askchapo

On the one hand it doesn't make sense to have a certain age where you are just plunged into a totally new life cycle of being a worker. It's also useful to try things out before committing to them. I think it should really be mandatory to do some sort of small work inside an industry prior to embarking on a long education. To get a taste. It sucks when people spend 4-8 years studying for a job only to realize a few months in that they hate it. People need to be able to back out and have exit strategies.

Anyway about children. Under capitalism, we must have laws about this or else they will be maximally exploited. The laws should be as high as possible. We should not allow any favoritism towards employers who hire kids, like a lower min wage.

When I think about young kids working, I am reminded from my own life that some children need to work to free themselves of their parents domination. When I was a young teenager, a couple of my acquaintances were working in the sex industry because they couldn't get work elsewhere, but they were queer and their parents were extremely abusive so they desired to be as independent as they could. But couldn't find legal work, especially not making enough money while still attending school. Obviously 14 year olds shouldn't be "escorts" (how these people described their jobs) but they need to have a way to escape.

Forgetting about niche situations, I think the age should be 16.