[mathgladiator]

I was raking leaves when I was 13, and I started freelancing 15...

Why? Well, it started because I wanted to play Mario Kart on Super Nintendo...

There is something about developing a work ethic as a young person that is important. It starts with chores like mowing the yard.

[xracy]

There's nothing that says you can't develop this without depending on child labor.

I work hard, and my first job was when I was 18. Nothing about a work ethic is special to working hard in a job. Some of the most impressive people I work with had really impressive school work ethics.

[bko]

It's not just about work ethic. It's about social skills. I worked as a lifeguard for 6 years and the amount of skills I picked up from socializing with the parents and children really helped me out. I probably learned a lot more from that job than I did at school. I learned things about psychology and raising children as I saw a lot of parents with different styles and got to follow their kids as they grew up. I learned about responsibility and showing up on time. I learned how to manage money. And probably most importantly I learned how to talk to adults. It was my most rewarding and fond memory of my childhood.

The alternative life path was basically me staying at home for hours playing Diablo 2.

[xracy]

Because there aren't real people on the internet who you can learn social skills from? With any of this, you get out what you put in. Social skills can absolutely be learned at school, and often are. Try again.

> I learned how to manage money. And probably most importantly I learned how to talk to adults.

I learned how to manage money from an very simple allowance for chores my parents gave me. But also... I really learned to manage money at 18 due to a number of things including college expenses and other stuff. Managing money is not the end-all you think has to be learned at a job. Home Ec is a real class in most public schools.

Talking to adults is a thing you learn by living and interacting in the world. You might've happened to learn some of it at work, but there is no requirement to learning it at work. Also, there's nothing that special about talking to adults that's that different from talking to teenagers... Basics of conversation are simple.

> It was my most rewarding and fond memory of my childhood.

None of this justifies child labor. There are plenty of other rewarding opportunities that don't mean that children have to work dangerous meat-packing jobs.

Very importantly, there are plenty of paths that are not your path that were equally valid. (I'm telling you this from experience). Just because you did it that way doesn't mean everyone has to, or necessarily even should. Not saying the way you were raised was wrong, but we've learned a lot more about child-rearing. We don't have to pull out dunce caps just because people had associations with having to go through that in school.

[bko]

> Because there aren't real people on the internet who you can learn social skills from?

Ah yes, the famously well adjusted always online teens.

> Also, there's nothing that special about talking to adults that's that different from talking to teenagers... Basics of conversation are simple.

Have you ever listened to teenagers talk to each other? I honestly can't tell if you're trolling.

[xracy]

You're mistaking "there are real people on the internet" for "all people on the internet are great people."

I think teens are much better at sifting through the BS than you're giving them credit for. Also I've talked to plenty of teams who seemed perfectly well adjusted for their age. I'm not talking about them being the best conversationalists, I'm saying they have opportunities to learn. Also, are teachers not adults?

The basis for my argument is that school is sufficient for all of this. Nothing you've said has disproven that.

[anonymouskimmer]

> There is something about developing a work ethic as a young person that is important.

I started delivering newspapers when I was 10. Dropped out of college and was somewhat depressed with a series of menial jobs. Eventually got on track again, got an A.S. and got a job in the industry I wanted to be in. But it was a low level job that left me very little autonomy and didn't tax my intelligence.

At some point I just stopped caring. A "work ethic" can be killed. Or can devolve into a "money" ethic where people play the kinds of financial engineering games that led to the 2008 recession.

I care again, but only because I'm not doing a menial job anymore.

[mathgladiator]

For context, I was 13 walking door to door asking neighbors if I could rake their yards. Fall was money. Same thing in winter with shoveling snow.

[codegeek]

You seem to get my argument. It is about helping your child develop good "Work Ethics" which unfortunately these days is equated to being exploited if you dare to bring it up.

[mmarq]

That’s not true at all. People work much harder than in the past, especially considering what they get back. 20-30 year olds are the first generation in almost a century that give away half of their waking hours and struggle to get decent housing.

Rates of unionisation are extremely low, strikes are extremely rare (it took a 30% real income loss before junior doctors started striking in the UK), employment rates are the highest throughout the world and unpaid overtime is the norm in almost all careers.

[jakelazaroff]

What exactly is important about it?

[mathgladiator]

Things have to get done.

I own a house. Some time ago, my plumbing had issues. I had to go down into my basement and deal with shit. Literal shit. Work ethic is what lets you put on the "I got things to do" hat, and then you do them.

That's just life. Life is hard and brutal requiring constant effort.

[sangnoir]

> Things have to get done

Is homework not inadequate to teach this lesson? Kids are not dumb.

There's a pervasive stench of Calvinism in American work culture, even among atheists. There's nothing sanctifying about work, insomuch as it is a good (or bad) thing to teach kids its importance by having them clock in.

Using children as a backup labor force due to an adult worker shortage is - as the kids call it - yucky.

[seanmcdirmid]

Maybe if I went to a more challenging school (I was already a straight A student who did all homework in class) I might not have needed a full time job during High School to drill some work ethic into me?

And I think a lot of people saying kids shouldn't work during school didn't have poor parents and the problems those conditions create if you can't take your destiny into your hands before that magical 18th birthday when you can do anything you want.

[mathgladiator]

Does homework have to get done? Like, really?

Growing up, the yard had to be done weekly. I did it, got paid, and I was able to walk to the store and buy shit. Work when done well is gratifying.

The way we think about jobs sucks...

[sangnoir]

> Work when done well is gratifying.

As are hundreds of other things[1] we don't try to indoctrinate[2] our kids with. Work is not special and doesn't make one "whole" more than the other potentially gratifying tasks. I say this as someone who enjoys their current job, but I've worked in other less enjoyable jobs (that incidentally pay less and harsher work environments)

2. Expect children to perform at the same level as fully grown adults, but perhaps with fewer hours

1. Sports, math, games, gardening, sex, most hobbies, repairs, etc.

[jakelazaroff]

Things get done when people are motivated to do them — either extrinsically ("I need money to not starve") or intrinsically ("I want my toilet to work").

Maybe I misunderstood you, but you seem to be talking about "work ethic" in the abstract, though — like, valuing the labor itself, rather than the fruits of it. My question is, why is that important? Who cares about labor for its own sake?