the united states of america hates children
if it were not explicitly illegal to make kids work long hours, companies in this country would be scheduling 14 year olds with 8 to 12 hour shifts just like they exploit the adults they employ. the foster care system in this country is a nightmare. the corporal punishment debate feels like it’s never going to end; there are still parents who feel that they are ‘within their right’ to hit and spank their kids and there was a bill introduced to the house of representatives as recently as february of 2021 that has once again proposed ending corporal punishment in schools. nearly every private school in this country, except for those in new jersey and iowa, is still legally allowed to punish children physically. the public school system is a traumatizing mess with intense grading scales and attendance policies that aggressively punish kids of color, poor kids, disabled kids, and neurodivergent kids. the way federal funding for schools is determined in part by adequacy and ‘basic skills’ test scores makes me want to scream. every environmental health crisis has directly impacted developing children severely and the government doesn’t care enough to do anything about it. occurrences of gun violence in schools are so frequent that we have drills in every one of this country’s public schools, treating school shootings as though they’re as inevitable as severe weather or accidental fires.
this country seriously just fucking hates kids.
