However, in the past 10 years, I have met young women in law school, medical school, architecture school and practical engineering. What in the United States would be a gross violation of the child labor laws is here the norm. I've seen kids of 10 or 11 working in their father's tire shop, or fruit stand, or auto repair shop. Many Mexican kids start work at what we think of as a delicate age, in a family enterprise like that of Rosa and Flor. The schools are designed to permit this.
Students attend either morning or afternoon classes, with the rest of the day set aside for work.
If I had my druthers, I'd choose for my child to have the path of Rosa or Flor. They are an honorable part of the family's survival. They work, and they work hard. They also have no shopping mall to visit where they can waste their evenings and get yelled at by security guards. The concerts here are a social event for everyone, not a juggernaut for juveniles.