What's the point?

If you're not aware of it, the job of the adjunct lecturer in higher education is a tenuous one at best.  If I'm not worried about how many classes I'm going to have, then I'm worried about if those classes are going to make, or lastly, if a full-timer is going to come along and then take my class, because their's didn't make.  And unlike full-time professors (roughly 30% of the faculty versus the 70% of adjuncts), I do not get paid if I do not have classes to teach.  Being an adjunct lecturer is a stress, and I'm finally finished.

I never would have thought that I would say that, but it's the truth.  Recently, we're having other issues popping up, too; especially the limiting of classes for my colleagues and myself.  Last spring, I was able to teach a full load of 4 classes a semester per college.  Now, because of new regulations, I can only teach 3 a semester.  On top of that, I can only teach 2 classes an entire summer (it used to be 4) and absolutely no wintermesters.   Luckily, I am able to teach at two different colleges, and have been teaching 4 classes each place for the last two years, and I really did feel like I contributed to my household's earning.  Now, I can teach up to 3 classes (though that doesn't mean I get 3, this semester I only received 2 from one college and I'm not sure I'm going to get any from them in the summer) and am continuously told that I can have classes only to see them taken away from me; thusly, I continue to believe that I will have money coming in, only to find that, no, it's not, or that's it's a pittance of what I thought it was going to be. It's discouraging.

This leads me to having to throw my hands up in the air and state that the administration just does not care about the hardships of the adjuncts.  We're working poor; I could not live on an adjunct's wage, and everyone in the college knows these facts, but don't seem to care.

Thank goodness I've been working towards receiving secondary certification, because I am done with all the stress that comes along with being in higher education.  It's a sad state of affairs when someone who was both good and well-liked at their jobs cannot stay there because they cannot earn a living wage.

We stress to students the need get a higher education. However, they get that education from a group of individuals who earn as much (or less) than they do when working at a retail job.  What kind of a system do we support, where this scenario is not only a likelihood, but I can see it in my paycheck now versus what I was making before I went to further my education and help others further their's, as well?