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[svenc]

No, it is not secret and you should have figured this out before you chose this career.

Which is exactly why the article is worthwhile, even if its authors are tossing themselves a pity party.

It's just another opportunity for the next generation of professor wannabes to get the clue you so desperately think these three should have had.  What's wrong with that?

[terpsichore]

  These are the same people that whined about how you couldn't live on a graduate student stipend and then went out and blew $200/weekend at the bars.

Really? I thought they started writing for CHE only after they became university faculty. Did I miss a link to their earlier articles from graduate school?

[jonesey]

Jack's post makes being a prof sound like working in the salt mines.

This has to vary by school, right?  Some of you are teaching a 2-2 load.  TWO classes.  For an entire semester.  That's, what, six hours per semester of classroom time with the rest free to do whatever it is you do?  : ) 

This is all new to me, so the article was eye opening.  I'm at a school with no tenure, but also no committees, no advising, and, until recently, no publications or research requirements.  I teach four classes and spend my (required) office hours hanging out surfing the internet.  Okay, okay, I grade papers and such, but I'm spectacularly unburdened by any of the drudge work everyone keeps talking about.

I'm trying to get into a more "traditional" school (with a TT system) but these posts make it sound like a horrible place to work.  80 hours a week?  Doing what?  I suppose it varies by field, but my grad school profs used to talk about how teaching was the biggest scam out there; good money, easy work, no heavy lifting, etc.  (Okay, so these were 2-2 load profs in an MFA program, but still). 

Evidently, I have no idea how a "real" university works.  This concerns me...

[voxprincipalis]

Jack's post makes being a prof sound like working in the salt mines.

This has to vary by school, right?  Some of you are teaching a 2-2 load.  TWO classes.  For an entire semester.  That's, what, six hours per semester of classroom time with the rest free to do whatever it is you do?  : ) 

This is all new to me, so the article was eye opening.

Jonesey, how is it that you have hung around here for over two years and accumulated over 3,000 posts and NOT have read the billions of threads about "how many hours do you work a week?"

Yes, it varies by field and by the time of year, but you can reasonably expect to be working somewhere between 40 and 80 hours a week, once all is said and done: teaching, prep, grading, service, research, etc.

I, too, am concerned that you appear to have no idea how a "real" university works, and I am not being snarky when I say it -- I'm really concerned that you seem to be trying to get into a business in which there are some basic things that you just don't understand and/or aren't prepared for.

VP

[jonesey]

Jack's post makes being a prof sound like working in the salt mines.

This has to vary by school, right?  Some of you are teaching a 2-2 load.  TWO classes.  For an entire semester.  That's, what, six hours per semester of classroom time with the rest free to do whatever it is you do?  : ) 

This is all new to me, so the article was eye opening.

Jonesey, how is it that you have hung around here for over two years and accumulated over 3,000 posts and NOT have read the billions of threads about "how many hours do you work a week?"

Yes, it varies by field and by the time of year, but you can reasonably expect to be working somewhere between 40 and 80 hours a week, once all is said and done: teaching, prep, grading, service, research, etc.

I, too, am concerned that you appear to have no idea how a "real" university works, and I am not being snarky when I say it -- I'm really concerned that you seem to be trying to get into a business in which there are some basic things that you just don't understand and/or aren't prepared for.

VP

Well, I suppose I just assumed most of these posts were from disgruntled employees.  : ) 

I'm trying to soak up as much as I can, and I do have some idea what the job entails (advising, committee work).  I'm on two committees, but we meet for about an hour twice a year, if that (There are less than 500 students at my school, much is done very informally). 

I understand teaching/prep/grading as I do that all the time.  "Service" is a bit squishier (if there are 100 posters their will be 100 different answers as to what "service" means) and, of course, "research" varies by field.  Realistically, a college can't put a time limit on a creative writing pub because of the nature of the market; it's much easier to publish academic work. 

IOW, I'm fine with the teaching.  I'm good at it.  I'm good at advising my students.  I have no problem doing anything a college wants me to do, I just don't have any experience doing it (or being around it).