Major Problems Essay, Research Paper
The industrial revolution has many events that have occurred between 1750-1830,
most of which were negative effects on the people of this time era. These negative
effects are leading to big problems like: over-population, diseases, life expectancy drop,
high crime rates, homelessness, low education for children, and a huge drop in the
literacy rate. However there were a couple positive effects of this industrial revolution,
some of which have fixed or are helping the negative points, but most of the big
problems still remain.
The big problems in the industrial revolution were brought about by events that
occurred like child labor, the changing roles of women, bad conditions in the coal mines,
urbanization, bad education, and the changing of class structure. Child labor for instance
had many bad aspects and little to no positive aspects. Some of the bad effects were that
children became week and sick, they were paid low wages, (only paid one shilling
compared to the 10-15 shillings that men make), small children were working 13 hour
days, and they were beaten if they worked too slow or were too late. The changing roles
of women was a negative event in the industrial revolution. This event led to women
spending long hours away from there children, they worked in hazardous conditions
which led to deformity of the chest and ribs, it put them at a risk of being crippled or
getting a disease, they were given few rights and were paid 1\2 to 1\3 less than men. The
poor conditions in coal mines was a negative effect of the industrial revolution. The
conditions were horrible because people had to work half naked, they risked lung disease,
suffocation, drowning, cave-ins, and explosions. Urbanization led to many bad effects
like a dramatic increase in population between 1750 and 1851, compacting farms which
displaced many families, over population in cities, poor conditions in workers houses,
forcing orphans to live on the streets, it increased the chances of getting disease, the
crime rate skyrocketed, and the life expectancy dropped. Bad education was another
negative effect during the industrial revolution. Very few children received education
and many children experienced a lack of clothing. The literacy rate dropped dramatically
and children had to beg on the streets to support their families. The changing class
structure led to a great population increase, growth of the urban poor, no education
available, and people having to move to find work.
Although there are not as many positive effects in the industrial revolution as
there are negative, there are some positive effects. One positive effect that is helping to
fix a negative effect is education. The 19th century government provided more money to
support schools and ordered more hours of school a day for all kids, because of this more
students learned reading, writing, and math. The industrial production was a event with
many positive effects linked to it. It made the British economy the worlds industrial
leader, made British economy very prosperous, made machinery cheap, merchant all over
the world purchased seed cotton, England became the greatest iron producer, and
because of rail-ways communication was improved. Modern building attributed to some
of the positive effects of the industrial revolution because now the smog from the
factories blew away from the homes. Modern inventions helped a lot with some of the
problems. There were great advancements in medicine and technology, new scientific
inventions, factory efficiency and productivity increased, major discoveries and new
inventions, which all led to more safe working environments and better lifestyles.
I think that to fix the major problems linked to the industrial revolution you
should start small. Like to fix the negative effects of working conditions and wages start
by fixing small things in the workplace and pay people a fair amount of money for the
job they do and pay equally between women and men. The solution for child labor
should be obvious that children should not be working 13 hour days in poor conditions,
they should be in school were they are not being beaten. To fix the changing roles of
women the employers should lower the time they spend working, improve the conditions
so they are not risking disease and deformity by working there, and pay them equal to
men. To solve the problems in the coal mines they should improve the conditions so it
not so dangerous to work there. To improve the problems of urbanization like the
increasing population problem they should control the birth rate, and to solve the other
problems of urbanization they should improve workers houses, get medicine to take care
of the sick, and set up some sort of police system.