The sad thing about Labor Day
freepik.com
Labor Day is traditionally marked with parades and other celebrations, a time for Americans to take a break from their jobs and honor the historic role that the labor movement played in the creation of the middle class, the rise of living standards and the strength of the country. There’s nothing sad about that, for sure, but there is about this:
Many schools around the country don’t bother teaching the history and importance of the labor movement, and textbooks that do address the subject are often wrong. Ask some kids you know to tell you three things about the labor movement — or even to explain what a union is — and it is likely they can’t answer it.
Meanwhile, American teachers and their collective bargaining rights have come under assault by school reformers and policy makers, some of whom are motivated by their disdain for unions, and have experienced a deterioration in their working conditions.
Labor Day was first celebrated in this country in the 1880s — at a time when people commonly worked 12-hour days. The first Labor Day rally, in 1882, was in support of an eight-hour workday. Kids don’t learn much about how young people used to be forced into back-breaking jobs day and night in mines, textiles, glass factories, canneries and other places where children don’t belong. Labor activists eventually ended child labor —