At Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government last month, Gingrich put forth an idea that he said would “fundamentally change the culture of poverty in America”: fire most school janitors, and put kids to work cleaning so they can build a work ethic.
“It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in, first of all, in child laws, which are truly stupid,” Gingrich said.
He continued: “I tried for years to have a very simple model. Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they’d have pride in the schools, they’d begin the process of rising.”
Gingrich has repeated the idea numerous times on the campaign trail and defended it in the Dec. 10 debate: “I'll stand by the idea young people ought to learn how to work. Middle-class kids do it routinely. We should give poor kids the same chance to pursue happiness.”
Child labor, with its history of abuse, has been regulated at the federal level since 1938 under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The act regulates the age of workers, conditions of work, and pay. Generally, children under 14 are barred from working. Critics of Gingrich’s idea say children need to be studying in school, not scrubbing school toilets.
