The reality of China’s development, with more than twice the USA’s population still living on the farm in abject poverty in the interior of the country, a factory job in the city is a big financial step up for the family. Under the one-child policy, China faces a demographic bomb a couple decades hence that they are only now starting to recognize. The saying in China is “2 + 1 = 4″, meaning that two parents have one child who will have to support four elderly folks someday (parents and in-laws), assuming they even marry. With a male-to-female imbalance driven by the traditional preference for sons, cheap ultrasound and practically free abortions, there are roughly 25-45 million men in China who will never marry for lack of a mate. There is no social safety net to speak of outside of the family, and so the pressure for young adults to start earning money at the earliest possible moment is enormous. Basically, if you aren’t college bound, you better get a good job and start getting a paycheck that you can send home to Mom and Dad pronto.

I am not pessimistic about the future of America in the long term, as we still have significant advantages over any of our competitors around the world, and I can see the point in the future where manufacturing could start to flow back this way, especially if unions, both private and public sector, can be brought to heel. However, in the near term protecting little Jimmy from a hard day’s work does him no favors. I agree with your point – the lessons I learned in the factory are every bit as important as anything I ever learned in a classroom.

Thanks very much for your comments! You are welcome anytime!

Through fortunate circumstances my three sons and one daughter have all had the opportunity to work in a local factory on their breaks from school. I pair dearly for their Catholic school education but would rank the factory experience as more important.

Coincidentally, I got a phone call yesterday from the mother of a 20 YEAR OLD. The son had just accepted a position at the same factory and the mother called me to ask if it was “safe”. Pathetic.

If memory serves, it was unions who managed to get rid of “child labor” here in the states; which as far as I’m concerned says it all.

What would have happened to either of these families had some piss-ant with a full stomach decided that “child labor” was unacceptable? All I know is I wouldn’t be here to write about it.

One need only look at Bangladesh, where because of pressure (I think from students in the U.S.) the factories pulled out and stopped employing under-16′s in their factories. Prostitution and child trafficking went WAY up.