In today's American society, childhood is considered a time of learning, exploration, and an opportunity for a child to make their mark on the world. In the period before the Great Depression, however, the childhoods of working-class children were seen in a different light. Working-class children felt pressure to provide for their family, which prevented them from getting an education and starting their own business, while middle-class children had greater educational prospects due to the difference in wealth. The Great Depression brought hard times for all Americans and expanded the working class while shrinking the middle class. Because working-class children had close ties and responsibilities to their families and faced greater poverty than the middle class, they were less likely to exit the working class as they were committed to working to support their families, or children without family. they had to support themselves and had fewer educational opportunities. In child labor in the Carolinas, photos and depictions of children working in factories show how working-class children did not have the opportunity to branch out and have a childhood as defined by today's standards. While the pamphlet's authors may have fought for better standards for child labor in Carolina's textile mills, they simultaneously show how working-class families depended on multiple members to support the family: in “Chester, South Carolina , an overseer frankly told me that manufacturers [throughout] the South have circumvented child labor laws by allowing underage youth to help their older brothers and sisters” (McElway, 11). Children were used because they were cheap labor and were taken advantage of in many ways because they were so... middle of paper... d for a difference in wealth. The difficulty of providing for a family, much less earning more to rise above the working class, meant that children born into working-class families felt as if they were "stuck" because they had no extra time or money to be dedicated to education. . Instead of being able to learn and grow throughout childhood, working-class children focused on the survival of themselves and their families. This contrasts with the middle class where children had the opportunity to gain an education before working in the future. Horatio Alger claimed that anyone can change their situation with a little extra work and improving their behavior, but Ragged Dick was an unrealistic character. Children born into poverty often faced a cycle where guidance and luck couldn't even help them escape the working class because they were busy with their families..