.4 l 4,
The Cadre, March 30, I976, page 6
Student .23 worker
Wages for
_ homework
This feature was written for the chevron by Tim Grant,
a fourth year Arts student at University of Waterloo. It suggests that schoolwork must be viewed from the pe-- rspective that it is work, and therefore worthy of a wage, and that students should be seen as workers and not as "parasites."
We hope by printing this article to Open up discuss— ion in this area , and would welcome response to it. n “
Most of us are at unive- rsity because we see it as the route to better‘jobs and higher wages.
With higher wages, we hope to have more power to get what we want out of life — time to develop our interests, to enjoy family and friends - in a word, to do whatever we decide we want to do.
But in recent years, the chances of getting a well— paying job at the end of our 20-odd years of schooling have shrunk. There are fe— wer jobs available, and many of those available, such as teaching, have become much harder work. -
We also find that the pay levels for these jobs are not as high as we expect. With wage controls and st— aff reductions by both bu- siness and government, the
"picture is becoming grimmer.
Statistics Canada estimates that between 1973 and 1980 more than 2.5 million stue dents will receive post-sec- ondary degrees,.while only 600,000 jobs requiring these qualifications will become;
'available.
With these things in
mind, it has become very difficult for us to stom— ach three or four years of hard work and thousands.of, dollars of debts. ‘ While it is clear our
'lives as students and our
future prospects are incre— asingly uncertain, it is not
_as clear what we can do about
it. Teachers, postal worker and all workers who receive a wage have an employer whom they confront over how much money they get and how much work they have to do. The outcome of that struggle de- termines how much time and money they have to do what— ever they choose to do.
But for students, house— wives and other workers who receive no wage, the abscen— ce of a wage has made it ap— pear that we work only "for ourselves", or for husbands and children in the case of housewives. The Wages for Housework Movement, by clea— rly identifying that the maintaining and raising of the present and future lab— our force is essential work for the functioning of soc- iety, from which all employ— ees benefit, has opened the way for students to see ‘schooling as work. I
As in the case of house— wices, our lack of a wage has hidden the work we do in school, and has often de— vfined us as parasites on the backs of our parents and the taxpayers.
But schoolwork is work, not only because it invblves a lot of hassles, effort and long hours. More fundament— ally, it is work because as students, we are actively engaged in producing a very important product - ourselv-
COLLUGEHIETWESTTdEIJT‘Ibi'TFHE FCHWJRIL
es - as a specifically tra- ined segment of the future labour force. The work we do in school involves both acquiring knowledge and te— chnical competence to per—
. form certain jobs, as well
as developing the selfdisci- pline which will’enable us
I'to handle the daily routine
of our future jobs.
While the work we do in schools appears to be for our won benefit, it is our future employers, who need our skills and self-discip— line, who are the real ben- eficiaries of our work.
Schoonork certainly ' feels like work. Even in
--the best courses, involving
the most interesitng books, being forced to read those books in a.certain time 117 mit, or write book reports, or study them for an exam, becomes an imposition on our time.j I
For men students, univer- sity was always seen as an investment towards a higher future invome. The "invest-
‘ment" aspect of our schooli-
ng served to hide the work we were doing already.
For women students, uni- versity offered the hope of being able to avoid the fate of the full-time, wage- less housewife.’ But as wo— men have discovered, most university—trained women end up either as full-time hous- ewives or in low—paid social service jobs‘which are ext- ensions of housework.
When a university degree‘ fails to deliver the wages which can satisfy neither men's 'investment' nor women's 'hope' we both con— front the reality of school- work as unpaid work.
.Wagelessnm4 as a discipline
The lack of a wage for our schoolwork keeps us , financially dependent on our parents and the state. ‘Our wagelessness forces many of us to take part-time jobs in addition tO‘full—time during what is supposed to be our
. summer'vacation.'
We university students are not alone in being forced to take second jobs over and above our schoolwork. In Kitchener's largest downtown high school, three-quarters of the students had partiti— me jobs in 1974-75.
With so many wageless st- udents competing with each other and with other workers for jobs, wages are kept down and those who get jobs are forced to work harder to keep them. _
In the same way, our fin- ancial dependence on our parents becomes a discipline ‘on them to work longer and harder, and is often the main factor forcing our not: hers to,take—a second jobssu-
’outside the home, over and
above her‘housework. Finally, the fact that
we don't get paid‘for our
schoolwork, saddling us
with large debts when we
leave university, forces
us to get a job immediately
rather than travel, relax,
or do something we want
to do. '-
Schoolwork and the state
The state has always un- derstood the crucial econom— ic function of schoolwork.
- One of the clearest statemee
nts of this recognition is the U.S. government study
‘entitled "Work in America",
published two years ago.
The study reflects a Cl- ear perception of society as a huge "social factory" with each institution play- ing an important role in co- ntributing to the overall‘ profits of the economy. The study argues that schools should be restructured in various ways to reflect even more closely the needs of the labour market. ‘
f «swan. mwm u l’LL m’m‘m
NewsPaper articles abound these days with titles such as, "Schooling blamed for unprepared labour" where go- vernment and employers com— plain that the educational sysem is not providing the disciplined labour force employers want. . 'Tnz
The Ontario Federation of Students recently exposed a secret government report in which government official agreed to adjust tuition, loan and grant levels to _ "reflect manpower developm- ent priorities." In other works, "where growth is desired", tuition would be lower and grants highervior students in those fields.
.where the employersfwamtf‘” trained workers.. ‘” Thus the state intervenes and manipulates the struct- .ure, format, costs and work‘ *‘ing conditions of'schoolwork
L