What exactly is the uproar over. Tennis players are playing professionally in their teens. Kids act and sing and model professionally at extremely young ages. Canadian kids are playing hockey professionally as teenagers and kids all over the world play football(soccer) professionally under 18 years of age. Take a look at the Olympic competitors who are competing at extremely young ages.
If someone opts to work professionally at a sport at a very young age, what's the big deal? They can still get an education while doing so or even afterward. Hopefully they have good parents, good advisers and handle their education and profession in a mature and beneficial manner that allows them to have a bright future doing whatever they want.
Just because people do it, doesn't mean it is the best course of action. I am not saying that the following are my feelings, but often with child stars (whether in sports, the arts, or something else) you often hear things like: Kids being exploited...kids burning out....kids getting too much too quickly...kids not working to/reaching their full potential etc...
Personally, I think it sets a dangerous precedent. What happens when there is an 8th grader who is 7-1 and incredibly athletic? Does he decide he wants to play basketball in Europe? Do his parents? does a slimy agent (not all agents are slimy) give the kid 10,000 bucks to go play over there? etc...I simply feel it opens a can of worms that could get out of control.
Looking at the major sports in the US (football, basketball, baseball, and hell even hockey) have age/grade limits to when you can become a pro. so it seems like apples and oranges to compare 'minor'(where, for the most part, $ doesnt completely rule the world - Soccer being an exception, but not here in the US) sports and acting/singing.
I guess this is just a natural progression. I mean hell, we have 14 year old kids accepting scholarship offers to division 1 basketball programs before even picking a highschool.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2930720&sportCat=ncbI dont know, maybe it doesnt seem disturbing to some, but that is disturbing to me.