Comments on: Adjunct faculty: an unsustainable disgrace

By: bob jones

bob jones — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:22:18 +0000

What remedies do you propose, Joe?
Hmm…better pay, and benefits?

By: Dr. Denny

Dr. Denny — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:43:27 +0000

What remedies do you propose, Joe?

By: CWMackowski

CWMackowski — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:20:51 +0000

I’ve always felt the adjunct system treated people like second-class citizens. There ire instances, of course, where it’s preferable to have an adjunct because of sound educational practices: someone with specialized knowledge teaching a specialized course, for instance. But on the whole, adjuncts get overworked and underpaid, and students get short-shrifted. How on earth can a student possibly get an appropriate amount of sustentative feedback on a composition paper, for instance, if the professor is teaching six sections of composition at three different campuses? (I knew someone in this area who had to teach in that situation.) I teach two sections every fall and even then find it hard to give students the kind of feedback I think they deserve because the grading is so time-intensive.

By: jeff watson

jeff watson — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:42:58 +0000

Funny thing…out of all my friends in my PhD program at NU, I was the only one who didn’t go on to teach, do a post doc, or gravitate towards government or industry. Miraculously, everyone else in my class got jobs and are now professors somewhere. I looked some of them up on one of those rate a professor sites, and found an interesting correlation. The guys who were the biggest fuck-offs in the program turned out to be the hardest most arrogant teachers, while the most dedicated guys ended up getting high marks for being easy and affable i’m just glad I got out while the ink was still drying on my diploma.. i feel sorry for the guys coming up today as we had it so easy back in the 70′s….at least in the physical sciences. There was so much money going around back then and it wasn’t dog eat dog like today.