Essay On Child Labor During The Industrial Revolution

During the Industrial Revolution, child labor became a huge issue. Around eighteen percent of all American workers were under the age of sixteen. Once the Industrial Revolution hit, children everywhere were looking for jobs. These children had to give up their right to an education, be harshly worked in dangerous situations, and help the family earn an income to put food on the table.
Affording an education was hard for most families. In fact, so many people were out of business that a proper education was the last thing on everyone’s mind. Back then, families had to find ways to put food on the table, especially when they had many mouths to feed. “Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.” Many people believed in the importance of an education for a better future. Without an education, the kids had a harder time of getting a higher paying job that would potentially bring them out of poverty. An educated child was very rare back in the industrial era. Kids had no choice to attend school, their families counted on them to bring in an extra income to try and help offset living costs. This was an endless viscous cycle for many families.
Many kids were overworked, and put through harsh conditions. It was not uncommon to hear about child injuries or even deaths in the newspapers. Workdays often lasted ten to fourteen hours, and these kids were
The Supreme Court passed the Child Labor Law in 1918, and another in 1922. This law diminished child labor completely. It was now completely illegal for kids to work in any mill, or coal mine. Apprentices were still allowed, because the child is not actually earning a pay, nor does he or she have a set time schedule for when they have to be at the apprentice