Objective Summary Nonfiction

Child Labor—An American Memory

By Janice Anders

Think About It

When you think of the social problems that have plagued America’s past, what do you think about? The Civil Rights Movement of the mid 20^th Century probably comes to mind. Or the struggle women undertook in the early 20^th Century to secure their right to vote. Or the slavery issue that sent our northern states into a long, bloody civil war with our southern states. But would you think of child labor? Probably not. Child labor is an often forgotten social problem that plagued America from its earliest days until it was finally outlawed by the Fair Labor Standards Act in the 1930s.

What is Child Labor?

“So what is child labor?” you may be asking yourself. Simply put, child labor is the employment of children in jobs. It can cover a wide range of jobs, not all of them bad. But for the most part, the American problem was horrible. It often involved placing children into inappropriate or even dangerous work environments. For example, during Industrialization, it was not uncommon for children to work right alongside adults from sunrise to sundown in factories and mills.

Some History

By the 1830s, America had laws on the books that restricted the employment of young children in certain industries, but these laws were lax and went unenforced. Adding to the problem was the view that child labor wasn’t a big problem. In rural areas, kids had always helped out on the farms, so thinking of children working in mills and factories didn’t raise many eyebrows. Also, many people believed that giving children the opportunity to work helped lower class families that could use the extra money to survive.

The Child Labor Reform Movement

Many Americans were growing concerned about the child labor problem in America, and they worked hard to reform child labor. In 1904, a group called the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) was established. It worked to raise awareness of child labor issues . Also in the early 1900s, a photographer named Lewis Hine took many pictures of children working in factories and mills. These photographs were viewed by the public and greatly swayed public opinion. Many states started passing stricter laws regarding the employment of minors. In the late 1930s, the labor reform movement had a major victory when Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act. Minors over age 16 could only work in non-hazardous occupations, and the age of 18 was set as the minimum age for working in hazardous jobs.

A Global Problem?

Although child labor has been all but eradicated in America, it continues to be a problem throughout the world. Many countries still allow the exploitation of children in a variety of jobs. There are many international organizations currently monitoring the child labor problem across the globe and working to stop the mistreatment of children everywhere. They send a very clear message to any country still allowing this horrible practice—stop child labor now!

Which of the following is the BEST objective summary of the article?

• The article “Child Labor - An American Memory” by Janice Anders explains the injustices of child labor until it was outlawed in the 1930s. When child labor was legal, children were working long hours under often dangerous conditions. Even though there were laws set during the 1800s to prevent young children from working, these laws were not enforced, and many looked upon child labor as beneficial to families. It was not until the 1930s when the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed that set laws preventing children under the age of sixteen from working in hazardous jobs. While in America, child labor has ended, this continues to be a serious issue in other countries.

• The article “Child Labor- An American Memory” by Janice Anders explains the injustices of child labor until it was outlawed in the 1930s. Children were forced to work in dangerous jobs and often worked from sun up to sun down right alongside adults. By the 1830s, there were laws on the books that prohibited young children from working, but nobody paid any attention to these laws. Kids helped out on the farms, which was needed during this time because there was so much work to do. Children who came from poor families also worked to help make ends meet. In 1904, a committee was established to help bring awareness to the tremendous problem. There was also a photographer who took pictures of kids working. These pictures helped people see the big problem. In the 1930s, a law was passed preventing children under the age of 16 from working. Child labor is a global problem to this day. In other countries, children are still forced to work. There are still organizations that fight against child labor everywhere around the world.

• The article “Child Labor – An American Memory” by Janice Anders explains the injustices of child labor until it was outlawed in the 1930s. According to the article, “the American problem was horrible. It often involved placing children into inappropriate or even dangerous work environments.” Finally in the 1930s, laws were set in place to end child labor in America. However, the problem still exists in other countries, and there are organizations who work globally to end child labor

  everywhere.

• The article “Child Labor- An American Memory” by Janice Anders explains the injustices of child labor until it was outlawed in the 1930s. There has never been a more dangerous problem for America than child labor. Children were forced to work long hours in dangerous jobs. In the 1930s , thanks to the help of a photographer, an act was passed that ended child labor. This most likely saved the lives of thousands of children. Today, however, the struggle continues. We all must join forces to help end child labor all over the world.

What text structure is mainly used under the heading The Child Labor Reform Movement?

• compare/contrast

• problem/solution

• chronological order

• description

McDonald's in global profit free fall as people everywhere increasingly

reject chemically-altered toxic fast food

By Mike Adams

For decades, McDonald's has been the poster child of chemically-altered factory-made fast food. While preying on the emotional imprinting of children with on-site playgrounds and social engineering marketing tactics, the restaurant's true fundamental ethics are reflected in the horrors of the factory food industry: imprisoned chickens in tiny cages, genetically modified soy as meat fillers, chemically-altered menu ingredients and a geopolitical form of processed food imperialism that has resulted in McDonald's restaurants "occupying" hundreds of nations around the world while exporting obesity, diabetes and heart disease globally.

Slowly but surely, the public has increasingly caught on to the McDonald's sleight-of-food stage magic. Feel-good advertising can't cover up the truth about its inhumane treatment of animals, genetically modified food ingredients and insidious social programming that tries to equate the restaurant with an emotional state of bliss. "Happy Meal..." seriously? I doubt the chickens who were slaughtered for that meal were very happy...

Corporate earnings in free fall

Now, the global restaurant chain is feeling the financial vacuum that happens when people realize you've been feeding them poison. Corporate earnings are "in an absolute free fall", reports Quartz.com. "McDonald’s announced today that sales at stores open at least a year were down more 1.7% worldwide, and dropped 4% in the all important US market."

And where are people going instead? To restaurants like Chipotle, which was once owned in large part by McDonald's but has since branched off and found a groove with more health-conscious customers who really do give a hoot where their food ingredients come from.

In this process, McDonald's, which has been far too slow to wake up to the reality of informed consumers and food transparency, has become a sort of garbage food depot for the nutritionally ignorant. It's the kind of place that attracts people who are so uninformed about food and nutrition that they think Kraft Macaroni and Cheese contains real cheese. Or that the "All Natural" label claim means organic.

Desperate to make up for lost ground, McDonald's has announced its intention to remove "human antibiotics" from its chicken meat supply. In a document entitled, McDonald’s Global Vision for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Food Animals," the company says it hopes to “prohibit the use of antimicrobials in food animals that are by WHO definition 'critically important' to human medicine, and not presently approved for veterinary use."

Which of the following is the BEST objective summary of the article?

• The article “McDonald’s in Global Profit Free Fall As People Everywhere Increasingly Reject Chemically-Altered Toxic Fast Food” by Mike Adams discusses McDonald's problem with processed food. It is disgusting how McDonald’s has tried to appeal to young children with happy meals when their chicken nuggets and other foods are made of ingredients that are bad for people’s health. People have started to catch on and are now going to places like Chipotle instead. McDonald’s has suffered financially because people are finding out about their fake ingredients, and it is only right that they do so. McDonald’s needs to change! People’s health matters.

• The article “McDonald’s in Global Profit Free Fall As People Everywhere Increasingly Reject Chemically-Altered Toxic Fast Food” by Mike Adams discusses the financial decline that McDonald’s has suffered over the past few years. According to the article, sales have dropped “more 1.7% worldwide, and dropped 4% in the all important US market”. This is due mainly to their chemically altered menu. Now that people are more educated about how important it is to eat “real” organic food, they are staying away from the mega food chain. As a result,

  McDonald’s is suffering financially.

• The article “McDonald’s in Global Profit Free Fall As People Everywhere Increasingly Reject Chemically-Altered Toxic Fast Food” by Mike Adams discusses the problem that McDonald’s finds itself in due to their menu filled with processed food. Slowly, but surely, people have caught on to the fact that McDonald’s food is not something that they need to consume. People are also becoming aware of how poorly McDonald’s treats its chickens. Currently, McDonald’s is realizing its financial hardship that happens when people become educated. Unless people do not care at all where their food comes from, they are avoiding McDonald’s and choosing more healthy places to eat. McDonald’s is just now trying to solve some of their problems by saying that the food chain will remove human antibiotics from their chicken and other meat products.

• The article “McDonald’s in Global Profit Free Fall As People Everywhere Increasingly Reject Chemically-Altered Toxic Fast Food” by Mike Adams discusses how the public has become aware of McDonald’s use of processed food and inhumane treatment of its chickens. Due to this awareness by consumers, McDonald's has seen a major drop in earnings. In an effort to mend its loss, McDonald’s is now vowing to have human antibiotics removed from its chicken.

Reread the last paragraph of the article. Which of the following text structures is mainly used in this last paragraph?

Desperate to make up for lost ground, McDonald's has announced its intention to remove "human antibiotics" from its chicken meat supply. In a document entitled, McDonald’s Global Vision for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Food Animals," the company says it hopes to “prohibit the use of antimicrobials in food animals that are by WHO definition 'critically important' to human medicine, and not presently approved for veterinary use."

• . compare/contrast

• chronological

• problem/solution

• description