wvsom24901
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« on: October 20, 2008, 07:37:22 AM » |
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Regarding Steve Street's front page commentary October 20th, why am I not at all surprised to see a blue frowning face next to his Rate My Professors entry? Rather than delve the depths of unhappy adjuncts, let's pity the students who suffer their outrage.
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zharkov
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« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2008, 07:42:34 AM » |
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Link?
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__________ Zharkov's Razor: Adapting Zharkov a bit to this situation, ignorance and confusion can explain a lot.
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inconceivable
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« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2008, 07:49:11 AM » |
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« Last Edit: October 20, 2008, 05:36:13 PM by moderator »
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zharkov
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« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2008, 07:58:09 AM » |
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Free link? [Note from moderator: It's free now. ] |
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« Last Edit: October 21, 2008, 05:32:17 AM by moderator »
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__________ Zharkov's Razor: Adapting Zharkov a bit to this situation, ignorance and confusion can explain a lot.
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svenc
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« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2008, 04:33:52 PM » |
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Regarding Steve Street's front page commentary October 20th, why am I not at all surprised to see a blue frowning face next to his Rate My Professors entry? Rather than delve the depths of unhappy adjuncts, let's pity the students who suffer their outrage.
Ratemyprofessor is not a particularly great measure of teaching quality. Deity help us if Ratemyprofessor is now somehow to be used as indication of the validity of one's arguments regarding professional compensation and job security. And in any case, did you read the comments? It's a fairly typical mix of "hated him, he worked me too hard and was unclear" and "he's a nice guy." Hardly damning stuff overall, and little indication that any of the criticisms are connected with his being unhappy. In any case, the very job insecurity that characterizes most adjunct employment should protect those "students who suffer their outrage," if such retaliatory situations do indeed arise. |
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In foris veritas.
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the_myth
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« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2008, 11:58:50 PM » |
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Regarding Steve Street's front page commentary October 20th, why am I not at all surprised to see a blue frowning face next to his Rate My Professors entry? Rather than delve the depths of unhappy adjuncts, let's pity the students who suffer their outrage.
Gee, did you read the article? Maybe if the author had an office and enough monetary compensation to pay for medical insurance and perks like a new coat every other year, he'd be happier and have access to resources to enable students to excell. Oh wait...even tenured faculty get bad RMP ratings. Blows that correlation between unhappy adjuncts and their bad RMP ratings right out of the water. Oops. |
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zharkov
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« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2008, 07:30:26 AM » |
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Mods: Thanks for the link.
On my view, the author misunderstands what an adjunct job is all about. It is either a stepping stone job to a full time (TT) position or it is a part time job that people take on for a variety of reasons. As a stepping stone, it is not unlike the gigs that beginning musicians take on or the off-off Bway plays that aspiring actors do. For the aspiring TT prof, it is a chance to gain teaching experience. As a part time job, it is a way for people to moonlight, either to increase income (a tad) or to participate in something the adjunct likes doing. Call it a labor of love.
In the author's case, he has been adjuncting for 28 years. It that b/c he doesn't want to be on the TT? Is is a case of credentials or degrees? Not being mobile? Not willing to give up the day job? It would be nice to know.
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__________ Zharkov's Razor: Adapting Zharkov a bit to this situation, ignorance and confusion can explain a lot.
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daurousseau
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« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2008, 08:52:26 AM » |
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Mods: Thanks for the link.
On my view, the author misunderstands what an adjunct job is all about. It is either a stepping stone job to a full time (TT) position or it is a part time job that people take on for a variety of reasons. As a stepping stone, it is not unlike the gigs that beginning musicians take on or the off-off Bway plays that aspiring actors do. For the aspiring TT prof, it is a chance to gain teaching experience. As a part time job, it is a way for people to moonlight, either to increase income (a tad) or to participate in something the adjunct likes doing. Call it a labor of love.
In the author's case, he has been adjuncting for 28 years. It that b/c he doesn't want to be on the TT? Is is a case of credentials or degrees? Not being mobile? Not willing to give up the day job? It would be nice to know.
Sounds like rationalization to me, Z. What adjuncting is about has zero to do with the needs and interests of adjuncts. "What it is all about" is 1. saving the administration money. 2. Finding people willing to teach at night and on weekends. And a distant 3. hiring practitioner-teachers. If that program happens to mesh with some teacher's personal interest, all well and good. That's "the market." |
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zharkov
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« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2008, 10:18:02 AM » |
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Mods: Thanks for the link.
On my view, the author misunderstands what an adjunct job is all about. It is either a stepping stone job to a full time (TT) position or it is a part time job that people take on for a variety of reasons. As a stepping stone, it is not unlike the gigs that beginning musicians take on or the off-off Bway plays that aspiring actors do. For the aspiring TT prof, it is a chance to gain teaching experience. As a part time job, it is a way for people to moonlight, either to increase income (a tad) or to participate in something the adjunct likes doing. Call it a labor of love.
In the author's case, he has been adjuncting for 28 years. It that b/c he doesn't want to be on the TT? Is is a case of credentials or degrees? Not being mobile? Not willing to give up the day job? It would be nice to know.
Sounds like rationalization to me, Z. What adjuncting is about has zero to do with the needs and interests of adjuncts. "What it is all about" is 1. saving the administration money. 2. Finding people willing to teach at night and on weekends. And a distant 3. hiring practitioner-teachers. If that program happens to mesh with some teacher's personal interest, all well and good. That's "the market." While not a "true believer" in the market system as always giving the best results, it seems to work pretty well in this case, or at least in my experience. The schools gets to save money; those looking for stepping stone jobs and part time work get the gigs. Win-win. Now to be fair, I am involved in fields where these is not huge oversupply of potential faculty. Most of those who are qualified get jobs. The only major complaints I've heard have come from adjuncts with just master's degrees hoping for TT jobs, who (a) figure we should make an exception for them b/c they've been good adjuncts or (b) who argue that a doctorate shouldn't be required for college professors. |
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« Last Edit: October 21, 2008, 10:18:53 AM by zharkov »
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__________ Zharkov's Razor: Adapting Zharkov a bit to this situation, ignorance and confusion can explain a lot.
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the_myth
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« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2008, 09:13:57 PM » |
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Mods: Thanks for the link.
On my view, the author misunderstands what an adjunct job is all about. It is either a stepping stone job to a full time (TT) position or it is a part time job that people take on for a variety of reasons. As a stepping stone, it is not unlike the gigs that beginning musicians take on or the off-off Bway plays that aspiring actors do. For the aspiring TT prof, it is a chance to gain teaching experience. As a part time job, it is a way for people to moonlight, either to increase income (a tad) or to participate in something the adjunct likes doing. Call it a labor of love.
In the author's case, he has been adjuncting for 28 years. It that b/c he doesn't want to be on the TT? Is is a case of credentials or degrees? Not being mobile? Not willing to give up the day job? It would be nice to know.
Sounds like rationalization to me, Z. What adjuncting is about has zero to do with the needs and interests of adjuncts. "What it is all about" is 1. saving the administration money. 2. Finding people willing to teach at night and on weekends. And a distant 3. hiring practitioner-teachers. If that program happens to mesh with some teacher's personal interest, all well and good. That's "the market." While not a "true believer" in the market system as always giving the best results, it seems to work pretty well in this case, or at least in my experience. The schools gets to save money; those looking for stepping stone jobs and part time work get the gigs. Win-win. Now to be fair, I am involved in fields where these is not huge oversupply of potential faculty. Most of those who are qualified get jobs. The only major complaints I've heard have come from adjuncts with just master's degrees hoping for TT jobs, who (a) figure we should make an exception for them b/c they've been good adjuncts or (b) who argue that a doctorate shouldn't be required for college professors. And people seem to not be aware that many grad programs quickly shuffle their grad students out of assistantships and right into the adjunct pool right after coursework ends. I think if more schools provided full funding [even that requiring service aka teaching 1-2 courses] until at least year 5, 6, or 7 (depending on discipline), we would see a bit of a change in the situation. At least half of my grad school cohort got annexed into the adjunct pool after 1 year. And guess who got seniority over all the former TAs and GAs who had funding until year 3? And guess who often become the ever-adjuncts even after the degree was earned? |
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bert_and_ernie
New member
Posts: 10
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« Reply #10 on: October 23, 2008, 03:52:38 PM » |
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(New moniker here. In my other life, I am regular poster approaching the clubhouse.)
In a past life, I shared an office with this guy (and 20 other adjuncts)for several years.
His personality is a little rough around the edges, and I think he unintentionally rubs some people the wrong way, but he is a dedicated instructor who cares about his students.
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