In the economically affluent countries of the North, school attendance is almost 100% and work seems to be a more marginal focus in children's lives. In the South the situation is more varied: poorer regions of the world such as South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa show significantly low rates of primary school enrolment and completion (Watkins, p.137), while work is more dominant in children's lives than in the North.
It would be simplistic, however, to assume that attitudes towards children's work and schooling followed strictly a North-South divide. Historically, affluent countries of the period have shown varied opposition to the transition of children's life focus from work to school. This can be seen in the USA's long defence of the right of parents to put their children to work (Zelizer, 1985, p.118) and the socially accepted nature of children's work in Norway (Schrumpf, 1997, p. 115) Today in the North, while school is the main focus there is also a strong notion in some countries that work is an important part of late childhood.
Children's experiences of school vary widely and can be seen to differ over space and time; depending on ethnicity, social status, gender and ability, as well as the dominant discourses of childhood and children's rights and the economic practices relative to their society. Two-thirds of worldwide non-attendees are girls, attendance is generally higher and gender disparities less in cities compared to rural areas (Watkins, p.139).
Within a sociological approach, school can be seen to have a number of social functions. Simply put, manifest functions are those which are intended, such as teaching knowledge and skills, enforcing culture and identity and preparation for adult life. Latent functions are the less-obvious social repercussions of the schooling process, and include selection and legitimisation of children's social aspirations, the creation of a job market for adults and the 'economic product' of a trained and skilled member of the workforce.
While manifest functions might be established to serve children's 'best interests', within their particular context competing functions may create environments which may threaten a child's physical and mental well-being in its extreme. Sociologist Dore, in his theory of diploma disease, suggests that the qualification-award function of school systems may be replacing the educational function of schooling (1976, Block 2, p.97). Somewhat drastic examples of this can be seen in the rigorous testing systems of Japan, where preparation for entry exams to kindergarten at four years typically starts at age two by attending a 'Juku'; a private crammer school. Education may in consequence become repetitive, ritualistic and tedious for children; regarded by Hill and Little as 'the very antithesis of what many regard as a good education (1996, p.151). Mackinnon's field notes document five and six-year-old children in south India repeating phrases of a story in preparation for an exam which mainly tests their recollection of material learned in textbooks (1997, p.165).
Sociologist Martin Woodhead (1999) gathered interviews from children in a number of countries in the South who combined both school and work about the good and bad points of both aspects of their lives. Concerning school, children cited the learning of literacy and numeracy, improved work prospects and peer relationships as the most positive experiences. Negative experiences at school included humiliation and abuse from teachers and peers, anxiety about poor achievement and feelings of tiredness and boredom. Some similar negative aspects of school are experienced by children in the North. Pupils may experience disaffection and alienation within the school system on ethnic, class or gender grounds, as well as through fear of unemployment and lack of life perspective. An example of such would be Antonio, a Hispanic-American living in Brooklyn, New York, who experiences school as 'dangerous and hostile' and has no future job aspirations (Block 2, p.134)
Concerning work, children's experiences vary in relation to the array of social factors mentioned previously in relation to school. Globally, the vast majority of child labour is in the field of agricultural or domestic unpaid work, specifically the latter is performed mainly by girls. In the North, children's work is mainly restricted to short hours in low-skilled, repetitive jobs such as the service sector, delivery jobs and baby-sitting. In the South, the main fields of work for children are agriculture and domestic work, followed by the informal and formal sectors, and longer hours are worked than in the North (Boyden, 1998).
The prolonged campaign against child labour in general extends from an ideology of childhood as a time for learning and play which judges work during childhood as inherently wrong and unnatural. Ironically the very idea of protecting the children from hazards of work may force them into work in worse conditions still; a situation which occurred when the American senate passed legislation in the early 90s threatening a ban on clothing imports from Bangladesh, forcing children who worked relatively safely in the garment factories into much more dangerous jobs such as brick-chipping and sex-work (VC2B4). Western researchers tend to investigate child work in terms of its consequence on school performance; findings have shown that work can have a positive or negative impact relating to the scale on which it is undertaken.
Reasons for concern expressed by children interviewed as part of Woodhead's research proved no more inherent to work in general than abuse is to schooling; the daily hazards and health risks that children are exposed to in some forms of work, and exploitation, humiliation, insecurity and abuse some children suffer due to the power imbalance inherent in their working relationships (1999, p.209). This power imbalance often arises from the vulnerable economic circumstances in which many of the children live. Though they are not recognised or protected as part of the labour force, work is often necessary to feed the family and children have few other options. Their lack of protection means there is no limit to how little they can be paid, or how much their health and well-being may be exploited. A case of such exploitation is Jashim's, who was forced to perform dangerous work in a metal casting factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, after his father became ill and could not support the family (Block 2, p.184).
The reality is that work, like schooling, may have both positive and negative implications for a child which are neither inherent nor necessarily intended. The benefits of work in this sense are obvious and coldly stark: survival for the child and their family. Work in this instance additionally gave Woodhead's interviewees a sense of pride and familial responsibility, training and skills which will support them to a better standard in later life and respect from their peers and community. In the North the benefits of work experienced are of a slightly different nature and magnitude. Work here assists formation of identity and gives children a sense of independence from their family on whom they are otherwise dependent (Jim McKecknie, AC3B4). It also gives them the freedom to consume, sometimes a vital part of maintaining peer relationships. Nunés highlights work's educative function in her research into mathematical understanding with Brazilian street vendors. She concluded that during work children may acquire understanding of mathematical concepts with arguably higher cognitive sophistication and direct utility than academic students learning repetitively acquired problem solving skills (1993, Block 2, p.201-2).
Both school and work in various forms serve to prepare for adult life throughout the world, and are means for a child to directly participate in society and gain meaning in their lives. The two concepts can therefore be seen to compliment each other by broadening a child's skills and experiences, rather than as opposing forces, as current Western attitudes may hold. The meaning of both school and work is highly fluid and has held different connotations within societies over time. Children themselves actively navigate meanings to the activities they experience and judgement of the benefits or detriments of either school or work must therefore be made relative to a child's position in global society.
When either work or school become threatening to children, it is normally down to an imbalance of power which places the child in a vulnerable position either directly; through physical abuse by teachers or employers or holding back of pay, for example, or indirectly; through wider economic policies and practices, such as their exclusion from minimum wage legislation in many countries. Empowering children by seeking to make their voices heard through a rights-based approach may be one strategy in addressing this power imbalance. When and where children wish to combine school and work, efforts shall be undertaken to support their participation in these activities within a framework that is safe, transparent and fair, and western approaches to child labour issues should be adjusted to re-examine how to support children in a way that is mindful of the relative advantages of both activities.
A vast majority of the children interviewed as part of Woodhead's research thought that a combination of both aspects was the 'best' for them. Work was perceived as the necessity, while school was considered more of a privilege in their current circumstances. In the North where it is not essential to the family economy for children to work, it still appears to be an important aspect in children's lives. The consensus in light of these facts suggests that children around the world actively seek to combine school and work given the choice.
This essay was part of my studies at the OU of the UK (Chilhood and Youth)
References
AC3B4, U212 childhood series, The Open University, Milton Keynes
VC2B4, U212 childhood series, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Boyden, J., Ling, B. and Myers, W. (1998) What works for working children, in Block 2, Childhoods in Context, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Dore, R. (1997) The Diploma Disease: education, qualification and development, in Block 2, Childhoods in Context, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Hill, R. and Little, A. (1996) The Qualification Case, in Block 2, Childhoods in Context, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Nunés, T., Carraher, D.W. and Schliemann, A.D. (1993) Street Mathematics and School Mathematics, in Block 2, Childhoods in Context, The Open University, Milton Keynes
MacKinnon, D. (1997) unpublished field notes, in Block 2, Childhoods in Context, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Schrumpf, E. (1997) From full-time to part-time: working children in Norway from the 19th to 20th century, in Block 2, Childhoods in Context, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Watkins, K. (2000) The Oxfam Education Report, in Block 2, Childhoods in Context, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Woodhead, M. (1999) Combatting Child Labour: listening to what the children say, in Block 2, Childhoods in Context, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Zelizer, V.A. (1985) Pricing the Priceless Child: the changing social value of children, in Block 2, Childhoods in Context, The Open University, Milton Keynes
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