Comments on: Farm labor: Children in the fields
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- Wow 60 mins. You got this one all wrong. I worked at 13 to help my parents out and learned to appreciate what my parents taught me. Hard work. I went to college and became very successful. I encourage kids to put in some good hard labor work to learn what hard work is all about. America is missing this!
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- I grew up on a small family farm. Not much of an inheritance between 8 kids and even if it had been I can honestly say that thought never entered my mind. I knew that I was needed to help our family keep food on the table and that it helped my mom buy us a few clothes for school in the fall; I was a part of something bigger and more important than myself. My siblings and I respected our parents and never thought that it should be any other way. From the time I was 10 years old I worked on the farm. In the summer I usually worked 12 to 15 hour days Monday thru Saturday. On Sunday we went to church, my parents rested, and we kids played. My parents raised 8 children on that farm and not one of us has ever gone to jail. We have all worked hard, paid taxes, and raised families. All of us have some training beyond high school and 2 of us have graduate degrees. 5 of us served our country honorably, 4 during war time. I would not trade my parents, my upbringing, or all of that hard work for anything. It shaped all of us into people of character, integrity, and responsibility. Those young people on the 60 Minutes piece will grow up with those same traits and values. Unfortunately, they will be a minority in their generation because now people want to have everything but work for nothing.
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- This was a newsworthy story however as an employee in a dental office I need to make a comment. I receive no benefits of any kind nor do any of my co-workers. We are paid for hours worked only. No vacation pay, no sick pay, no health insurance and no retirement account. Our hygienists are expected to punch out and go home if a patient does not show! All of this from a dentist who personally clears $350,000 a year for a 4 day 32 hour work week! Using the economy as an excuse is shameful yet this is what seems to be going on in practices whose employees are keeping them successful despite the economy! Please do a story on good old American greed!!
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- I have been waiting to see it - children having to work for a living again in America. Totally different thing than working on your family farm along side dad. There is suppose to be laws against child labor but apparently there are no laws in this country anymore that someone with money can't break.
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- This was a good segment, however it made it appear this applies to ALL agriculture. This does not apply in California. It would be nice if 60 Minutes would have not used such a broad brush.
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- Wow, I am so proud of that father and those children and very disappointed in 60 minutes. Why would you, 60 minutes, want to make it sound so horrible that for the summer families were working together to help each other. In those fields they learn that if you work hard you can get ahead and better yourself and your family. As a child who grew up on a farm in a family of ten, I can assure you that my siblings and myself can attribute our success in life from the values that we learned from working long and hard hours on the farm.
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- I am 81 years old and have worked hard all my life,when I was a child everyone who lived on a farm,worked in the fields and never thought of doing anything else ,it was a fact of life you worked like everyone else in the family to survive,to keep food on the table,to keep clothes on you back and to prepare you with good work ethics so as adults you knew how to support yourself and/or a family,I never regretted working alongside my mother in the fields,most children today couldn't and/or wouldn't do it.
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- I am sorry Mr. Pitts does not get it. I grew up on a farm in SE New Mexico across the state line from the west Texas farms highlighted in the story. I started hoeing weeds in the cotton fields at age 12 along side a neighbor friend also 12, the first day we were accompanied by his big sister home from college, she wanted to make sure we knew what our responsibilites were. The only difference between us and the boys in the story was that we were two blond headed blue-eyed kids wearing hats and long sleave shirts (my Dad's rules, hats, long sleave shirts and gloves). I along with my sister and brother continued to work for our Dad on the farm until we graduated from college. Not one of us regrets a day of the work. We each had opportunites to go to town and work but chose to stay on the farm. Most days were in excess of 12 hours and when work was finished we had 4-H livestock to tend. Farm work is necessary and has never hurt a kid. We are all in our 50's and not one of us in still on the farm and we all miss it.
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- There's nothing wrong with hard work...more youth in this country should learn this side of life...you have to WORK to support your family if your family needs your help...none of these kids were complaining...even when you tried to get them to whine...did you notice, none of them were wearing designer tennis shoes, jeans down to their knees, buds in their ears connected to their rap music and they treated you with a lot of respect even though you were talking down to them! This is their SUMMER job...so what's wrong with this at any age...instead of talking down to them you should have told them you were proud of them and used them as an example for others to follow.
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- I also worked my summers from age 13 - 16 on a farm for minimum wage like these boys.
It sucked.
Seems like it still does. - Reply to this comment
