Children found working in field

[Ghostrider]

I think there's a pretty large difference between helping your family out on the croft and having to work on an industrial farm from the age of nine. Other news reports on the story explain that they were being forced to work from 7.30am until dusk, without food or water, and since this was on a Wednesday, they were obviously not being allowed to go to school.

 

At 9, given the choice of going to school or spending the day in a rig, even an industrialised one, school wouldn't have seen me that day. School is vastly over-rated, I certainly learned more in a few hours in a rig, than in weeks at a school, but maybe that's just me.

 

Beng Romanian, would there be any point in being in a UK school anyway. Aren't people like these very likely to be migrant, and move on as soon as the season is finished, as likely to another country with another language, as anything else. If so they're not here long enough to learn enough of the langauge to get any good in a school, and how much of what they did learn of the language they'd still remember even if they came back next year is probably both variable from individual to individual, and debatable.

 

Point taken though, if they were being forced to work all day with nothing to eat or drink, that's not on in this country in this day and age, whatever age the person is. I just don't think the length of the working day, or the fact they're not being sent to school in and of themselves are anything that will necessarily be harmful.

[mhutch]

mainly because no one in this country wants to spend their days picking spring onions.

I think it's the poor pay that's the issue: I'd gladly take a job picking spring onions if they promised to double my current salary.

im sure they would love to. only problem is the bunch of spring onions would cost a lot more than anyone would pay. lets face it they will have lots of brits picking the veg if the condems get there way.

 

am blide somebody else has twigged that this shower of shytehooses in edinburgh n westminster just canna bloody wait to get us back in victorian times , mark my words , they would easy inflict the same on us at the drap of a hat

[crofter-amy]

I think there's a pretty large difference between helping your family out on the croft and having to work on an industrial farm from the age of nine. Other news reports on the story explain that they were being forced to work from 7.30am until dusk, without food or water, and since this was on a Wednesday, they were obviously not being allowed to go to school.

 

At 9, given the choice of going to school or spending the day in a rig, even an industrialised one, school wouldn't have seen me that day. School is vastly over-rated, I certainly learned more in a few hours in a rig, than in weeks at a school, but maybe that's just me.

 

Beng Romanian, would there be any point in being in a UK school anyway. Aren't people like these very likely to be migrant, and move on as soon as the season is finished, as likely to another country with another language, as anything else. If so they're not here long enough to learn enough of the langauge to get any good in a school, and how much of what they did learn of the language they'd still remember even if they came back next year is probably both variable from individual to individual, and debatable.

 

Point taken though, if they were being forced to work all day with nothing to eat or drink, that's not on in this country in this day and age, whatever age the person is. I just don't think the length of the working day, or the fact they're not being sent to school in and of themselves are anything that will necessarily be harmful.

 

Well put GR. The bairns are likely learning a lot more useful stuff about the world than they could in an english classroom.

[MJ]

Unfortunately trafficked children are a little more worldwise than your average Shetlinker.

[crofter]

"Tattie Holidays" is a Scottish thing.

 

You are quite right - this half term is known as "the spring onion holidays" in England.

[unlinkedstudent]

Wasn't it the EU that changed the laws re at what age children could work and then became adopted in Scottish and English/Welsh Governments?

 

Is it now 16 hence the shortage of paper boys/gals because it was previously 13?

 

I did a paper round from the age of 13 five mornings a week then upped it to 7 mornings (Crumbs, I hated the Sunday supplements), then "upgraded" to a weekend milk round because it paid double for only 2 mornings compared to said paper round; with summer holidays spent strawberry picking - that paid a grand sum of 60p for every bucket picked and it would take all day to earn roughly £6 to £7. Autumn Sunday mornings were spent sprout trimming in a cold store shed which paid on average a tenner for a morning's work.

 

I avoided gooseberry and bramble picking; likewise the spuds as both were real killers allegedly physically.

 

I'm not against teenagers working and think if the starting age is 16 it could be lowered (say 13 or 14 again?) with a maximum number of hours permitted.

 

I thought the minimum wage also applied these days?

 

There have been several documentaries in the past concerning low paid workers from mainly the Eastern European countries falling into the hands of agencies placing them on farms in Yorkshire (a place near Hull?) and also Lincolnshire, living conditions being dire and working for below the minimum wage.

 

Children as young as 9 should not be out working in fields.

[crofter-amy]

^^^ Does this mean I shouldn't get my 3yr old out helping on the croft....he'd be very upset if he couldn't feed the animals anymore

 

It's a fine line as I see it and no do gooder is going to tell me how to bring up my bairns. Just take a look at the state of society and then tell me all these rules are helping. Bairns should deffinitely get to experience work so they can learn the value of things. Not working day in day out, week in week out though. And since these bairns have just been 'swooped in and rescued' one afternoon and the story blurted to the press we will likely never know what was really going on in that onion field.

[MJ]

Children over age of 14 can work without a licence, there is no minium wage for under 16s much to the joy of certain employers in lerwick (ask those kids how much they're being paid)

 

Paper rounds were a nightmare, 1st of all for the individual risk assesments then insurance, then trying to find a child who would turn up at 6am EVERY day. sunday papers caused problems with weight limits. £20 for 3hrs work wasn't bad but too much work for the little darlings.

[Evil Inky]

Well put GR. The bairns are likely learning a lot more useful stuff about the world than they could in an english classroom.

So we should close down the bourgeoisie education system and send children out to work in the fields instead? Pol Pot tried that in Cambodia, and, in my view, it wasn't an unqualified success.

[crofter-amy]

^^^ the bairns are from another and poor country the odds on them speaking english is pretty low I'd think, so what do you think they would get out of school in England exactly??

 

I didn't say we should abandon schooling all together.

[EM]

...the odds on them speaking english is pretty low I'd think, so what do you think they would get out of school in England exactly??

An opportunity to learn English perhaps?

[JAStewart]

...the odds on them speaking english is pretty low I'd think, so what do you think they would get out of school in England exactly??

 

You'd be surprised at how much futher ahead a lot of European countries are in terms of people being able to speak languages at a young age. My Swedish girlfriend is entirely fluent in English and she also learned French at school. I wish there was more pressure on youngsters to learn languages at school which are useful - I learned German and it's only really useful in Germany. Spanish or French is the way forward. The fact that huge swathes of the world speak English isn't necessarily the best thing from our point of view.

[crofter-amy]

...the odds on them speaking english is pretty low I'd think, so what do you think they would get out of school in England exactly??

An opportunity to learn English perhaps?

 

Now I'm always hearing how classes are too large for the teachers to do a decent job for all their pupils and you think they will have inclination and time to dedicate to teaching a few, transitory bairns english ?

[unlinkedstudent]

...the odds on them speaking english is pretty low I'd think, so what do you think they would get out of school in England exactly??

An opportunity to learn English perhaps?

 

Now I'm always hearing how classes are too large for the teachers to do a decent job for all their pupils and you think they will have inclination and time to dedicate to teaching a few, transitory bairns english ?

 

It isn't just a few kids though. Years ago when my son attended a school in East London, he was the only English child in the class. A friend is a teacher in the same school in East London with a class of 35. Many of the Asian children do speak English but there are also children from Romania, Russia, Poland, China, Somalia, Croatia, Slovakia, Morocco - to name but a few. She is constantly having to use the Language Line for assistance which, in turn, costs the LEA a small fortune.

[Evil Inky]

^^^ the bairns are from another and poor country the odds on them speaking english is pretty low I'd think, so what do you think they would get out of school in England exactly??

 

I didn't say we should abandon schooling all together.

 

But you do think that poor, disadvantaged, and foreign children should be denied an education.

 

Still, as long as you get your cheap spring onions, why should you care?