Reaction Paper of World Economic Forum Essay

Child labor refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labor. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries. Child labor was employed to varying extents through most of history, but entered public dispute with the advent of universal schooling, with changes in working conditions during the industrial revolution, and with the emergence of the concepts of workers’ and children’s rights. This definition is from the Wikipedia. Why does this exist? To whom will be the blame be given? Is it the parents, who raised their children to work, or the children themselves who decided to work to overcome hunger and thirst for survival? Is it the government that has to be responsible to this or this is all because of the inevitable poverty we are now experiencing today? For me, I have to blame all because in each problem of the society we encounter, it is not always that it is only a problem of one but rather it is a problem of all. We tend to forget that the ones affected to this kind of problem are also of our kind, Filipinos. We should always remember this statement, â€Å"One for all, and all for one.† I have mentioned above that are the parents to blame for this kind of problem. I say yes, a big yes for me. Why? It is simply because the parents are the first people that the child may know and they are the one who nurtures the child. Moreover, the parents are the one responsible if ever their children have nothing to eat and wear for everyday living. The parents in the society are expected to provide all their children needs for the bore them not to be slaves in the family. The parents are expected to give the right to education for their children to earn knowledge and not send them to factories that would bring them sickness just to earn money. But now, all the expected things turned out wrong. Some parents even do not mind if their children are already at the streets asking alms, some are into drugs, and some engage to crimes such as robbery and prostitution. If I were the parent, I had rather just send them to DSWD and see them eating and playing than watching them earn a living at the young age. I do not say that putting the child to DSWD is another irresponsible act the parent had made but it will be the best alternative answer to the problem. Are the children also to blame? I can say that the children have also something to deal with this. Even if the child is only four years old and has no sense of maturity yet, the child has something to play with this. Sometimes, it is the children’s decision to work for their families. They are working not because they want to eat, but rather gave the money to their parents, hoping that this money results to something that is good for their stomachs. In some cases, the children also are the ones that decide to leave the family because they see that the family cannot give the happiness they are asking for. So, the children have no choice but to leave independently and find their own living. The worst is that the children may engage into crimes such as killing, stealing, and prostitution. This is really happening in the society today. I can share an experience of one of our maids of our family. I admit that we hired her at her minority age. She was only 15 when she entered our home. After months of working in our house, we had already given her our trust. One day, we invited her to come into our lola’s house for the fiesta. She agreed to come rather than staying at home alone, and we wanted her to come because maybe she will be stealing anything from the house without our knowledge. We cannot give all our trust to a certain person right? Anyways, we had the time to go to the beach. The tide was so low that the sea was very far from the shore. Our maid never knew that the water was shallow. The dived and end up with bleeding wounds in her face. We immediately went home to cure her wounds. When we went home to back in Tacloban, she was not feeling easy. I think that the scars in her face made her actions limited and a little bit more conservative. After 3 days after the said incident, she left our house without any permission. We immediately reported this to her parents. Time passed but still no news was heard. We have now a new maid but of legal age. Years passed, and suddenly our roads had crossed each other. I have seen her near the seawall in the city but the thing that stunned me most is that she was already carry with her a child. This story is just one example of what can happen to children in our society. Is the government part of the problem? I’ll answer this question with a yes again. The government is expected to implement laws for this and make sure that these laws are nationwide followed. The government should play as the provider of the needs that the households cannot provide. It is sometimes reasonable that the government cannot provide them all but at least they will show that they are concerned to this problem. I can see that some policemen maltreat these children. Better if we just leave them alone and just catch them if they are now doing beyond the limitations. I’m disappointed to those government officials who did not do an effective action to eradicate this problem in our society. I am not an anti-government individual but I guess this is reality. Man is a power-seeker according to Thomas Hobbes so man really has the tendency to retain his power when he is in power and the outcome is that the poor will always be poor. Lastly, the poverty we are facing is the best reason why the children are into this action. Poverty is the reason why the parents cannot send their children to school, where the children are expected to learn and to socialize with our children. Poverty is also the main reason why the parents cannot provide the quality of happiness each child is longing for. The conception of poverty because of overpopulation is quite wrong. It some points it is true that this overpopulation can affect the way of living in a family but what now for China that contribute a big fraction to the world’s population. China is a big country in both economy and population. If China can make a difference why cannot we? As a conclusion, I am really against to this kind of problem in the society and besides who are happy watching children working not for themselves but to others. I am really thankful to my parents that I was raised efficiently, providing me anything that could bring to a better outcome. Time will come that I will be a parent. I am hoping that somehow there will be changes in our society that is concerned to this problem. It is still not the end for this. The solution is just there. All are aiming that this can be totally eradicated in the future.