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If you restrict people under the age of <magical unexplainable constant x> from doing something, they usually will find the means and do it anyway, but out of g

If you restrict people under the age of <magical unexplainable constant x> from doing something, they usually will find the means and do it anyway, but out of govt control, so it migt be even worse than if you didn't try. That is true about porn, alcochol, tobacco, working (I could never get that one) and lots of other things.

ramblerman 8y ago
I agree that the number is arbitrary, and probably not a good one but I'm not sure that warrants not having it at all. Surely we would agree 7 year olds should be kept from (porn, alcochol, tobacco, working 'for money')
- praneshp 8y ago
  Some HN-ers would say "why dictate a 7-year old, let them watch what they find", then head to a YouTube kids thread and brag about only giving their kids 1990s style phones.
  - TremendousJudge 8y ago
    I think those are probably separate groups of people. In fact, the ones that argue the first point tend to not actually have kids/interact with children in general
tenebrisalietum 8y ago
The thinking behind child labor laws insofar as working restrictions is that they should be in school and getting an education during those years. Of course "train-on-the-job"-style apprenticeships are education, but this gets into how blue-collar labor seems to take a backseat to tech jobs.
simonsarris 8y ago
> under the age of [...] working (I could never get that one) It has been suggested that many schemes (disallowing child work outside of family farms and firms, elongating school to mandatory "high school", and then at the other end of the spectrum, social security and "retirement") were primarily to bolster employment % issues among the rest of the population (the not young and not old), and not so much for the other intended aims (stop "bad" child labor, "education", "retirement"). I do not know if there is much truth to this, other than for Social Security where proponents said precisely that (Depression era: retiring older workers would free up employment for young men). It seems sensible that child labor laws followed a similar pattern of thinking. https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/flsa1938 https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/flsa1938

ramblerman 8y ago

I agree that the number is arbitrary, and probably not a good one but I'm not sure that warrants not having it at all. Surely we would agree 7 year olds should be kept from (porn, alcochol, tobacco, working 'for money')

praneshp 8y ago
Some HN-ers would say "why dictate a 7-year old, let them watch what they find", then head to a YouTube kids thread and brag about only giving their kids 1990s style phones.
- TremendousJudge 8y ago
  I think those are probably separate groups of people. In fact, the ones that argue the first point tend to not actually have kids/interact with children in general

tenebrisalietum 8y ago

The thinking behind child labor laws insofar as working restrictions is that they should be in school and getting an education during those years. Of course "train-on-the-job"-style apprenticeships are education, but this gets into how blue-collar labor seems to take a backseat to tech jobs.

simonsarris 8y ago

> under the age of [...] working (I could never get that one) It has been suggested that many schemes (disallowing child work outside of family farms and firms, elongating school to mandatory "high school", and then at the other end of the spectrum, social security and "retirement") were primarily to bolster employment % issues among the rest of the population (the not young and not old), and not so much for the other intended aims (stop "bad" child labor, "education", "retirement"). I do not know if there is much truth to this, other than for Social Security where proponents said precisely that (Depression era: retiring older workers would free up employment for young men). It seems sensible that child labor laws followed a similar pattern of thinking. https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/flsa1938 https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/flsa1938