The Bing act of 1921 was an Ohio law, adopted April 29, 1921, that stated children between the ages of six and eighteen are required to attend school. There were two major exceptions to this law. One, if a child had already graduated high school they did not have to stay in school until they turned eighteen and two, if a child was sixteen years old and had passed the seventh grade the child was allowed to work as a farmer instead of attend school.

The Bing Bill was drafted for Ohio legislation by Ohio Council of Child Welfare’s education committee. Although the Bing Bill had many supporters, women’s groups were the primary activists for the bill. January 24, 1921 the Bing bill was first introduced to the House of Representatives by Simeon H. Bing from Gallia county. He was chairman of the house committee on schools and President of Rio Grande College.

The Bing Bill was opposed by groups such and farmers and the Amish. They didn’t want to take their children out of the workforce and they knew it would cost them more with taxes being raised to run the schools. They also thought the schools would train the children to be delinquent and have bad behavior. Supporters argued that schooling will help the young farmers bring more efficient practices and modern ideas to the farms.

This law was created to stop child labor. “By the early 1850s, many Ohioans came to oppose child labor. In 1852, Ohio was one of the first states to implement limits on the number of hours that children could work” (Ohio History Central). Business wanted to employ children so that they could pay them less money than they would an adult worker. People who opposed child labor were for the Bing act because it mandated that children had to be at least sixteen years of age to work at most industries in Ohio. At age sixteen the children had to get a work permit from their parents and school to say they have passed the seventh grade and are allowed to work.

When children were forced to attend school some families had some financial troubles because the children couldn’t help on the farms as much. “This legislation, however, did result in hardships for many families and school districts. Many families relied on children's labor to pay bills. With children under sixteen years of age no longer able to work, some families endured financial troubles” (Ohio History Central). The schools also had financial trouble because more children attended schools. Every school had to have equivalent education through the highs school level and rural schools needed transportation. The state legislature adopted a 3 percent sales tax that gave half of the funds to the school districts for education purposes and operating costs.

With making schooling mandatory, school attendance went up. This reduced illiteracy and promoted good citizenry. Businessmen and industrialists were for the Bing bill because they wanted more intelligence in the work field.

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