Comments

1
Someone put a butterfly net over this looney.
2
While I disagree with Gingrich, I do find myself thinking of Japanese schools where all of the students clean up the classroom after classes are over. I wonder how that system managed to begin there, and why we don't do the same here.
3
I'm not sure I disagree with him, but with all the much more pressing concerns going on in the world, why the fuck is he wasting 10 seconds talking about things like this?
4
How much would they charge to clean my toilet? Maybe I could hire one to scrape my corns. Hey, I like this idea.
5
Hell, why not just fire those unionized teachers and let the students teach themselves?
And why are we paying prison guards when we can just hire the prisoners to keep order?
6
or let the children guard the prisons, one "master" guard should be enough to manage things... I imagine a prison full of teenage boys and girls running around should really change things, but don't forget the lube
7
At what point during the school day are the kids supposed to scrub toilets?
8
As a high school teacher, it makes me a little sick every day to see the way some students callously litter and trash the school in other ways. No Gingrich fan, but this strikes me as an idea worth exploring.
9
Thems chilluns got arms suited for ma cotton mills, yessiree Bob!

Yaas, massah Newt, we done needs us some more chilluns to work them bales of cotton!
10
Child labor, a timely solution to our vast labor shortage.
11
I anxiously await Newt's modest proposal for solving hunger in America.
12
I don't know what kind of fantasy world Newt is living in, but the schools I attended never had more than one janitor. His recommendation might work for really huge schools, but I'm guessing that the vast majority of schools in this country have a few hundred kids each.

And we kids always participated in some way in the workings of the school, whether in performing flag or crossing guard duty, or helping sort recycling and otherwise clean up after lunch. All of this was unpaid and mostly unrewarded (except for the lame "spirit" points we could get in middle school).
13
My favourite"...begin the process of rising." Are the children bread?
14
and he's represented Georgia, a state with a quite a history of child abuse through child labor in it's textile mills. Evidently one's children would also slave for the 1% in Gingrich's world.
15
It's a shitty idea for a host of reasons, but when I attended The Northwest School at Summit and Pike the students all had "environment" assignments and were responsible for cleaning the school. I had kitchen duty twice a week, and it was AWESOME. I learned so much from the cook that year. I also had plenty of time left over to, you know, learn shit. Lots of shit. A hell of a lot more shit than I ever learned in public school.
16
I don't really understand why having students clean up their schools violates child labor laws.
17
@15:

Doing those sorts of things as an empowerment exercise definitely makes sense. But Newt is actually proposing that we take JOBS away from working adults and replace them with less expensive child labor, because paying someone a living wage to clean toilets and mop floors is now considered "wasteful spending" if it's performed by a public sector employee, whereas paying kids a few bucks to do the same thing is (in his deranged mind) considered a model for instilling an entrepreneurial spirit in them that will magically lift them out of poverty - or some such balderdash.
18
And because putting one 'master janitor' in charge of a bunch of kids is a great idea. Where have I seen that idea put into action again?
19
Um ... do schools no longer have floors that require washing and waxing? Because, if they still do, then they need to be washed at night, after all students have left for the day. You know ... so they can dry properly. But I guess that's okay, if some students are put on the ... uh ... graveyard shift. Besides, they can do their homework while the floors are drying. The mind just BOGGLES.

We do not need to emulate the labour practices of countries where adults are unemployed because hiring children is cost-effective.
20
does newt even have kids? they SUCK at cleaning - unless you beat them mercilessly.
21
@8 No, it'd be worse. The kids who weren't poor enough to have to take jobs cleaning up would probably litter more, because they knew they were making more work for the poor kids (who tend to be more picked on and more humiliated already). It'd create a bigger rich/poor social divide within schools that don't have a fairly homogenous level of wealth.

Having kids clean up after themselves as part of the schooling and not as a job can teach respect. And there's no issue with expecting every kid to throw out their trash, pick up their things, and possibly put a chair on top of a desk if that is appropriate. But asking them to do serious cleaning of the school is unreasonable for free and will create huge social problems (which will work their way into the classroom) if done as a job.
22
I fail to see how firing janitors and making kids (undoubtedly poor kids as 21 pointed out) sweep the floor helps the jobs situation in the USA. Our problem isn't that we don't have enough workers. It's that we have too many workers and not enough jobs! If Newt is really the smartest guy in the Republican party, and I'm increasingly believing this, they are hopeless. Of course, the public in this country are mostly easily duped idiots so I give him even odds on winning anyway.

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