<p>Actually, I am not certain if ANYONE has made that argument in this thread. I am pretty sure that most everyone is in agreement that adjuncts should be reasonably compensated. The issue of contention (if there was one raised) is about the obligation for schools to go beyond what is called in a contract with a … part-time and non-tenure-track educator. </p>
<p>I also think that a few posts have been about the discrepancies between what parents and students pay to the school and what the school considers a reasonable expense to get the classes taught. </p>
<p>We all seem to point the accusatory finger in the direction of the … schools and their faulty economic model that seeks to protect the few chosen ones.</p>
<p>Xiggi. 78. But where? Our views depend on where we are and what we observe. You don’t have to answer that. Don’t.</p>
<p>There is an ongoing argument whether teaching, research- or both- should reign supreme. Not all faculty agree on the answer. You mentioned publish it perish and I find that, too, depends on the school- and whether it means a time consuming tome that alters scholars’ views, or textbooks or articles. DH’s answer? Both. That current research is what adds value, perspective (as scholarship tends to evolve over time.) Applies to humanities as well as to Stem. Keep a hand in the action.</p>
<p>We can’t all be middlemen. As an engineer in a factory, I understand the distinctions. We have contracting people here, too, but they don’t build the parts.</p>
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<p>The institution is the middleman, an intermediary, that used to do the same thing for 1/5 the price when I was in college. The instructor is the actual productive member here. The institution are not the ones in the classroom every day performing the function.</p>
<p>EDIT: My ex-boss was a business owner and an innovator in his field. He taught one class at the university directly related to his expertise, an appropriate use of adjunct. This business model has now been deemed acceptable for every other type of course taught to remove the need for full-time, well-compensated professors. It does not make the education a better, more valuable product.</p>
<p>I once met a Lithuanian, the uncle of an acquaintance, who had a milk processing business. His margin was 0.5% -they had not yet built up a conglomerate to separate the dairy farmer from the milk drinker. The more layers (“institutions”) we build between the primaries in the transaction, the more emotional distance we accept and the more the farmer is allowed to suffer.</p>
<p>So we can learn in movable “classrooms?” On the forum steps? A U education is expensive for a host of reasons. Tuition covers more than instruction and no one is clamoring for cinderblock boxes for class space. Many are leery of online ed. If students didn’t expect it, you think they’d be improving dorms, wiring classrooms and supporting activities?</p>
<p>Well that was interesting. Based on it I support a usage based tax on twitter hashtags. There is clearly a societal cost that is being socialized.</p>
<p>A close friend hired a middle-aged adjunct classics professor, w/PhD from UofChicago, employed at a major university as tutor for her HS freshman son; tutor charged $20/hour, lived with his sister, drove a junker, and clearly needed the money. I’ve read news stories about adjunct professors on food stamps, and I’m not surprised by this story.</p>
<p>Including the union position that she should be “a rallying figure, not unlike Trayvon Marton, for action, for education” and that she did not work the night job.</p>
<p>“Mr. Kovalik’s use of an unfortunate death to serve an alternative agenda is sadly exploitive,” he says, “and is made worse because his description of the circumstances bears no resemblance to reality.”</p>
<p>In a separate e-mail, the spokeswoman wrote that the university’s office of public affairs heard from several people on the campus familiar with the university’s efforts who were outraged that Mr. Kovalik “would use this sad situation to further an agenda.”</p>
<p>I don’t always trust the Chronicle. But this does show how easily emotions are tugged - and sometimes how that is used for effect.</p>
<p>Btw, a whole lot of people in this county are on food stamps. On other threads, many argue about NOT choosing college majors that lack opportunities- including some comments about the sciences. How do we jump from that message to suggesting adjuncting is a viable way to support oneself?</p>
<p>I don’t think the situation is quite so dire that I would recommend that students not go into the humanities, or into academia. While it might not totally solve the problem, here are a few things that I believe could greatly reduce it:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do NOT start a PhD program later than about your mid twenties, unless you’ve amassed a lot of money in the intervening years. Otherwise, you wind up in your mid to late thirties or even older with no real income, no savings, and not a lot of time to either flounder for a little after graduation or, if necessary, to adopt a new career. You are also a less attractive hiring prospect within academia at a certain point. </p></li>
<li><p>Do NOT go into debt for graduate degrees in fields without safe job options at the end of it. I love my program, but if I weren’t guaranteed a reasonable living stipend - or if I had financial obligations, like a child, that meant that stipend would no longer be reasonable - I wouldn’t have done it. </p></li>
<li><p>Be willing to cut your losses and move out of academia if you haven’t found a full-time position within a few years of graduation. Yes, I know, easier said than done, but I fail to believe that all of these people bright enough to get doctoral degrees can’t possibly find any job anywhere.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>^ D1 would love to go for her Phd- is not just strong in her field but also a great communicator. AND, she has some sort of knack for making things work in her favor. But DH, in a sister field, has long warned her away from that. The reality is 400+ apps for the last FT opening his dept had- about 5 years ago. There are very few positions advertised. Things don’t always turn over fast in academia. One’s specific forte may be overfilled, this decade. There can be 399 others, in line.</p>
<p>Soon enough, twenty-somethings are going to want the kid and the house.</p>
<p>I think that the story has pretty much died, with the usual pugilists remaining entrenched in their typical corners. For instance, my family and friends who are academics still believe that the schools should have done more for the teacher since she worked there for 25 years. And, despite professing no real love for the unions, they also believe that teachers should be protected and that Cadillac health care plans should be standard. </p>
<p>As far as positions, I think that one that I hinted at earlier is really worthy of a click-through. Check [Call</a> Me “Miss”! | ?if you can’t say something nice about higher education, say it here?](<a href=“http://callmemiss.com/]Call”>http://callmemiss.com/)</p>
<p>As everything related to higher education, a lot of grey (pun intended) and little black and white.</p>
<p>*Adjuncting is a great part-time, mom job. *</p>
<p>Right. I know of several moms who do this to bring in the extra money and to keep their resumes active. </p>
<p>Who would consider it for their sole source of income? Aren’t a number of adjuncts either retired people or people who do this “on the side”? </p>
<p>Does anyone know what this woman was doing for income before her 50’s? I’ve read over many posts (not every one), and don’t see any info about that. She didn’t become an adult in her mid 50’s, so what was she doing before that?</p>
<p>I’m starting to suspect that she was one of those spinster types who stayed home and took care of the parents. Then, once they died, she had to make it on her own???</p>
<p>Probably not. But, I was just using the word to project the commonly-understood image of a person who devotes her “best years” to the care of her aging parents, in lieu of career or romantic pursuits. I had a great-aunt who, for some reason, was expected to care for her aging parents, and she did (this was in the 1930s-60s). Luckily, she received a good inheritance after they had passed, but if she hadn’t she, too, would have faced a similar situation in middle-age. </p>
<p>Unless I’ve missed the “rest of the story,” I haven’t read what this lady was doing from age 20-55ish. That would have been long enough to build a nice retirement somewhere if she had been employed.</p>
<p>If this woman had worked a part-time job in any other field than academia, a part-time job that, like most, did not provide benefits, do you suppose anyone would be blaming her employer for her death? The original article by the union lawyer was a pile of nonsense that unfortunately got exactly the reaction he intended. Shame on him.</p>
<p>In HI, PT workers who work 3 consecutive weeks for 20+ hours DO get medical benefits. Some employers (like CVS, B&N and others also provide med coverage for PTers. The worker really has to look for it.</p>
<p>Most people 65+ are entitled to Medicare A and can purchase B for $104+. There is also MedicAid and other program help available for qualified applicants. They won’t search for you–you have to take the Iniatives.</p>
<p>I was a union employee for years. Our contract specifically EXCLUDED Medicare eligible folks from continuing on the group health insurance plan. My husband’s private company has the same exclusion. So…this 83 year old…in my union, would have been expected to enroll in Medicare at age 65…and even IF she had been a union member, would not have been eligible for health Insurance once reaching age 65.</p>
<p>I’m sorry…but this is a Swiss cheese story. Lots of holes.</p>
<p>This story has so many holes, indeed. I am very surprised that some enterprising reporter has not investigated the matter and come out with an article clarifying the many obvious questions. I wonder if family cooperation would be required to determine whether she was collecting SS and Medicare, and so forth, find out what she had been doing before she started as an adjunct, and so forth. In addition, there must have been someone who called DHS (or whatever they call it in PA) about her, or she would not have been contacted by a social worker.</p>
<p>There are indeed a lot of holes I would like to see investigated and reported.</p>
<p>I am also curious about the university keeping her on as an adjunct at such an advanced age. Isn’t it rather unusual? She must have been a great teacher. Or was the university being generous to one they knew had problems of some sort?</p>