{She Said} Ahh the Joys... It's That Time Again: DEBATES!

Stuff 7th graders say during classroom debates about the use of child labor during industrialization...

In reference to why education wasn’t necessary for the children working in the factories- “Mrs. Gilpin went to college and learned math, science, and english but all she uses in her job is her knowledge of history- see, a big waste of time and energy. All the children need is knowledge of how to work in the factory so they don’t need further education.”

After the students debated, I had them make protest posters in favor of the opposing side (example: those arguing in support of child labor now made a poster opposing it). One poster in favor of child labor read: “Need Money? Get a job!”

“My person left her arm and left thumb cleaning the machine!” Opposing comment: “well, that’s her problem.”

One student after being interrupted: “listen dude, I’m getting tired of your mouth!”

At one point I was forced to say to one student “don’t try to back-up things I say- it coming out of my mouth is back-up enough,” because he kept saying “Yea!” in a forceful way when I instructed other students of ways to improve. He responded to this statement with “AMEN!”

One student exclaimed, “man, this is getting heated!” And then pulled a stick of deodorant out of his bag.

Another protest poster supporting child labor: “Child Labor = Child Fun!”

In response to the other side’s argument that children should learn from their mistakes and not continue to hurt themselves, one student proclaimed, “how can you learn from your mistakes if your dead?”

After I reminded the students that their protest posters needed to be “school appropriate,” one student asked if they could draw smiley faces.