Mostly, adjuncts. These are faculty members or advanced graduate students who are part of the teaching staff, but often without power or benefits. They are paid by the course. They will never get tenure, they will never have job security, and they often have to teach at more than one college to make ends meet.
They are usually excellent teachers! They hope that the quality of their work will be noticed by the administration, and they will be rewarded with full-time employment. But that rarely happens.
As a result, these teachers are demoralized, angry, and often feel powerless. You may not see this in the classroom, but you need to know what your college is doing. If teachers’ concerns go unheeded, or if they get meaningless response, and substantial corrective action does not take place soon, this could be the beginning of the end of quality education in this country.
The persistent and growing exploitation of adjunct college faculty is a significant labor issue in higher education with grave moral and academic implications. This is a pervasive problem, nationally.
Unwittingly, those who advise high school applicants, those who attend college, and those who pay for it are enabling academic labor abuse on a national scale. While parents, students, and their counselors worry about the increasing selectivity of colleges, and the rising cost of attending, they need to see that this is related to the labor ethics aspect of higher education.
Pay levels for college faculty have been stagnant (and for part-timers, often too low to live on). This is not a new problem – it’s been going on since the 1970s, when adjuncts had to teach at several schools in order to earn the equivalent of a full-time salary. Paid by the course, these teachers usually receive no benefits (such as health insurance). Today’s college classes are larger, contracts are shorter, and salaries remain abysmal.
Colleges and universities need to understand that their reliance on “cheap” teaching may cost them dearly. They also need to be able to explain why the person who teaches the British lit survey or Chem 1 doesn’t get health insurance but that the college president makes $800,000. College administration is complex, but it should not be obscene.
Counselors, students, and parents need to investigate who is actually doing the teaching at the schools under consideration. But it is unlikely that they will get solid information from most admissions staff, who are, in general, not privy to administrative decisions. Therefore, consumers have to do their own research. If they choose not to apply or enroll, they need to tell the college why.
Unfortunately, this is part of the bottom-line emphasis that has crept through higher education for the past 20 years. The demand for teachers at the lowest price has resulted in colleges having part-time teachers making up anywhere between 4% and 72% of their faculty; at many schools, adjunct faculty comprise 40% to 50% of the teaching staff. While some institutions may have low overall percentages of part-time faculty, some departments offer undergraduate courses taught primarily by contingent labor.
If we do nothing, colleges will continue to hire and exploit part-time teachers. There is a seemingly endless supply of cheap-to-employ, bright, idealistic people who love teaching and hope to advance by “getting a foot in the door.” In economic terms, the colleges will win. But you and other students will lose.
When we look at a school’s website and their “fast facts” we see a graduation rate, the cost of tuition, programs offered, and a student/faculty ratio. But do we see anything about the number of teachers or the conditions of employment? No.
Counselors and students must therefore ask colleges this question, and request substantiation. Some colleges may be charging high tuition, yet shortchanging students.
If colleges and universities continue persist in treating huge numbers of their teachers poorly, expect a continuing decline in higher education. More teachers will leave the profession, fewer students will aspire to become teachers, and classes, from kindergarten to post-secondary, will get even larger. Only those who can afford it will even go to college or graduate school. Adjuncts will quit in disgust, courses will have no teachers, and colleges will have to retrench or close down. Students may pursue degrees, but not real education.
Those of us who were nurtured by caring teachers, who inspired us with their passion for learning, and those of us who still care about students, are filled with dread. Be careful, and ask those uncomfortable questions. And please remember: teacher working conditions are student learning conditions.
Jane S. Gabin, PhD
About the author:
Jane S. Gabin, a member of NACAC, SACAC, and International ACAC, received her PhD from UNC-Chapel Hill. She has taught high school and college classes, and has given presentations at NACAC, NYSACAC, and NJACAC conferences. For 10 years she worked in undergraduate admissions at UNC-Chapel Hill, and for more than a decade worked in college counseling in the NYC metro area, most recently at the United Nations International School (UNIS).
More Info: www.janesgabin.com
