The Industrial Revolution...among other things

At school currently we are being informed, rather incessantly, that we need to delete all unnecessary files. We have hardly any space left. I'm not one of those people that have loads of videos, pictures and games (none, actually), but I have still managed to clear out loads of old files. It's fun and quite amusing to look back over old work, but it's also pretty annoying. We spent a lot of time working on those essays and presentations, and now we are being told to delete them like there is no tomorrow. All that stress, those light nights, and study afternoons- they don't mean that much now. Yes, I'm being dramatic and it's not as bad as I am making it sound, though I hope that you can empathise with me and understand where it is that I am coming from. Anyway, onwards to the point of this blog.

This cyber spring cleaning has some positives. When I leave school, I am probably not going to take all my old files, computer-wise, home. Yet, I would treasure all my books at clear files of work. So, I am going to treat this blog as an archive of sorts, to store pieces of work from my previous years. I think it is a great idea. I know it's cheating in the entry-writing respect, but I will try and write at least a paragraph to accompany it. I'm not going to post them all at once, wither, I am only going to do two or so a month.

Yeah. Yup. Yep. Yah. That's pretty much it. This is one of my first essays, if memory serves me right. I wrote it in year eight. I read it out to the class and messed up the word 'obviously'. I got an E for it, and I remember feeling (modestly) smart for writing this. Enjoy, now.

The Industrial Revolution,
Formal Writing Assessment Term Three
400 Word Report

The Industrial Revolution was a major development in history. It led us to the technology that we find so necessary today. What would life be like if the Industrial Revolution never happened? What would you have done during those times? Throughout this report I am going to explain to you the positive and negative affects of the revolution, the phases and my opinions.

Imagine you own a small house in a quiet, country-side village. You run a small business and spend you days sewing quilts and rugs for the village and caring for your family. Everything has been running smoothly for the last few years; enough money to live, a healthy home and surrounding environment when suddenly the city starts to build factories full of the latest machines and word of the lack of labourers and high salary begin to make a stir throughout your home.

People begin to flock to the city, imagining a good job and success. The need for handmade goods are dropping as the population of the rural towns shrink and city businesses are producing the same product at an extraordinary rate and the price is less. There is no way you could maintain your current living standard so like the majority of people you pack up and leave the country-side in hope of finding a better life in the city.

The city was not all it was to pent up to be. The air is polluted; there is no rubbish collection or water system, well at least not for the likes of you. You are practically at the mercy of you land lord and employer which is likely to be the same person. You live in a small row of houses in a over crowded alley way not far from the factory you spend up to thirteen hours a day in. The houses are made from the poorest of materials; they are a danger hazard as well as a great place for disease to spread. The only sewage system is the disgusting toilet at the end of your row which you share with 8 other families.

The conditions in the factories are horrific and what’s worse is you have to contract your kids to work in them just to earn the money to keep the ram-shackle roof over you head. Your partner has already lost a limb and you, like the rest of you family are constantly ill from severe fatigue, malnutrition or the latest disease that has been contracted from the surrounding city.

You couldn’t return to your old home if you wanted to, you’re once beautiful country landscape has been transformed into another lot of polluting factories hidden beneath its own smog from the chimneys. The rich business man who you had sold your land to has bought up the whole area. Now you are stuck in this terrible place with no more children young enough to be useful in the factories and only the slightest money to pay the high rent and buy the barest of supplies.

This is one of many similar devastating fates caused by the industrial revolution. People were practically defenceless against the power of the business men and land lords. Things continued on like this until the employees finally found someone of a higher rank to back them. That man was Robert Owen, the first man to have a successful factory with good conditions for its workers. This led too many more strikes and much more positive action towards the welfare of factory workers. This time was called the reform and led us to the employee rights and good working hours set in place today.

Not everything was bad about the revolution though. With out it we wouldn’t have berley any of the technology that surrounds us today. The medical achievements are amazing and the majority of people are living happy, healthy lives. Laws have been set in place to make sure things are fair, and nothing like the factory conditions during the revolution will ever happen again. I believe that the Industrial Revolution was a vital phase in history but I also think that some of the horrible things that happened during that time could have been avoided if people weren’t so focused on profits and success and more on actually developing.

The Industrial Revolution was neither a good or bad thing in my eyes. The pros and cons both contain important points. I just think it was something that needed to happen, but now that we have all we need, we just keep creating unnecessary technology. Because I fail to understand why we need 40 inch screens and cars that jump 3 metres in the air? I believe the Industrial Revolution is still something that is going on today but it has been continuing on a much smaller scale and it’s something that should have ended a long time ago.

A Report by Eve B.