February 6, 20114
Dear
Mr. President:
You
are aware of the House Committee Report on Education. The report was really old news.
My data on this particular manifestation of servitude which goes by the
euphuism of adjunct teachers comes through my daughter. My daughter had to give
up her quest for a PhD with only the dissertation still to do. Overwhelming
student debt and the servitude wage she was paid for adjunct teaching at the
University, forced her to find a job.
She
did secure a "decent job" i.e. free person's work that pays a living
wage in turn for the labor worked, at McGraw Hill as an editor. Like so many of
the other Owners/Managers, the Owners/Managers of the McGraw Hill Plantation,
or Corporation as they are now styled, instituted the profit enhancement
practice called "outsourcing" i.e. moving "decent jobs" to a place
where they could obtain servitude rather than employees.
It
is interesting to note, that the big change that has occurred in our Nation
since the Emancipation Proclamation is that rather than shipping the slaves to
this country, the Owners/Managers ship the work to where they can maintain slaves,
i.e. "pay" them the least possible amount to maintain their physical ability
to do whatever the work is.
In
addition to the new slave trade called outsourcing, the fact that we are locally
"maintaining" our teachers, whose work cannot be outsourced, as
appendages in subordinate capacities of servitude, and the resistance to a national minimum wage of
$10.10, indicates that certain vestiges of the Owner/Slave mentality are still
well entrenched in this Nation.
A
little hard data: When the amount of wages that my daughter is paid for
teaching English to 5, 30 student classes, is divided by the number of hours
that are essential to do the job in a decent way, she earns $8.00/hr. This level
of servitude carries no health benefits, sick or vacation time. She drives 140
miles a week to 3 different colleges.
Teachers
who are exposing young hearts and minds to the Principles, like Equality, upon which
our Nation rests are the absolute essential cog in the wheels of any nation
that wants to be a Democracy. I think that you understand this, and I wonder
how we can move this issue to the front of the line of issues.
Education
is not a business, especially not a "for profit" business. It is an
absolute essential right of any human being, the cornerstone upon which this
nation was built and without which this nation will not stand.
-tom
