temperatures or lack of oxygen to the brian. This made me really put into view how awful child labor really is. I could just think about how terrified those children were each time they entered the water. 

Overall I think my group did a really good job. Everyone was staying engaged in the conversation and bringing up many different points of views for each topic. I also think that we were very well prepared for the discussion by having to read the articles and having summaries on each one. I also really liked that we were able to have time to ask our own questions because it brought up a lot of debate. For example the question if you would buy products if you knew they were produced by child labor. Half of the group said they would while the other group said they wouldn't. Hearing everyones opinions really made you think and reconsider the question. One thing I wish that happened was that the discussion get more into depth. It was mostly people giving points, but I wanted to really get into the conversation and I don't think we quit did that I think we were getting there. I also wish we had more time to discuss each topic. It would have given us more time to get into depth. Lastly I feel as though if we had more people in each group it would have made the conversations more interesting because there would be more opinions. 

Statistics Chart Coal Mining Industry

Brianne Abrams                                                                             9/10/14

History 10  

http://www.chartgo.com/get.do?id=52e86a0c9a

Over the years 1851-1881 Britain’s coal mining industry has drastically changed in the number of employed children. I see that the number of female employees under the age fifteen decrease about five hundred people every fifteen years. I also see the the number of male employees age 15-20 increased 15,000 people every fifteen years. This could mean that the coal mining industry thought that the males were more useful to them so they hired more of them as the year passed, and the females under fifteen couldn't really work in the mines so they unemployed of some of them as the years went one. The last observation I made was that in 1881 the coal mining industry had 123,900 emplyees more than any of the previous years. This could mean that the industry had expanded significantly allowing the industry to employ more and more people.

City Inspector

Brianne Abrams

History 10

9/16/14

For this assignment we were told to pretend to be a city inspector and go around and read reports about the factories. While reading the reports we had to pick out the positives and negatives of each industry.

This report dated September 15th, 1846 has been provided for the urban planning committees of various cities in England. My name is Brianne Abrams, and as a mid-level city inspector i trust that you will use the information within to determine appropriate needs in urban planning for your municipalities. My report has been through as I have made use of all the sources available to me and have worked to guide you through my own analysis and critical thinking to a full description of the issues facing our cities.

There were not too many positives views about life and work during industrialization in the nineteenth century. Reading through all the document I found only one industry the had absolutely no negatives at all, and that was document B. Document B talked highly about the cotton industry. The workers claimed it to be a very friendly environment saying that they can get along with the owners very well, calling them their friends. The cotton factory was also stated to be clean and “glorious.”This industry was played off to be too good to be true. With that being document E was the only other document to list positives, but this document came off as a little strange to me. It seems as though the inspector as lying about the conditions in this document. The inspector wrote that the factory had no smoke, no accidents, and time to rest. Overall this factory had good conditions. I feel as though the factory new about the inspection and picked the place up just before the inspector came or the inspector was paid off.

The negative views of the impact of the industrialization on life and work in the cities over powered the positive. During industrialization many of the rivers were dyed purple due to cotton dying or dyed black due to oil. (doc. A and D) Causing the drinking water to no longer be drinkable. Document D revealed the worst working conditions compared to the other factories. The workers ears were piercing due to the extremely loud noises that the machines made. The factory also had a very noticeable stench to it. Besides the smell and the noises the unsafe working conditions caused many to get hurt. It also caused the children working in the factory to grow up with defects. The other factories had similar conditions just not all in the same factory. All of the factories had contributed to incredible amounts of pollution due to the amounts of smoke being let out through the chimneys and into the air.

In conclusion if I had to lean more to the positive or negative side I have to side with the negative. There are just too many negatives that over power the positives, yes there are friendly bosses, but there is child labor causing children to grow up with defects. People are having limbs fall off, and unsanitary drinking water. So many people are negatively affected and they are extreme to just say well one factory had a friendly environment so life during industrialization was positive.