Egypt: Child labor a growing problem as food prices rise.
The Jerusalem post. April 3, 2008.
article
Summary: In Egypt, there has been a rise in food prices and more children are being forced into child labor. A 14 year old boy has to work everyday at the brick factory moving bricks for very little money. On average, children only get paid $4.50 in American money. He is only one of many kids who have been put into child labor. More than 20 percent of Egypt's 76 million people are in poverty. The government ahs trued to help the people by supplying food, but they can’t give out that much. The government is trying to pass laws about where children can work, but as the price of food raises this might not be productive. The conditions that children work in are not good. It can get extremely hot and children start working at the age of 4. Some children have been beaten by foremen if they thought they were working to slow. No foremen agreed to be interviewed.
A) This article relates to the AP world theme “Development and transformation of social structures”. It relates to this theme because as the social and economic classes change, it causes many children to be forced into child labor. It also relates to this theme because of the families struggle with money the children have to work for the families.
B) This story doesn’t really have that much background knowledge. All that we know is all around the world prices are raising on food items. It isn’t only in Egypt.
C) We don’t know who is exactly writing the article because it is written by the associated press. But, through the terminology the writer uses, we can infer that the writer is an outsider. We can infer the writer is an outsider because the writer is not writing from his or her experiences. They are not aware of everything that is going on in the factories. For example, they don’t know what the foremen do to the children exactly.
D) The author may be a little basis, but I don’t think it plays to big of an impact on how the story is being reported. The author is saying that what is going on in Egypt is wrong, but yet they are still just reporting the facts.
E) To get a full understanding of the issue, I would like to hear from a foreman. I would like to hear from a foreman because children have reported that foremen have beaten them. I would like to hear what they have to say about what goes on in he factories and if it is safe for young children.
F) I think that there should be child labor laws in Egypt. The children shouldn’t be allowed to work until they are 12 years old. It isn’t fair to the kids at all. Children shouldn’t have to go through this at such a young age. The government should be supplying more help to the families in need of food.
3 comments:
Child labor is defiently wrong and they shoudn't have to work especially at such a young age. The government should be doing more to help their people and set laws on child labor. It would be helpful to hear from a foremen but they wouldn't want to tell what goes on in the factories so that is why they didn't agree to be interviewed. By that alone, you can tell they are hiding something.
I agree with Juila that there should be child labor laws in Egypt. The governmoent should be helping the citizens on a greater level because of the large amount of poverty. Children are still growing and learning and putting them in labor would do nothing, but damage their childhood. If the foremen don't want to be interviewes there must be a reason. They are trying to avoid talking about their treatment toward children.
I think child labor is wrong and children shouldnt be working at such a young age. Tjhey should be concentrating on school. i think Egypt should make laws to help improve this so kids dont turn into slaves in a way.
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