Newt (Warning Politics)
LaserWolf
Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
Newt is today's front runner for the GOP presidential nomination.
Dude is no worse, and no better, than Bauchman, Caine, Trump and the other past and future front runners.
He is in the hot seat right now for saying that kids, poor kids, should work as janitors in their schools.
I am still searching for the exact original quote, but here is one of his clarifications:
Here is the thing, I kinda agree with him.
We have made it very difficult for teens to get jobs. I think the government (schools) providing teens with jobs would be a good thing.
I also think that children should (and I am guessing most do) take part in cleaning their classrooms and schools.
I'm not talking waxing the floors here, I mean at the end of the day putting the chairs on the desks and running a dust mop around the floors, taking trash and recycling out. I think many schools already do this. It gives kids some ownership and helps with respect and responsibility.
As for actually working as a part time assisting in the office, cafeteria, grounds or janitor. Yeah, let them work. Pay them. Give them the responsibility and experience and money of doing a job. Only problem is there are not enough jobs in the schools.
What you think?
Feel free to say any thing else about Newt here. I am sure he will be saying outrageous things daily and his past is a treasure trove comedy gold.
Dude is no worse, and no better, than Bauchman, Caine, Trump and the other past and future front runners.
He is in the hot seat right now for saying that kids, poor kids, should work as janitors in their schools.
I am still searching for the exact original quote, but here is one of his clarifications:
As for his comments, made at an appearance at Harvard???s Kennedy School a few weeks back, on having young children serve as janitors, Gingrich tried to clarify them.
Gingrich said, ???Take some of those kids who are in danger of dropping out. What if they were the assistant clerk in the front office? What if they helped in the kitchen????
He went on later, ???I do not suggest children until about 14 or 15 years of age do heavy, dangerous janitorial work???On the other hand, there are a number of things done to clean buildings that are not heavy or dangerous.???
Here is the thing, I kinda agree with him.
We have made it very difficult for teens to get jobs. I think the government (schools) providing teens with jobs would be a good thing.
I also think that children should (and I am guessing most do) take part in cleaning their classrooms and schools.
I'm not talking waxing the floors here, I mean at the end of the day putting the chairs on the desks and running a dust mop around the floors, taking trash and recycling out. I think many schools already do this. It gives kids some ownership and helps with respect and responsibility.
As for actually working as a part time assisting in the office, cafeteria, grounds or janitor. Yeah, let them work. Pay them. Give them the responsibility and experience and money of doing a job. Only problem is there are not enough jobs in the schools.
What you think?
Feel free to say any thing else about Newt here. I am sure he will be saying outrageous things daily and his past is a treasure trove comedy gold.
Comments
Agreed. It may be easier for teens to find employment than middle aged & older folks in many cases.
infersexplicitly states that children from poor families don't have any role models when it comes to working for a living. What an asshole.Come on, be fair. He did allow that they can have a work ethic if it's for doing something illegal:
???Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works, so they have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day, they have no habit of I do this and you give me cash unless it is illegal."
I spend three nights a week with low-income family highschool students from areas known for high drop-out rates. This idea makes me livid.
Pathways to Education
Is this a real quote?
Couple of things. It's seems like he's making the argument for kids getting jobs under 14 no? The FLSA has it set at 14 as the minimum age for employment.
Also, what he's kinda saying IMO. Is poor kids should get an early start on being janitors...
But I also like ""Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors"
Tragically, it is.
That's the only part that a lot of Newt's audience is going to hear. They're always up for some union-bashing, so it's certainly not by accident that Newt includes it here.
That's the original quote I was looking for. Thanks.
What an asshole.
I am not endorsing his ideas.
I do think that work is important, and young people should work. I did.
Plantweed - Yep. But the comedy comes in his explanation. He cheated on and dumped his wives because of his love of country.
Bon V - Where do you live?
I agree, work hour rules are fair.
White T, Motown, Button - I agree.
Bassie - I am not sure what you mean by engage, but any job helps them learn job skills.
Keeping a schedule, following instructions, doing work.
There is a satisfaction that comes from doing physical labor. From seeing a dirty pan become a clean pan.
I agree with you about what children need and PtE sounds like a great program.
Thanks for all the links folks. I read them all.
Let me put in a plug for your janitor. Being a janitor is not a shameful and disgusting job. It is an integral and important part of keeping any building running. It includes maintaining the heating and cooling systems and many other tasks that are central to keeping the building functioning. In schools janitors often know and watch out for the children.
I was working in PPS when they fired all their union janitors and hired a contractor to supply minimum wage janitors. It was of course a disaster. The turn over rate was sky high, the quality of work was low, basic maintenance was not done and the buildings, teachers and students all suffered. Of course the savings were never realized as the union, after many years of lawsuits, won their case against the district who had to pay out millions in damages.
But, I grew up in the DC Metro Area. I'm not saying there aren't obstacles for teens to get jobs, I just simply don't know what they are and if they are institutionalized or not.
Cool.
I am in Portland OR, and my sister is in Spokane. I will be there in February. Maybe we can meet up.
I grew up in Bethesda Chevy Chase, went CCE, Leland Jr High, and Walter Johnson HS (First school in the nation named after a baseball player).
I'm going to go see The Guard now, but I will get back to you with some obstacles.
One for now that we can agree upon, 9% unemployment.
Cool, hit me up. 9% is one we defo can agree on.
Newt is a pig, who's ethics make even normal politicians squirm. He would say or do anything to get elected or make a buck. He's just that guy.
I wonder if he's old buddies back in congress are going to support him. Boehner tried to oust him in a coup in the 90s. I gotta believe that his egomania didn't sit that well with lots of his colleagues. The house voted something like 395-28 in favor of punishing him for his ethics lapse(s). He was speaker at the time.
I love his candidacy. It speaks volumes that MItt can't rout this guy. We could be in for a long ride if Newt wins S Carolina and Fla.
TBH, I don't have an issue with this. Adults need to work before kids, IMO.
b/w
Nice guy idiot poasters > Mean guy idiot poasters
Let me clarify this so I don't come off as such a prickish Scrooge: It stinks that the teen unemployment rate is this high, but IMO, the adult unemployment rate takes precedence.
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Thanks for this.....I just switched all my investments over to Charles Schwab.
What I don't agree with is, taking jobs from other people, forced labor, sub minimum wage labor, lifting child labor laws.
What I do agree with is work opportunity for kids.
The paper route was for many their first job. I had a route briefly while in elementary school.
For numerous reasons, kids no longer do paper routes. I don't know but I am guessing that labor laws make it difficult to hire an 8 year old as a private contractor and pay them sub minimum wage. Also having children go out by themselves before the sun comes up with no supervision is no longer considered responsible.
Another major first employer was fast food restaurants. Perhaps in some states it still is. In some states restaurant workers don't get minimum wage, or only get federal minimum wage. In OR and WA they get $9+ an hour. For that kind of money, in this economy, FFR can hire experienced adults who will stay on the job longer than an inexperienced 15-17yo.
I first started working for money in the 3rd grade. I shoveled walks, mowed lawns and raked leaves. I do not know why but I never see kids doing this kind of work any more. On my well to do block growing up one family had a gardener, everyone else did their own landscaping, or paid kids like me. During the boom a few years ago, in my downscale working class neighborhood, many people had landscaping services mowing their lawn. Are there labor laws or insurance concerns that keep kids from raking leaves? If there are they should be addressed.
Another typical first job that lots of kids had when I was in HS was the gas station. At that time there was no self service and the attendant checked your oil and washed your windows. Those days are gone, long gone. Nothing I know of has replaced this kind of work.
People my age, who grew up here in Portland OR, spent 2 weeks in the spring picking strawberries instead of going to school. City schools closed, rich and poor kids, were loaded each morning on school buses and taken to the berry fields. I think we can agree that nothing like that is ever coming back.
These changes, which as I said, make it difficult for teens to get jobs, often means that a kid graduating high school today has never had a paying job. No paper route, no mowing lawns, no gas station, no FFR. Nothing to tell an employer that they have worked. They have shown up and gotten the job done and been paid for it.
This effects rich kids and poor kids both. They enter adulthood with out basic job skills.
I am in 100% support of a Youth Works Progress Administration. A CETA (Americorps) for school kids.
Remove the "poor kids and union workers aint no good" part from Newt's proposal and that is what he is talking about.