Adjuncts are treated differently, even when they have the same amount of teaching experience and education. 76% of college professors are part-time instructors; the trend of using adjuncts started in the 70's. From my understanding, colleges did it to bring in instructors that had real world experience and had time to teach a class in addition to their regular full-time job. In a way, this is a great idea Why not have a practicing lawyer teach a class about law? However, I think the trend has spun out of control.
Before the new health care plan, I taught seven classes per semester at one school and made $26,000 per year. Then the new health care plan made it so that schools only let adjuncts teach a certain amount of class to ensure they didn't have to provide insurance. So I could only teach 3 classes per semester. Do the math. That's not enough to live on. So I started working at three schools: one class at one, three classes at another, and two other classes an another. Scheduling was a nightmare.
Sadly, the adjunct trend is growing. I guess adjuncting works for people that only want a part-time job, but I think it may affect the quality of teachers. Several times while I was teaching, I thought about quitting and going back to my desk job at SYSCO, where I made double my adjunct salary, and I put in less hours there. I fear that great teachers may back away from their calling because full-time jobs are so hard to find. What will the long-term effects of using adjuncts be?
NPR talks about the situation, check out this link:
http://www.npr.org/2014/02/03/268427156/part-time-professors-demand-higher-pay-will-colleges-listen
Man, adjunct stories like yours are sometimes so wild. I can't imagine teaching 7 classes in a semester for only $26k/yr. And then have to teach 6 classes at 3 different schools? I'm surprised you didn't go back to SYSCO! When I finished my master's program, I decided that I was going to move wherever I had to (yep, Kansas) if it meant getting a full-time job and avoiding the adjunct line. It's sad that there are so few full-time positions available in comparison to adjunct ones, though, because a lot of people aren't able to pack up and move across the country for work like I was. Anyway, I definitely agree with you that unfair work conditions for adjuncts is a cause for concern.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you taught seven classes in one semester is blowing my mind. I'm not sure I would have made it to the end of the semester. Bravo for getting through!
ReplyDeleteI've been fortunate enough to go from educational program to program, so I haven't had to consider adjunct or full-time work yet; I've only worked as a grad/teaching assistant. But, I've had many colleagues who were adjuncts working at multiple schools. I've heard stories about the workload, the pay, and the scheduling. I guess from their stories, I've been motivated to keep going to school so I can have a chance at a full-time position.
Thanks for sharing :)