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Posted on 11/19/2011 9:32:20 AM PST by BarnacleCenturion
Newt Gingrich tonight said at an address at Harvard that child work laws "entrap" poor children into poverty - and suggested that a better way to handle failing schools is to fire the janitors, hire the local students and let them get paid for upkeep.
"This is something that no liberal wants to deal with," Gingrich said. "Core policies of protecting unionization and bureaucratization against children in the poorest neighborhoods, crippling them by putting them in schools that fail has done more to create income inequality in the United States than any other single policy. It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in, first of all, child laws, which are truly stupid.
(Excerpt) Read more at nation.foxnews.com ...
:) Damn it.
So what do the janitors do for jobs?
**High School kids spent 2 weeks doing this instead?**
That was the reason for summer school vacation - kids had to bring in the harvest during those months....when the US and Europe were agricultural-based economies.
He IS this stupid.
Yes, he is like that; He was my congressman once and I've spoken with him off the cuff a number of times. His brillance is often offset by his pride in his own intellect. That's just the way he is.
Well, I’ll point out that a lot of parents would be uncomfortable with prisoners or homeless people near their kids...
To be honest I’ve never really appreciated the brilliance, if it is objectively even there. He is loquacious, even garrulous, and the consequences of the words seem to elude him all too often.
Well, they already did the “Gingrich who stole Christmas” thing back in ‘95 or ‘96...so why not?
Weird article, weird statement by Newt. Another dull day on the trail.
I think he’s talking middle/high school kids.
Instead of risking sounding like an idiot on every Newt thread, why not read articles and use common sense first.
When I was a kid, there were 2 adult janitors who supervised a crew of teen janitors.
Agreed.
Nobody is asking kids to work in sweatshops 22 hours a day in deplorable conditions! We’re saying “wipe off your desk and run a mop through the hall.”
I think you’re looking WAY too much into that, especially since Newt has stated his “ideal” solution would basically be for everyone to be on vouchers and choose any school they want.
He was just throwing an idea out there, this is what he does.
woe betide any third grader who littered at our school.
I went to a private tuition-free high school producing some of the finest students in the country where ALL maintenance not requiring a license was performed by the students, including industrial craft work.
I disagree. My grandfather owned a very successful janitorial services company. My father was raised working in the company, and he trained me. Any reasonably intelligent 10 year-old can be trained to do the majority of daily/weekly cleaning.
I presume that, since the kids would be PAID to do the cleaning, that parents would have to give permission for them do take this JOB. Just like kids work at McDonald’s now.
How is this any different?
So you have no problem with a JANITOR getting cradle to grave retirement and $50,000 a year, but you think teachers should get a pay cut?
Well, he *IS* attracting more folks! Yes, he does need to stay on task, however.
That is true. However, the other fact is that, until 150 years ago, you couldn't find a society that had any more than about a 50% literacy rate, either. I'm not saying I support public education in its current form, but you have to consider that other part of the equation.
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