The New Slavery?

In class today we discussed child labor today around the world. The assignment was to read about 7 articles and then ask yourself "Would you or would you not buy a product made by child labor?" Then as a class we discussed our ideas for child labor. One point that I had was that the children don't care about their health when they see the paycheck that they will get. Another point that I made was why did the adults have to be so tough to kids that do wrong in the workplace, like when a girl got her hair cut off in the 1800's and now how there is child prostitution. Also a point I made was that there is child labor in America still on the farms because the farmers don't see it as a bad thing, that's how the farmers grew up and they did just fine.

I wasn't the only one who brought up great points, so did all my classmates. One good point made was how maybe child labor was a good thing in the eyes of their parents, teaches the kids how to deal with money plus it gives the kids maturity to do things on there own. Another great point made was the fact that if my family really needed money then they would go into child labor. Even though it is living hell it would be worth it to help the family. Lastly the point that stuck in my head the most was the point that our wants for the products made will make us Americans look away from the fact a child laborer made this product.

Our group did well in the fact that the conversations kept rolling and never really had a point of silence. Even though we got some help by Ms. Gleason by always asking new questions we did a pretty good job in the conversation. Also the group was good in answering every part of a question, every opinion and view of the question. That is how this weeks Socratic seminar went.

Male and Female Textile Workers in Lowell, MA

Lowell was one of the first places to have a Textile mill and here are stats about the type of people that worked there. The amount of girls in the textile mills blows the amount of guys who work there by a huge amount! The difference in 10 years is a way higher amount for women than men, the amount of females working at the mill grew by 1400 females in just 10 years an for men the amount only grows by 900. I see the people running the mills didn't see a decrease of production with women working so they kept the idea of mostly women working in the textiles throughout this 24 year period. Every statistical year there is about 4000 more women then men working in the textiles. This means that women were not doing a bad job in the textiles and that it could make for plenty of jobs for women. That is the ideas that I got from looking at the data in this graph.

Life and Work in the Industrial City

This report dated September 15, 1847 has been provided for the urban planning committees of various cities in England. My name is Jack Monahan, 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 city.

Positive isn't a word that is used a lot during the Industrial Revolution. But there is a lot of positives when looking at the big picture of what the Industrial Revolution brought to the world. When looking around in my visit to the city I noticed that the amount of people living on the streets is very low. In Doc B John Jones talks about how the cities were such a glorious place with not a lot of people living on the streets, everyone had jobs. Also W.C. Taylor noticed on her trip to a factory that the amount of accidents were low and with working in a factory people had enough money to feed their families. (Doc E) So in some peoples eyes the factory work was worth it for the money and in others eyes the life in a factory was a privilege not a punishment.

Negative is an understatement when talking about the life in factories during the Industrial Revolution. The people were living in pollution and filth, the rivers were even colored by the pollution in the rivers! (Doc A) When living in these conditions the workers had to do the same thing at work everyday! How boring. (Doc A) Also in these jobs were fires always starting and everywhere you would walk their would be smoke being breathed in, work was like a torture device. (Doc C) In these terrible conditions the children were made to work which made them starving, have distorted limbs, and age prematurely. (Doc D) I’m not sure these conditions are worth a pay check.

I think there was more of a negative effects on living conditions in the Industrial Revolution. The people would eat, sleep, breathe smoke. Out of my 5 sources 3 out of the 5 were negative towards the Industrial Revolution. All of the negative sources were about the same thing, how the smoke would ruin peoples lives. In Doc D caught my attention the most when the children would have distorted limbs and would age prematurely. Is this really what the Industrial Revolution wanted to happen? No so the IR was negative compared to what the creators thought it would turn out.