The 60 minutes documentary of Children in the Fields is a clear-cut, unbiased film that shows various sides of the situation surrounding children working on farms. On one side you have Carlos Casares and his two children Carlos Jr, age seventeen, and Cody, age thirteen, who work the cotton fields each summer to support their family. While on another side you have a North Carolina farmer, Jeff Darnell, who is also under heavy financial stress. Darnell is one who hires the help like Carlos Casares and has admitted to hiring children as young as twelve years of age. The final side shown in this video is that of Norma Flores Lopez, who is against children working in the fields, especially after personally working the fields at the young age of
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They are a family that struggles to make ends meet. Carlos Sr. worked as a truck driver for fifteen years, until the job market crashed and the only job he was trained for was working the farms. When his children came to the age of twelve, he legally took them to the fields to help bring in money. Every morning Carlos, Carlos Jr, and Cody get up at 5:30 and head out to work their ten hour shift while bringing in the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. In an interview, Carlos Casares told Byron Pitts his heartbreaking story, but also his opinion on the child labor.
“It's hard. And it breaks my heart for me to have 'em out here like that," Casares said. "For those who would say, that 13 year old boys and 12 year old boys shouldn't have to do this kinda work...," Pitts remarked. "Then what would I do? Where would I live, you know? What would I give my kids? What would they wear? What would they eat?" he replied (Farm Labor). This is a devastating way of life for many people in not only the United States, but those coming from Mexico to find work in the fields. The US Department of Labor published a report stating,
Farm workers work 42 hours per week and earn $7.25 per hour on average, but this “average” varies greatly…Annually, the average income of crop workers is between $10,000 to $12,499 for individuals and $15,000 to $17,499 for a family… The federal poverty line is $10,830 for an individual or $22,050 …show more content…
As a worker of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs which provides national training and education to farm workers, Lopez aims to remove children from the fields by changing the law. She understands the value of work, but feels that twelve is entirely too young to work such lengthy, arduous shifts. Lopez is not alone in her reasoning, Stephanie Barclay stated in the Fair Trade and Child Labor article, “children are often exposed to many risks in agriculture, such as ‘long hours in scorching heat, hauling heavy loads, exposure to toxic pesticides and injury from… dangerous tools’” (Fair Trade and Child Labor). Also, according to the scholar James Robinson “Child labor is inefficient when it is used by parents as a substitute for negative bequests (to transfer income from children to parents)” (Robinson). Though this statement is true, children are exposed to many risks just riding in vehicles, walking to school, or even just playing on a playground. In Casares’ and Lopez’s situations, they were used in the way Robinson describes, for negative bequests. I must disagree with Lopez, because I believe work is good for children. Work teaches them discipline and ethic that they cannot get while running around jobless. If working on the farm is all they can do until they are sixteen, let them
They are a family that struggles to make ends meet. Carlos Sr. worked as a truck driver for fifteen years, until the job market crashed and the only job he was trained for was working the farms. When his children came to the age of twelve, he legally took them to the fields to help bring in money. Every morning Carlos, Carlos Jr, and Cody get up at 5:30 and head out to work their ten hour shift while bringing in the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. In an interview, Carlos Casares told Byron Pitts his heartbreaking story, but also his opinion on the child labor.
“It's hard. And it breaks my heart for me to have 'em out here like that," Casares said. "For those who would say, that 13 year old boys and 12 year old boys shouldn't have to do this kinda work...," Pitts remarked. "Then what would I do? Where would I live, you know? What would I give my kids? What would they wear? What would they eat?" he replied (Farm Labor). This is a devastating way of life for many people in not only the United States, but those coming from Mexico to find work in the fields. The US Department of Labor published a report stating,
Farm workers work 42 hours per week and earn $7.25 per hour on average, but this “average” varies greatly…Annually, the average income of crop workers is between $10,000 to $12,499 for individuals and $15,000 to $17,499 for a family… The federal poverty line is $10,830 for an individual or $22,050 …show more content…
As a worker of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs which provides national training and education to farm workers, Lopez aims to remove children from the fields by changing the law. She understands the value of work, but feels that twelve is entirely too young to work such lengthy, arduous shifts. Lopez is not alone in her reasoning, Stephanie Barclay stated in the Fair Trade and Child Labor article, “children are often exposed to many risks in agriculture, such as ‘long hours in scorching heat, hauling heavy loads, exposure to toxic pesticides and injury from… dangerous tools’” (Fair Trade and Child Labor). Also, according to the scholar James Robinson “Child labor is inefficient when it is used by parents as a substitute for negative bequests (to transfer income from children to parents)” (Robinson). Though this statement is true, children are exposed to many risks just riding in vehicles, walking to school, or even just playing on a playground. In Casares’ and Lopez’s situations, they were used in the way Robinson describes, for negative bequests. I must disagree with Lopez, because I believe work is good for children. Work teaches them discipline and ethic that they cannot get while running around jobless. If working on the farm is all they can do until they are sixteen, let them