As I read this article it made me very sad for all those people who have no choice but to work for the large corporations that make millions of dollars, but only pay a few cents a day to their employees. Living in the US has spoiled all of us. It is much easier not to think about the childern that slaved to make the Nike shoes that we put on our feet each day. As the Nike spokesperson said " it is age-old practice" to have child labor.
We don't connect human lives to the products we use every day.
Globalization is not the way to a better life for all of mankind. There are little or no thought to the consequences that globalization creates for the enviroment and even mankind. Just this week the White House Chief Economics, Greg Mankiw, said that outsourcing jobs is beneficial to the economy. Supposedly the low wage jobs that have been leaving were suppose to be replaced by high-tech jobs. I wonder how Bill Bigelow would feel about the White House ploys saying that moving jobs to other countries would help the United States.

Kim, I agree with what you are saying about this article. It is so sad and makes me furious to think of those little children slaving away in those sweat shops. My eight year old was standing next to me as I was reading part of this article to her daddy. She was curious about what I was talking about. I had to explain to her that in some other countries that children her age are being forced to work in shops to make the shoes, sweatshirts, etc. that she wears. It was hard for her to imagine. It just breaks my heart. I am really dissapointed in Nike! I wish something could be done about this! It's so wrong!

Kim,
I wasn't aware that child labor was an issue with the making of Nike shoes until this class. I hope that doesn't make me sound stupid. I have always bought Nike shoes for myself and my family. After reading this article, I will think about this each time I consider buying a pair of Nike shoes.

I am with you Melissa I didn't realize either and the sad thing Nike is the only shoe that I have found that really fits my foot. I think it is horrible that big corporations go to different countries who don't have child labor laws, but I thought that Bill teaching it to his students was very important that way they would know and could form their own opinions about it. I also felt that he addressed it very well and gave them a lot of information which was helpful with their decision making. I liked the way he taught the class and I felt that the students probably got more out of that than just learning from a book

It is sad to think that we don't make that human connection with what we are purchasing. Many are solely thinking of what is cool, fashionable, comfortable, and/or inexpensive. I know, at least, my family always has just been considering these things. As I read this article, I went through my shoe collection and found that the majority were foreign; all of my running sneaks came from places like China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. What's even more sad is the fact that I payed probably 200 times what the company paid the laborer for these shoes. I'm glad he taught the children as he did. People need to realize where there things are coming from (me included) and try to make that human connection.