To the editor:

Now teaching and nursing have been incorporated into “jobs that Americans won’t do”! Why should $22 to $26 per hour be sufficient for professionals who have five years of college and must pay for their own state license and continuing education? How can there be any wonder about the need for offshore recruitment of teachers and nurses?

Carpenters are paid $31 per hour. Laborers are being paid $11 per hour to learn. For every skill block they successfully complete, laborers are granted a raise until they complete the blocks and get $22 per hour.

There seems to be a double standard in these facts. The first is primarily female jobs versus male dominated jobs. The second double standard is that business leaders and legislators tell us that we “must pay top dollar to get the best talent” when it is time for their own pay raises.

Nursing and teaching were professions 30-40 years ago. Beginners earned a high average American wage. Those with experience earned more than four times the beginning salary. Present-day teachers cannot expect even a doubling of their salary during 20-30 years of experience.

Have our government and business leaders totally confused democracy and capitalism? When did the United States forget that there is no capital without labor and begin to govern only for capitalists and not for the people? When did the United States forget that there are no future, educated workers without good teachers? When did we elect the wrong people?

Sarah Karl,

McLouth