Good article on adjuncts

[G5052]

I've been an adjunct for 17 years.  I started at one college, then went to another, and now work for both.

 

I was looking at my oldest's schedule for the fall.  We spent a lot of time reading ratemyprofessor.com and asking folks for opinions. During his dual enrollment days, he had half adjuncts and half full-time professors.  This fall he has one adjunct who teaches one night a week in a speciality, one adjunct who is also an administrator, and the rest are full-time faculty members.

 

A good adjunct can be as good as a good faculty member.  But I've seen some bad adjuncts come-and-go.  And some good adjuncts that weren't asked back because the students ganged up and gave them very poor reviews because the professor stuck to their guns.

 

I thought that this was a good article: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/05/the-cost-of-an-adjunct/394091/

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I doubt I will be adjuncting much longer.  A recent change states that adjuncts must have current work experience in their field or earn a certain amount of CEUs each year.  Supposedly, there is a statute of limitations for those of us who were grandfathered in and I am fairly certain things will change in the near future. The CC also does not have an allowance for adjuncts for CEUs; those expenses would be out-of-pocket. 

[MarkT]

I doubt I will be adjuncting much longer.  A recent change states that adjuncts must have current work experience in their field or earn a certain amount of CEUs each year. 

So if you are now teaching subject X that is not current work experience to teach subject X?

[Granny_Weatherwax]

So if you are now teaching subject X that is not current work experience to teach subject X?

 

No, I guess I should have stated that the experience must be professional.  For example, if you are teaching a criminal justice course you must have current experience as either an attorney or police officer.  If you are instructing a class on dental hygiene, you must either be an active hygienist or dentist.  The reasoning is simple: the school wants adjuncts who will teach current views, policies, methods, etc.

 

The problem arises with disciplines like math, psych, sociology, etc.  Our town has been in an economic recession for quite a while with no prospects for bringing in new businesses.  People are adjuncting because they cannot find employment in their chosen fields.

 

 

 

I thought that this was a good article: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/05/the-cost-of-an-adjunct/394091/

 

 

This is a good article.  I bet the majority of students don't even know if their instructors are adjuncts or professors.

 

And I think different institutions treat their adjuncts very differently.  Even if an adjunct is the greatest teacher in the world, if they don't have an office they can meet students in, if they have to have a huge teaching load just to make ends meet, it isn't going to be good for the students.

[G5052]

So, a retired high school math teacher or a mom taking a break from engineering wont be allowed to teach college algebra?

 

Maybe not.  

 

When I started college teaching, I had a 1-year old and had only been out of the workplace for that long.  After that they never asked.

 

But do know of several homeschool moms who took off 8-10 years, and they were told that they didn't have current experience.

 

One of the colleges I work for pays for CEU's, and the other does not.  Both pay for up to two classes per semester from their own offerings, whether job-related or not.  Thankfully both also offer a lot of free CEU's, particularly over the summer, so I usually take one of those at least every other summer.

 

Both thankfully have adjunct offices, although it is shared space.

 

So I slog on for now!

[MarkT]

No, I guess I should have stated that the experience must be professional.  For example, if you are teaching a criminal justice course you must have current experience as either an attorney or police officer.  If you are instructing a class on dental hygiene, you must either be an active hygienist or dentist.  The reasoning is simple: the school wants adjuncts who will teach current views, policies, methods, etc.

 

The problem arises with disciplines like math, psych, sociology, etc.  Our town has been in an economic recession for quite a while with no prospects for bringing in new businesses.  People are adjuncting because they cannot find employment in their chosen fields.

 

for semi-vocational subjects like Criminal Justice this makes sense but for more pure academic subjects like English, Math and Sociology this makes less sense

 

CCs  are usually both vocational and academic institutions so they should be more flexible in their hiring policies.

[skimomma]

I have been an adjunct at a STEM school for 10 years and do not work outside of that job.  Someone posted that most students do not know the difference.  This has been true in my case.  My school employs very few adjuncts (less than 5%), we are compensated very well, and we have the same office space, graders, TAs, computing equipment, and other resources that tenured faculty have.  I am even expected to serve on department committees and am compensated for it.  So maybe my school is unique.  I can and do write recommendations, advise students outside of class, discuss career options, and occasionally get tracked down by former students for questions/references.  I might not know the requirements for specific majors and all course info but most tenured faculty do not either.  That is what the acedemic advisors are for.  The only real problem I have encountered is meeting expectations for students who do not complete my classes on time (incomplete, medical issues, etc....) because I am not supported outside of the academic year.  I am more than willing to devote the time required when I can but often run into problems interfacing with the school because I do not technically work there after the traditional semester ends.  Because there are so few of us and most of us are well-known on campus I can usually get what I need despite this.  I have also been in the awkward position of explaining what an adjunct is when students have asked about doing research work for me.  As an adjunct I obviously don't do research as part of my job and students are often very surprised to learn that.

 

I am glad to read articles like this because my own experience would have blinded me to this issue when my own dd is looking at colleges.  But do know that not all schools operate this way.  My question is how to find out this info about schools?  What questions to ask?  I somehow doubt there are brochures listing percentages of adjuncts and TAs that teach or how much they are paid or how they are supported.  The more I think about it, the more important the answers to those questions should be to any parent/student when making school choices. Despite what I consider to be favorable stats at my own school, a quick look at the website does not lead me to the info I would be looking for.

I am glad to read articles like this because my own experience would have blinded me to this issue when my own dd is looking at colleges.  But do know that not all schools operate this way.  My question is how to find out this info about schools?  What questions to ask?  I somehow doubt there are brochures listing percentages of adjuncts and TAs that teach or how much they are paid or how they are supported.  The more I think about it, the more important the answers to those questions should be to any parent/student when making school choices. Despite what I consider to be favorable stats at my own school, a quick look at the website does not lead me to the info I would be looking for.

 

I'm guessing you work at a four year school?  My impression is that the worst treatment of adjuncts mainly happens at CCs and other two year schools:  things like not getting office space, or being told a week before a semester starts that they will only be teaching one class this semester, and being forced to shuttle between three different campuses in order to string together a full time job.

 

I believe I have seen "percentage of classes taught by TAs" in some college comparison data, but I don't recall where.

[Bluegoat]

for semi-vocational subjects like Criminal Justice this makes sense but for more pure academic subjects like English, Math and Sociology this makes less sense

 

CCs  are usually both vocational and academic institutions so they should be more flexible in their hiring policies.

 

Yes, I agree.

 

And actually, in areas where there is a desire for current practical experience, it is probably a good way to ensure that they use faculty positions for jobs that are more academically oriented, and use adjuncts more for courses where it is ideal to have someone who is actually working in the field, rather than stringing people along without giving them job security.

[G5052]

I believe I have seen "percentage of classes taught by TAs" in some college comparison data, but I don't recall where.

 

For comparison purposes, a TA is different than an adjunct.  An adjunct has the same or nearly the same degrees as a full-time professor; a TA is usually a graduate student.  So a TA may have less education and experience than an adjunct.

 

We ran into a friend of ours at the gym on Sunday who just graduated from a selective 4-year and is headed to graduate school in the fall.  She started at the local community college.  I asked her how she felt now about that combination, and she said that she had no regrets.  She said that her community college classes were all taught by degreed professionals, even the science labs.  In her experience, there was never a difference between the adjuncts and full-time professors that she took classes from.  She did note that she picked very carefully though and avoided new professors in general.  She also said that she liked smaller classes and heard a lot of horror stories during her time at the 4-year about poor TA's at 4-year schools.

 

At the colleges where I work, about 1/3 of the classes are taught by adjuncts.  Over 90% have at least a year of college teaching experience.

[EmilyGF]

Most of the adjuncts I know are grad students whose PhD is taking years longer than they expected. They start adjuncting to make ends meet (by year 6 or 7 or 8 of grad school they are often married with kids) and then have even less time to finish their dissertations. Students I know may adjunct 4 or 5 classes per semester at 4 or 5 different schools. It makes my head spin. It makes their heads spin. I do not know how they can manage and I sure would not approach one of them for advice on how to fulfill my graduation requirements since they aren't familiar with the schools.

 

Emily