Child labor was outlawed in the first place because poor children were working in factories and getting injured. They were also not getting an education.

But times have changed since the turn of the 20th century. There are few factories left in America, most employ very few people, and most have very safe working conditions for those that do work there. Most kids that decided to earn money at a young age would not be working in factories.

I want child labor to be reinstated because I don't believe a high school or even middle school education is necessary for every person to live a happy and successful life. In today's world, we tend to define success as the amount of money one earns; but we know this to be faulty, we know that one does not need to earn lots of money to be successful and happy. Instead of forcing kids to waste years learning things like biology and chemistry that, while interesting and valuable to the right person, offer no value to them, they should be able to instead pursue training and employment in jobs that suit them. Kids could go to work instead as a plumber, a roofer, a landscaper, a mason. These are jobs that pay well and are in perpetual demand, and getting a head start in these fields would be desirable to them as adults.

Most college kids enter the workforce at age 22, with tens of thousand in debt and only a bleak job market awaiting them. A kid that did a 2 year apprenticeship with a plumber starting at age 10 and that continued working as a plumber afterward would reach 22 with a dozen years of experience in his field and a decade's worth of wages, with employment opportunities everywhere in the country.

The fact is that a carefree childhood cannot be given to every kid. When you have kids that don't want to be in school, they impede learning for those that do want to be there and get into trouble outside the school. It is far better to give them valuable experiences that will pay off later in life instead of forcing them into environments that they have no desire to be in at all.

Now, let me preempt the obvious downside; child exploitation. The way I would implement child labor to avoid exploitation is as follows: the child and all his/her custodial guardians must both give written consent on an official government document for the child to get working papers to do the work. Then, if at any time the child expresses to his employer that he is unhappy working or doesn't not want to continue work, the employer would be required by law to end the child's employment and report to the government that the child had declined to continue work. Failure by the employer to terminate the employment would result in criminal penalties.

Change my view!