Final answer:
The role of children during the Industrial Revolution evolved from being workers in factories to students focused on education as the century progressed. Emphasis on middle-class values such as cleanliness, discipline, and morality led to a decline in child labor and the rise of compulsory education laws.
Step-by-step explanation:
During the Industrial Revolution, the view of children in the workplace shifted significantly. Initially, children worked alongside adults in factories due to their ability to perform simple tasks for considerably less money. However, as the nineteenth century progressed, there was a societal change towards the role of children, influenced by the middle-class values of cleanliness, discipline, morality, and education. As the emphasis on education grew, the necessity for children to work in factories diminished, leading to the eventual legislation requiring compulsory education and ending formal child labor.
By the late 1800s, middle-class families began to value education and self-improvement for their children over their economic contribution to the household. Consequently, this led to the reduction of family size within the middle class. Despite the initial harsh conditions of the revolution for many, by its end, it contributed to the establishment of norms that would remove children from the workforce and place them into schools to prepare for skilled labor in an increasingly complex industrialized world.