<p>kayf - if YOUR daughter has a problem with the system then she should take it up with the administrator, instead of expecting the professor to fix the problem. It is like consumers having problems with airlines over booking their seats, but expecting the agents to fix the problem.</p>
<p>Oldfort, if the dean/student manual etc instructs students as to the order in which they should request overrides, she should follow the manual. That’s what I said, and I maintain that. Are you suggesting that students not follow instructions from dean/manual etc? People are frequently put in the position of justifying actions of their employer. That’s life. Communicate your discomfort to employer, accept it or move along.</p>
<p>I googled adjunct credit cap I am not linking to the blog I found. Sylvan -it seems to me what you are experiencing is a really big issue, with long range repercussions.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>kayf - students are instructed to work with their professors, but professors also have the right to say no if they don’t want to take additional students (as stated by OP). Tell the students no. If students don’t like it, they could deal with the administrator, and if they get no where then they should leave. I don’t see why it is the professor’s job to fix the administrator’s inefficiency. kayf - that is life, it works both ways.</p>
<p>How often have I read on CC that one could get good education at any school, as long as a student is motivated. Case in point, if you can’t get into a class, no matter how motivated you are, there is no way for you to learn. A four year college could quickly turn into 5+ years.</p>
<p>Yes, instructors have the right to say no. I just resent an atitude that the students always create the problem because they are irresponsible (albeit somewhat softened). It seems that some people resent their adjunct jobs, and then blast students. Fortunately, I have never heard of complaints like this at my DDs school.</p>
<p>No, actually moninizer is acting like quite a professional. He/she knows what he/she could handle and is making sure the students are getting the best instruction possible. By spreading oneself too thin is not always best for students. I don’t think he/she resents the job, contrary I think he/she is probably has the students best interest at heart. By not able to say no is probably more harmful then just saying yes. The attitude of expecting adjunct professors to fix a school’s overall problem is wrong.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree. And I don’t even think it is possible. In many colleges, after 2008 there were hiring freezes. Now many colleges are understaffed. We all know there aren’t fewer students. How is this problem going to be solved?</p>
<p>My children are in the midst completing PhDs. One has already left academics for a much more lucrative future. There are more graduates than academic positions, but the situation Sylvan describes is kind of universal. :(</p>
<p>Exactly. I happen to love what I do, and I do it well. I care about my students.</p>
<p>None of that means I should be expected to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As much as I like this work, and consider it meaningful and worthwhile, it can potentially expand into all hours of the day. I keep office hours though not required to. I communicate by email promptly and frequently. Beyond all the paper commenting/grading, I spend many more hours planning classes, attending department meetings, designing syllabi, and educating myself. This is not a complaint. But to say that someone feels there must be limits suggests they’re in the wrong field, well, that’s truly demoralizing.</p>
<p>Oldfort, I have no problem with Momizer saying she can not handle more students. It was her initial statement generalizing that the need for overrides is always the result of students being irresponsible that I do not consider professional.</p>
<p>It seems to me this is a really worthwhile thread because, unless someone has some sort of insider knowledge, how could they possibly be expected to understand what is happening at many colleges as staffing is cut and enrollment rises. I apologize to Sylvan for taking it off topic but the subject has a whole lot of personal interest to me at the moment. There are many excellent and caring non-tenured faculty members like garland, and others on the thread, but at a certain point they will say “enough is enough” Eventually my friend decided that she really couldn’t afford to pay to teach. When the college couldn’t/wouldn’t even reimburse her parking but was happy to keep her course and name on their catalogue, enough was finally enough.</p>
<p>We can only share what we know. At my kid’s school, it is very rare a student couldn’t get in required courses. If it should happen, most of the time it is due to bad planning on the student’s part. It is unfortunate your kid has such a hard time with course selections, but maybe it is something parents should be aware of before writing that check, or just be aware that’s the situation at a particular school and plan accordingly.</p>
<p>My daughter did not have a hard time, because the school worked to resolve conflicts. It may be RARE that a student cannot get into a required course at your school. I suspect it is more likely with trransfer students. Does your college allow transfers? Does it take time to evaluate transfer credits? I just do not like it when any instructors ASSUME it is always the student who is irresponsible.</p>
<p>oldfort: I agree with everything you are writing. The experience you and I had with kids at fairly elite private universities is not the common experience. </p>
<p>Faculty experiences differ widely, too. I have friends teaching at all sorts of institutions. Where they end up teaching very rarely has anything to do with their overall qualifications. Many stay in the field because they love it. Some are literally forced out because of economics. Overall academics is a deteriorating job market. Overall there are more students. Historically professors have been underpaid according to their education. When there is no job security (tenure) academics becomes much less attractive to young people. If they have to change jobs every few years anyway, why not go for bigger bucks? I don’t think we can really count on the willingness of some academics (like garland, sylvan) to go above and beyond what they were contracted for by their institutions, for educating the majority of the population who go to community college, branch colleges, state universities, etc. Especially when they really do have other options to make as much if not more salary. Will on-line instruction fill the gap? I don’t think garland can be easily replaced that way.</p>
<p>Yes, my kid’s school has a large transfer community and they are very supportive of transfer students. I don’t think anyone is assuming it is always the student at fault, but s* happens and professors can’t be responsible to fix everyone’s problem. Some how labeling a professor for being a horrible human being for not accepting every exception is self serving.</p>
<p>
I think the school would fund another adjunct. The problem with me teaching another section is that it would put me over the cap, which would mean paying a faculty-type rate, rather than the adjunct rate for all three courses. They are notably reluctant to do so.</p>
<p>Oldfort, for the Nth time, I am not blaming an instructor for not accepting every student into a class. I am upset at the blame the student all the time I think that when one poster says the answer is that students have to be responsible and another says it is rare that the student did not create the problenm, they are communicating clearly.</p>
<p>kayf, why so harsh? I can only speak about my own classes, and in my experience, since these classes do NOT fill up instantly, I do believe it’s on the student to sign up in time. </p>
<p>As for us adjuncts taking it up with the administration, I respectfully ask, are you nuts? I love my job, I work very hard at it and I want to keep it. There are adjuncts lined up around the block willing to take my place if I drop out. Why would the department keep a complainer in this buyers’ market - even one with the stellar student and performance evaluations I pride myself on having?</p>
<p>At public colleges and universities it is difficult to see what power any faculty may have negotiating with elected and/or appointed officials as states decide how to allocate decreasing resources.</p>
<p>[Reports</a> suggest UVa board wanted president to eliminate language programs | Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/06/18/reports-suggest-uva-board-wanted-president-eliminate-language-programs]Reports”>Reports suggest UVa board wanted president to eliminate language programs)</p>
<p>[North</a> Carolina governor joins chorus of Republicans critical of liberal arts | Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/01/30/north-carolina-governor-joins-chorus-republicans-critical-liberal-arts]North”>North Carolina governor joins chorus of Republicans critical of liberal arts)</p>
<p>And not every change in course enrollment from semester to semester warrants administrative intervention. Some years, my department has more majors than others. Some semesters, it happens that rooms are available at different times, or there are more or fewer sections of freshman comp scheduled . . . all of these things can influence how many students want to take my classes in a given year. But certainly, it makes no sense to change the enrollemnt caps in my classes every year based on these factors. So I think part of my job is to be as flexible as I can with students who want to add an already filled class, without sacrificing my own sanity or the other students’ learning experiences.</p>
<p>Of course, if the enrollemnt cap really is the max number of students who can be in the class without me losing my sanity or other students suffering, then that’s a different story.</p>
<p>
There is something I am really not getting here. If there were 34 students wanting to take a course with a 24 person cap, and every one of them acted responsibly and attempted to register in the first minute the window opened (not even counting that some might have earlier priority registration over others based on year, etc.), you would still have 10 of them left over. So those 10 were “irresponsible” how?</p>