created by David Hutchison & Zoë Spence

• No background knowledge is assumed, with the possible exception of a basic knowledge of money and the value of work. For example, it is assumed the students will understand that $5.00 a week would not be nearly enough to meet basic needs.

• Are the students' answers clearly formulated?
• Have they supported their opinions with logical arguments and evidence?
• Have they completely answered the questions?

We will focus on how the students support their answers. Students meeting the criteria for excellence would not simply answer why they would do something, but would include what gives them the right to do so.

• Within the challenge assignment certain thinking strategies have been stressed. For example the first part requires a pro/con T-Chart to help them reach a conclusion. The entire exercise places the students in a situation of considering how they would feel by using illustrations of children their own age.

• This challenge fosters open-mindedness by considering another point of view; any child would want new shoes, but might not after considering the issue of child labour.
• They have the opportunity to exercise independent-mindedness; if they still would buy the shoes they may defend the position.
• A critical attitude is trained through considering if the common attitude of NIKE and Michael Jordan as cool is correct.

Suggested Activities: Part 1

Imagine...Your best friend arrived at school yesterday with a brand new pair of Nike Air Jordan™ Shoes. The shoes are on sale at the Foot Locker for half price and you have been saving for them for over a month. Your parents promised to help you buy them if you made an effort to save as well. You dream of being a professional basketball player and last night upon hearing that you just made the school basketball team your mother said, "tomorrow we'll go shopping!"

At school today you have been surfing the Internet looking for information about Michael Jordan and Nike. You found the following article:

You also discovered that Michael Jordan earns more than $30 million for playing basketball and even more for endorsing products.

Make a T-Chart and fill in at least three reasons why it is OK to still buy the shoes, and at least three reasons why it is not. Your chart should be similar to the following:

Answers such as: "They look cool", "NIKE is bad", etc. are not acceptable. You must support your opinion with information from the article and the information given. Why is NIKE bad? Why does it matter that the shoes are cool?

After considering these reasons, would you still buy the shoes? Which reasons were the most important factors in your decision?

Suggested Activities: Part Two

• Michael Jordan's line of Nike sneakers are made by children in Indonesia working for 19 cents an hour.
• Estimates by human rights experts are that there are as many as 200 million children under the age of 14 who are working full-time. Because these children are paid little and do not receive an education, they have little chance of breaking the cycle of poverty in which they are caught.
• Children are typically paid one-half to one-third what is paid to adults doing comparable work. The children are often exposed to significant health hazards and subjected to extreme physical, verbal and even sexual abuse. While many children work to add to the family income, others are literally sold into bondage by their parents in return for money or credit.
• In these countries children are widely employed in restaurants, canteens, garages, tanneries, and brick kilns where they work for up to 15 hours a day, without leave for months together. Those working as household help are just slightly better off.
• Children begin work at the age of nine or ten, and enter full-time waged labour after leaving primary school at the age of 12 or 13. Most children work full-time, seven hours per day, and six days a week. In general, children are paid 6,000 to 9,000 Indonesian rupiahs (approximately $3.40 - $5.10) per week.
• At the age of 4, Iqbal was sold into bonded labour by his father for $12. For six years he was forced to work 16 hours a day in a carpet factory.
• Children are used extensively in the carpet and soccer ball industries because their small hands and nimble fingers enable them to become particularly adept at weaving and stitching. Although Pakistan has put laws in effect to restrict the use of child labour, the government lacks the resources to enforce them. The lack of any federal requirement for compulsory education is also a major factor contributing to the continued use of child labour.
• A local store manager says: "How else can we manage if we have to sell our stuff cheap?"

• Ten year-old Hamid, a worker in a tannery in Pakistan, says: "If I don't work, my family will starve as my father is sick. Besides, my younger brother also works."
• Many human rights activists based in North America and Europe condemn these practices; however, these facts are all from countries that are not as wealthy as Canada.  

1. Is it all right for wealthy countries such as our own to try and stop the work of child labour when this is the only means of survival for some families in third world countries? Should these practices be accepted or condemned? 
2. What do you think we should do as citizens of Canada?

Grade 6

Home