The Adjunct Near You

Parents Forum
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<p>Wanted to make sure that all parents had an opportunity to see this tremendous article from today's Chronicle of Higher Education:</p>

<p>An</a> Underclass Is Educating Your Children - Advice - The Chronicle of Higher Education</p>

<p>Many parents are NOT aware of how little of the tuition that they spend is actually going to faculty development and faculty retention. I'm posting this to urge all of you to make a point of asking during campus tours "What percentage of faculty at your university are full time tenure track? What percent are adjuncts? What is the likelihood that my child as a freshman will be taught by adjuncts?"</p>

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<p>This article isn’t about the quality of teaching by adjuncts. It’s about the miserable life of an adjunct who is paid next to nothing for doing the job (or most of the job) of a tenure-track professor because the university won’t make a long-term investment in full-time faculty. (Then there’s the other issue of hordes of new PhDs finding out that the college teaching job they trained for isn’t out there waiting for them.)</p>

<p>My husband is a contract professor who doesn’t fit the profile described in this article. As more of us have second careers in retirement, surely there are many others like him. He’s well qualified to teach your children. He taught as an adjunct off and on for many years because he loves teaching (not for the money, that’s for sure), then retired from his first-career job and began teaching on contract. He has no interest in a tenure-track position. He teaches freshmen because he believes that gives him the rewarding opportunity to inspire students and capture their interest in the subject. Tenured faculty often prefer higher-level courses, and in his department new, tenure-track professors do not teach freshmen until they gain more classroom experience (raising the question of when and how, exactly, college professors learn how to teach). His student and peer evaluations are extremely positive. Students appreciate that he brings real-world experience to his teaching. He has the time, flexibility, and interest to devote more time to them. He would love for his university to invest more in faculty development, retention, and research support, even if that meant he’d be out of a job. But it doesn’t, at least not enough, even as enrollment grows. </p>

<p>End of rant! When you’re evaluating colleges, do ask about faculty development and retention because it can be a problem. But don’t assume that contract faculty = substandard teaching.</p>

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<p>I teach this way and I have no interest at all in a tenure track position…too many other things to do, times when I don’t want to teach classes, etc…But, my classes are always full when I DO teach because I’m successful at what I do, which is what I teach when I teach, but I am not a teacher (professor) by profession, per se…my profession is doing what it is I am teaching.</p>

<p>So, it’s not always a negative thing.</p>

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<p>I am a professional teacher – four courses at an institution where I’m tenured and two courses at a different institution where I’m not. Yeah, it take me six courses a semester to afford my kids’ private college education.</p>

<p>It’s the same me teaching sets of courses, often the same subject, so I don’t think the quality of the instruction suffers.</p>

<p>I <em>do</em> think adjuncts have less loyalty (why shouldn’t they) to the institutions where they teach. They also supervise less research, write fewer recommendations, do much less committee work and are less available for one-on-one tutoring and all the institutional hoopla that goes with incompletesl</p>

<p>Thus, no matter how fine the adjunct is (and I know many fine ones) I have no doubt that institutions suffer from and over-large corps of adjunct faculty.</p>

<p>In addition, I have no doubt that the conditions under which adjuncts work are exploitative. There is no reason why salaries and benefits could not be pro-rated so everyone would be remunerated in the same way for the same work.</p>

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<p>I taught this way as well, until all adjuncts were eliminated due to budget cuts. It was an addition to my staff position at the university. The course I taught was a senior/grad level course directly related to my work experience.</p>

<p>I didn’t do it for what amounted to pin money; I did it because I enjoyed teaching, and there’s no way they could have convinced me to go tenure-track. As an adjunct, I wasn’t subject to the faculty politics (but counter to what mythmom says above, I was highly available to my students for one-on-one tutoring – in fact, I tutored one student all the way through the class because he needed the credit but had a schedule conflict).</p>

<p>It was a nice arrangement, and the students gave me very high feedback – it seems they appreciated a class that was grounded in real-world experience.</p>

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<p>

You’re right, mythmom, and that may be typical. My husband could be unusual (and he on contract, not adjunct), because he does all these things except committee work. Maybe the Chronicle of Higher Ed should do a story about second-career college professors!</p>

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<p>I wasn’t criticizing adjunct. I am one myself. Just explaining how the system works. And sad to say, the more adjuncts that are used the more donkey work falls on the struggling tenured faculty. Running a college, sad to say, is not just student interaction, though that is certainly the best part.</p>

<p>We have to create and work on disability committees, tenure committees, sabbatical committees, text book approval committees, curriculum committees, study away committees, internship committees, student publication committees, faculty publication committees, placement committees…the list is endless.</p>

<p>Again, not criticizing adjuncts, just pointing out that even if the adjuncts posting here are giving good feedback it is really not a tenable system right now.</p>

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<p>I hope to some such work when I retire. Such jobs are just fine for many people and not some evil conspiracy.</p>

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<p>I certainly feel bad for the many adjuncts who are treated miserably by the current system. However, I haven’t seen any evidence indicating that adjunct teaching quality is inferior.</p>

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<p>I wasn’t saying that it was, nor that it was an evil conspiracy.</p>

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<p>^ I’m not sure if that was all meant for barrons, but if you were referencing my post I was not talking about you. The OP asserted that the number of adjuncts teaching a student is a relevant criteria to consider in the selection process, and the point was not adequately supported.</p>

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<p>Just from my experience going to school long time ago, the Adjunct professors I knew were professionals who were experts at their field with lots of industry experience. They taught only advanced post-graduate classes on subjects related to their expertise and they were the amongst the best professors I had. There were not many of them in the department but they brought a different perspectives and insights that many normal tenure professors sometimes did not. I think it is a good balance to have both if you do it right.</p>

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<p>There is definitely a useful and legitimate role for adjunct faculty in the teaching of certain subjects requiring instructors with current industry or “real-world” experience. However, it is an absolute scandal that so many first-year core academic courses such as composition are taught by adjuncts, who are often not around much on campus, do not know the institution, and cannot provide academic advising and support for newer students. I am aware that there are many fine adjunct faculty who do a good job in the classroom. On the other hand, there are many who are so overworked and resentful about their status and working conditions that they are not, frankly, very good. They also do not have the time to keep up with scholarship in their field, and they are paid only to teach existing courses, not develop new ones. If an adjunct is happy to be an adjunct, fine. It’s been my experience, however, that many are not happy yet cannot bring themselves to say goodbye to academe and do something else. The current system is completely overreliant on adjunct labor to staff lower-level courses with steady enrollments.</p>

<p>I also plan on asking inconvenient questions about the percentage of adjunct faculty on my DD’s college tours, particularly at the lower levels of the curriculum. I refuse to pay full freight for part-time instruction. It’s a real scam and I can’t believe more people aren’t questioning this dubious practice. Some of the worst offenders are very expensive large privates in Northeastern cities. There is a giant pool of cheap interchangeable adjunct labor in this area.</p>

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<p>It is very sad to know that we pay almost 60K for 6 month while have our kids taughted by some poorly-paid adjuncts. America is over the hill.</p>

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<p>Not every adjunct is poorly paid and exploited, and many of them represent all that is good about America’s educational system. A student can get academic, “best of breed” thinking in the field from professors who do research, go to conferences, co-author studies with colleagues at other universities, etc. AND get the benefit of practitioners who actually work in the field, are not theoretical at all but can add real life experience to the lecture hall.</p>

<p>And one of my kids had an adjunct for the class NJ Sue refers to- composition- and he was fantastic. A newspaper editor for a highly regarded daily paper; his team has won several Pulitzers for both feature writing and news. How the man found the time to be on top of his students and his newsroom was a miracle but he seemed highly available, was a tremendous source of internship and job opportunities not only for his students but for others in the University who tapped his contacts at magazines, blogs, papers, and trade publishing companies.</p>

<p>What’s the problem?</p>

<p>There are universities who count emeritus faculty, those on maternity leave, on sabbatical, etc. as part of their teaching count-- all legitimate since they’re on the payroll, but if they aren’t actually in the classroom for the semester, it doesn’t help your kid from an instructional perspective. If the only English Department faculty person who teaches a non-fiction seminar to Freshman is on maternity leave, wouldn’t you rather have a working professional writer teach that seminar rather than have the college cancel the class?</p>

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<p>I am sure that there are many outstanding adjunct professors with real life experience. </p>

<p>A friend of mine decided to be a college professor after getting tired of industry job a few years ago. It was hard to get a tenure track position. He got an adjunct position in a south NJ college teaching courses on Tue, Wed and Thursday and then flew back to MA to be with his family each week. A year later, He got another adjunct position in western PA teaching course which is not his Ph.D major three days a week and then drove back to MA each or every other week. I know my friend is a smart guy. what I do not know is how his frequently flying/driving will affect his teaching. If it is a tenured track position and if the college provide relocation package, I guess that he might consider moving to NJ/PA.</p>

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<p>

Then… don’t pay $60k a year.</p>

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<p>Blossom, the problem is not the existence of adjunct faculty per se, and as I pointed out, there are many fine adjuncts. The problem is the systemic gross overreliance on adjunct faculty to teach classes that should be taught by full-time faculty. Adjunct faculty are supposed to be contingent, not regular. Yet many universities use them not to improve instruction but to lower the cost of its delivery. When you’re getting to the point where over half of the first-year composition courses are taught by adjuncts, that’s a problem. You cannot build a good, solid program primarily staffed by wandering part-timers, no matter how individually wonderful they may be.</p>

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<p>“I <em>do</em> think adjuncts have less loyalty (why shouldn’t they) to the institutions where they teach. They also supervise less research, write fewer recommendations, do much less committee work and are less available for one-on-one tutoring and all the institutional hoopla that goes with incompletesl”</p>

<p>+1</p>

<p>Yes they may not be around in a few years to write your recommendations. If you like one, you probably can’t take another course with them because they are not teaching another at your college. They have no office hours and are not available for extra help, may be difficult to reach outside of class, etc. </p>

<p>If you like one, you cannot ask them to serve as your advisor. They are not in the loop for this role, and probably don’t even know as much as you do about the college’s requirements or other courses there.</p>

<p>They also may have less credibility even within their own department. For example, at a local college here, to qualify for Honors courses one needs to be recommended by at least one professor on permanent staff, adjunct recommendations are not sufficient. </p>

<p>I was taking a night course a while ago, the adjunct did not know how to use the overheads, etc. in the room we were using, as that was the only time he had been there.
And he kept confusing which college he was teaching at; he was teaching the same course at several colleges, and they used different texts. His syllabus was written for the text his home college was using.</p>

<p>My wife teaches as an adjunct, one particular graduate course in a field in which she is expert. I’m sure she does a good job in the class itself, but a full timer teaches another section of it as well, and the students might be better served taking it with him. Not so much from the perspective of the actual class itself, but in all these other peripheral ways. She is a practitioner. not an academic, I can’t imagine what weight her recommendation would have with doctoral program admissions committees. She has never sat for comprehensive exams in her field, she knows this particular sub-area of it through practice, period.</p>

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<p>monydad, you said what I was trying to say, but better. I was not disrespecting adjuncts at all.</p>