Figure 1.--This 1908 Lewis Hine photograph taken at 5:00 PM shows boys going home from the Monougal Glass Works. A local remarjed, "De place is lousey wid kids." It was located in Fairmont, West Virginia. An interesting question is how do textbooks and teachers use images like this?

The photographic images of child labor are today very often misused. Too often ideologically driven American school texbooks and teachers present the late-19th century and early-20th century as a contrast between the very rich and poor immigrant labor. The stress is on how workers were exploited by capitalists. These usually richly illustrated books usually make the point with a child miner or other worker and rich well-dressed people ar a banquent or similar photographs. Now we believe that the issue of exploitation is an important one to address. But this was only part of the story. Another important aspect is the wealth generated by industrial capital from which a wide swath of Americans benefitted. Students subjected to this kind of indocrination should ask simple questions like, "If workers were so mistreated in America, why did millions of immigrants flock to America in the late-19th and early 20th century?" Or "What percentage of American children attended school rather than worked and how did this compare to other countries and other times?." "Did not both average and median income levels in America increased significantly during the 19th century as a result of industrialization?" (Median incomes address the question as to how well the wealth created was distributed.) We incourage readers to suggest additional questions that our school children should ask their teachers. An academically honest teacher or textbook would address these and other related questions. But sadly, many do not. And teachers who go on about the evils of industrial capital will be unable to answer them. As a teacher, I would have welcomed thoughtful questions like this from my students. Let's see how your teacher responds.

Child Labor Image Usage

The photographic images of child labor are today very often misused. Too often ideologically driven American school texbooks and teachers present the late-19th century and early-20th century as a contrast between the very rich and poor immigrant labor. The stress is on how workers were exploited by capitalists. These usually richly illustrated books usually make the point with a child miner or other worker and rich well-dressed people ar a banquent or similar photographs. A British teacher writes, "Its the same story in Britain. School textbooks about the 19th century have illustrations showing rich kid and a poor child. There were large numbers of agricultural workers that migrated to towns because of the high wages paid by manufacturing companies. Blackburn in Lancashire where I am from was seen as the golden town were high wages could be had. Workers migrated from the agricultural Lake District to the town. Skilled workers were the new lower middle class and many factory owners were the new rich. the new wealthy people could look back to a time when they lived in humble circumstances. Tom Burke is an example a poor boy who rose to stardom because of his singing ability. Now comparing their lives to ours they look to be impovished but at the time they saw them selves in a very different set of circumstances. This all should be part of class discussions, but sadly usually is not."

Issues

Now we believe that the issue of exploitation is an important one to address. But this was only part of the story. Another important aspect is the wealth generated by industrial capital from which a wide swath of Americans benefitted. These two issues are rarely part of class discussions which often focus on poverty and exploitation.

Questions

Students subjected to indocrination rather than real teaching should ask simple questions like, "If workers were so mistreated in America, why did millions of immigrants flock to America in the late-19th and early 20th century?" Or "What percentage of American children attended school rather than worked and how did this compare to other countries and other times?." "Did not both average and median income levels in America increased significantly during the 19th century as a result of industrialization?" (Median incomes address the question as to how well the wealth created was distributed.) We incourage readers to suggest additional questions that our school children should ask their teachers.

Teachers

An academically honest teacher or textbook would address these and other related questions. But sadly, many do not. And teachers who go on about the evils of industrial capital will be unable to answer them. As a teacher, I would have welcomed thoughtful questions like this from my students. Let's see how your teacher responds.

Created: 11:29 PM 9/23/2010
Last updated: 11:29 PM 9/23/2010