A Labor Day Lesson Plan: Teach High-Schoolers About Workplace Rights

And a word for teachers, who might
fret about adding one more topic to an already-packed curriculum: This content
is perfectly suited for the end of the school year. Even antsy seniors will
perk up when the subject is managers stealing their tips.

To be sure, a proposal to teach
students about employment laws may seem modest in light of the country’s dire
situation generally, and in light of attacks on labor more specifically. But
people’s utter lack of knowledge about workplace rights is exactly what sets
the stage for steamrolling them, at a moment when the federal government is
already rolling out the red carpet for exploitation. Plus, workers’ rights
education could foster greater skepticism and a heightened sense of agency in
relation to mega-corporations that currently have far too much power—both in
our political landscape and in people’s everyday lives as workers, consumers
and small businesses. Wouldn’t it be just a little healing, too, if we had some
positive movement somewhere? 

Already one state is leading the
way: California in 2003 passed a law designating Workforce
Readiness Week, required in all public high schools, during which students
learn about child labor, minimum wage, unionizing, workplace safety, and other
workplace laws. Incorporating this kind of practical, life-skills content is
nothing new; Illinois law, for example, requires basic consumer and financial literacy
education, including about debt, banking, and installment
purchasing.