In a recent speech at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, presidential candidate Newt Gingrich voiced his frustrations with child labor laws. He stressed that the laws "entrap" impoverished children under the age of 16 further into destitution. His solution to the problem is to eliminate school janitors and hand their jobs over to needy students.

Gingrich said that children in poor neighborhoods are hindered by "child laws, which are truly stupid," adding that "schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they would have pride in the schools, they'd begin the process of rising."

Some jan/san experts argue, though, that there is a science to cleaning and workers must be properly trained and educated to meet and maintain cleaning standards. Statistics show that improperly cleaned schools will result in student and staff absenteeism and weakened performance.

Gingrich's comments have been widely publicized and have caused some debate in the press:
Los Angeles Times
Huffington Post
Mediaite.com
Fox News
Newser.com