Newt on "Occupy Wall Street"...

[Honu]

Originally Posted by Riot

It seems Newts point was entirely missed by his fans:

Elementary school education should not be free and open to everyone.
It should be privatized and cost money.

(Right there, I can't see how anyone could support that change in the United States of America.)

Yet, Newt goes on:

Those children too poor to afford the cost of a basic education could work for it.

They could do so by doing a job that is now considered too dangerous and illegal for them to do (work with toxic chemicals, exposure to disease, etc)

Child labor laws are "stupid" (Newt's word) and now prevent that, and should be repealed to allow this.

Newts ideas have nothing at all to do with the way kids nowadays start their work careers at age 14 or so by working part-time after school or on weekends.

I had a work permit when I was 14 and had a weekend job that paid under the table cleaning stalls for a family friend when I was 13.
I was riding race horses at the track when I was 15 and I think I managed to scrub some bathrooms and clean in my dads machine shop without killing myself with disease and "toxic chemicals" somewhere around the age of 9 or 10 and I did it because I wanted to make some money.
I think if you give children who have been stuck in circle of poverty for generations a chance to learn something about hard work and earning money that they will be able to see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and go on to make something of their lives.
There is nothing wrong with children getting a job and making some money if that is what they want to do. Kids in America have it pretty freaking good compared to the stories I have been told about working in fields all day long when you are 5 because if you didnt help out then you didnt eat.