Pricing The Priceless Child Summary

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The Dependence and Independence of Youth Overtime In the colonial era, it was normal for a young boy to be working outside all day long in the hot sun and for a young girl to be doing chores around the house. If parents in today's society made their children work as much as they did during the colonial era, some would call it child abuse. Overtime, there has been a decrease in economic value, while an increase in sentimental value for children. This sentimental worth caused the creation of child labor laws. Additionally, in the 1960s there was an increase in value of tertiary education causing loner dependency of children. Although enslaved African Americans showed signs of dependence during the industrial era and rebellious teens showed signs …show more content…

The book Pricing The Priceless Child, written by Viviana A. Zelizer, contains information about how children were viewed during the 1800s. During the 1800s, industrial work created several different job opportunities for children. In Pricing The Priceless Child, Zelizer wrote that “Employers welcomed their nimble ‘little fingers’ for the ‘gigantic automatons of labor saving machinery’” (Zelizer 59). This quote suggests that youth were valued on their ability to work in positions where adults could not. Children were expected to take on the role as “little adults” by age the age of eight. Although still living at home, these children were working long hours in harsh conditions. Additionally, child labor prevented children from getting an education. Since the children could not be two places at once, they chose to work to help out with their family income instead of attending school. Allowing children to directly enter the workforce at a young age taught them what it was like to be an independent and working adult earlier than children would in today’s society. Therefore, child labor during the industrial period led children to experience independence at a younger

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