please respond to Alice. with 260 words
Alice
Discussion board
Professor Reina
7/22/24
Sivvanna is a young teenage girl that recalls working in the fields to help her mother make extra money. She is allowed to work in the agriculture fields as young as 12 years old, but she recalls gong out much earlier than that. It is allowed in the United States for 12-year-olds to work unlimited hours with parental permission. She is now older and of the age to go to college but had put that off to continue to help her mother. She someday dreams of going to college to become a lawyer or a teacher, but for now her dreams of college are put aside. You see her entire family was deported to Mexico some time ago and there is no one else to help her mother fend for the family.
Maura is a farm worker, and she recalls needing to help her family buy necessities like food and rent. If she wanted other necessities like clothes and shoes, she needed to go work in the fields so she could buy these items. Farm workers in the United Staes have the lowest wages. The average famer worker makes $15,000 to $17,499 per year. While families make $20,000 to $24,000. In order to survive families, find it necessary to have their children work to lesson the burden on the family. They only survive because children are allowed to work in the fields. Most of children go
Vincente Reyes is another child laborer. He started in the fields picking onions when he was in the 8th grade. He was able to succeed as a college student and become an advocate for child laborers. This is necessary since children out in the fields are exposed to chemicals and pesticides. It is unknown if these children will develop forms of cancer after growing up around these pesticides. Some children can also get asthma when exposed to these liquid chemicals that become aerosolized and irritate the throat and lungs of these kids.
The United States passed a labor law that was called “The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938” unfortunately the farm workers and child farm workers are exempt by this law. This law keeps record of the over time pay, record keeping, and child labor standards. For the farm workers young and old this law is useless. There is another law that is trying to get passed as a law. It is the CARE ACT or the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety. Many people stand up for the rights of farm workers, however you need to be careful in doing that. Some people threaten the workers that are trying to call attention to the plight of the farm Labor.
Credits
- Dorfman, Rodrigo – Child Labor in Agriculture – Aug 22, 2022
https://youtu.be/abRpVSGPbXo?si=iywumsNilBlkBamuLinks to an external site.
- Paredes, David – Children in the fields, Jan 30, 2013
https://youtu.be/A_YEet_G4sA?si=uaAGfM8e_4U04bgRLinks to an external site.