The Republican presidential candidate called child labor laws "stupid" during an appearance at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government on Friday. At the event, Gingrich said, "it is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in, first of all, child laws, which are truly stupid."
In what sounded like a jobs plan for America's school children, Gingrich proposed hiring kids to clean-up as a way to earn extra money.
"Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school," the former House speaker explained. "The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they would have pride in the schools, they'd begin the process of rising" from poverty.
Gingrich cited this as an example of one of "extraordinarily radical proposals to fundamentally change the culture of poverty in America" under his leadership.
Child labor laws, which fall under the umbrella of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, were born of the initiative to regulate working standards for children to protect their health, safety and educational opportunities.
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