Behind the counter: Fast Food Nation chapter analysis

¶ … Fast Food Nation" Chapter 3 "Behind the Counter"

Process essay: The process of coaching children in youth sports

In his chapter, "Behind the Counter," of his expose Fast Food Nation, the author Eric Schlosser highlights the darker side of working at a fast food restaurant. The labor is frequently young, often exploited, and regarded as a disposable commodity by the managers. In fact, it works to the company's advantage if there is a quick turn-around of labor. This means that the company does not have to pay raises or benefits to cheap, teenage labor, and one worker is easily replaced by another. By keeping labor costs down, the price of fast food remains inexpensive. However, Schlosser believes the customer should know that the hamburger served at McDonalds was prepared by a teenager encouraged to work past the legally-mandated hours for someone his age. That teen might feel pressured to skip studying or school to make minimum wage at a dead-end job, and even to work under dangerous conditions.

However, the exploitation by the young by the old is not only showcased in fast food restaurants, where workers toil under hot lamps wearing paper hats. The increased drive to obtain athletic scholarships or even to make the Olympics has caused many parents to become taskmasters themselves, more so than any fast food manager. They pressure their students ever-onward to succeed at high-profile sports. "Children are playing team sports in the U.S. By the age of four. By the time they reach 10-years-old they may already be in elite competitions" (Davis 2005). Only a very small fraction of children have hopes of profiting from their athletic prowess. Only 2-5 of every 1,000 high school athletes become professionals, but you would not know this if you "take in a Little League game between teams striving for a championship. But instead of watching the players, watch -- and listen to -- the parents and coaches screaming at them, and not just words of encouragement" (Brody 2010)

While physical activity is healthy, the intense specialization demanded to succeed at an elite level causes many young people to break down physically and mentally. "The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons said doctors treated more than 3.5 million children for sports injuries in 2003 and warned against treating young athletes as 'merely small adults'" (Davis 2005). A not-unusual schedule for high school football players in August, for example, consists of "twice-daily summer football practice...players would report as early as 7 a.m., work hard for a few hours, eat to get ready for more football, and then drill again in the afternoon. The athletes, often wearing 15 pounds of gear, would run plays, crushing and tackling each other under the scorching heat" (Park 2009). This ritual takes its toll, however -- there have been several reported deaths or near-deaths from overheating during such practices, including one Kentucky teen whose body temperature was in excess of 107F (Park 2009).

Concussions are also rife amongst football players, whose young brains are still very vulnerable, and players in other contact sports. "There was about a 60% increase in the estimated number of concussions and other traumatic brain injuries (TBI) seen among young athletes during the past decade, according to the CDC" (Mann 2011). Parents and coaches may be more aware of the risk of injury, but other factors, such as increased weight and size of players and increasingly cutthroat competitive play can also be partially to blame for this dramatic increase. Yet football remains a popular sport, in part because it is seen as a source of scholarship money and glory.

The drive to create highly-competitive athletes at younger and younger ages has caused parents and coaches to favor early sport specialization, rather than allowing young people to rotate between sports, as was once common. However, early specialization puts children at risk for repetitive stress injuries such as stress fractures and muscle imbalances, a loss of diverse social connections, psychological overvaluation of a single sport in their life, and fear of failure ("Early sports specialization not a good idea," Medical News Today, 2006). It is estimated that 60% of all sports-related injuries amongst youth are preventable with proper training such as having at least two days off per week but grueling schedules do not permit this sensible policy (Brody 2010).