I live in an area that grows a lot of apples, cabbages, etc...
rather than having an army of illegals picking the stuff, I always thought - wouldn’t it be much better if High School kids spent 2 weeks doing this instead?
Of course, it will never happen.
I grew up in cotton country and every fall schools let out for two weeks for cotton harvest. They made up this time by starting a week earlier and letting out a week later. Every kid between about 8 years old and high school seniors picked cotton. The cotton got harvested and kids made some money, many bought their own school clothes with this money.
Of course that was in the 50s and early 60s.
Great idea! They could get their summer tan working the fields and get paid to do so rather than on the beach sprawled out in lines like chorus girls with an audiance of guy looking like they're drooling spit.
It used to....back when the minimum wage was only $1.40 farm labor was an attractive alternative for high school kids.
I really don’t see this as a federal issue though. Newt should be running for school board, not president.
“Of course, it will never happen.”
It won’t happen because of progressive-era child labor laws. Like union laws, child labor laws are outdated.
rather than having an army of illegals picking the stuff, I always thought - wouldn’t it be much better if High School kids spent 2 weeks doing this instead?
A few years ago... Aroostook County used to take two weeks off from school to pick potatoes (Sorry Idaho, but Maine Potatoes are still the best, IMHO).
**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.
Of course, it will never happen.
But it DID happen before - I am only 50, and as a teen I took time out of school during harvest, and on numerous occasions, the old man pulled me out of school because he needed help in the shop fixing a tractor or something... Of course, it went without saying that these times would not be allowed to effect my grades - if I didn't pull good grades my freedom went away, harvest work or not.