In class we had a worksheet that had us determine the origin of manufacturing for products that we had bought. Surprise surprise, most of the stuff was made from china. However to take this exercise further we had to do a little research into what it's like for a laborer in one of those factories. Here's what i found.
To no one's surprise, workers in these factories do not earn very much. Actually a lot of them earn less than the minimum wage in china. How is this possible you ask? Employers deduct as much as 300 yen from workers who make 700 yen for "accommodation and meals". Having worked at minimum wage if you want to make a decent salary you have to work as many hours as possible, which means that if you are not born into a family of wealth you will be working for the rest of your life in factories or other workshops just to get by.
I have never been to these factories personally, but from what I found working conditions are less than ideal to say the least. Were these in America, I'm sure that the conditions these people have to work under would be illegal. These people work in less than ideal conditions, making meager salaries and yet they are making the things that we want/need to buy.
Does it need to be this way?
Monday, April 11, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
About Me
Hello internet! My name is Nathan and I'm a 21 year old living in the great Silicon Valley. I'm going to school so I can major in software engineering, so living here is actually really convenient. I don't have any specific career choices just yet, however I would like to someday use my music experience to my advantage. After graduating high school I went to the Berklee College Of Music in Boston, the best contemporary music school in the world. Seeing as music is one of the few things that come easy to me, I figure it's something I should use to my advantage.
If it's not already obvious, writing is not my strong suit. That's definitely one thing I'd like to get better at by taking this english 1A class this quarter. If there's one thing I've learned from playing music, it's that if you want to get better at something you have to do it often. So hopefully keeping up with this blog will do good for me.
If it's not already obvious, writing is not my strong suit. That's definitely one thing I'd like to get better at by taking this english 1A class this quarter. If there's one thing I've learned from playing music, it's that if you want to get better at something you have to do it often. So hopefully keeping up with this blog will do good for me.
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