Child labour?

Morning sightings of children burdened by the weight of books labouring on foot to school bring to mind pictures of Victorian scenes of child labour. Parents complain publicly of the possibility that such physical toil may bring on physical deformities. The response from the teachers is that they need so many tomes in order to keep up with the broad curriculum. Capitalism, it seems, has found another way of bestowing hardship on children in a perfectly legal way and more arguments in favour of parents who deliver their children by automobile to the school’s front door.