next »

[wanderluster]

Advice, please:

I finished my Ph. D. in the humanities last year and for the upcoming semester the only work I've been able to find is teaching a couple of sections of intro to comp. The work came up suddenly and in an unsolicited manner.  I don't consider this area my strong suit but accepted it on the idea that it's  better to keep one foot in the academic pond than not to work at all.  I also had a baby recently and have started to research care options.  It turns out that the cost of day care (even part time) means that I will be effectively working for no pay. 

I'm telling myself that teaching these sections is worth doing, one time, in order to keep working, that maybe some TT hiring committee at a small school might like the writing experience, that getting out of the house a couple of times a week would be good for my sanity (the alternative: me taking care of baby full time).  But these days I have a hard time believing that the TT jobs are out there, that I'll get hired and even if do, that the spouse and I would be willing to move.  He has a non-academic job with a good salary.  In my head, choosing to decline the work means the beginning of my retreat from academia and the start of stay-at-home mommyhood, something I'm not entirely comfortable with. 

I'm thinking I can get through the fall semester, at least for the experience, but can't help feeling scammed knowing that everybody makes more than me and that my education counts for nada in terms of salary.

[macaroon]

Will the university offer tuition breaks to adjuncts?  While you are adjunctiing, you may be able to retrain in a new field for free.  Don't pass up that opportunity.

[msparticularity]

I think you are really struggling with several issues at once:

-Your sense of what your degree ought to mean: you seem to think that having earned this degree should automatically lead to a higher salary. Why did you imagine that? Did it have any basis in reality, such as a job where you could move up the salary scale with a higher degree?

-Relocation: If you and your spouse are unwilling to relocate, your chances of getting a permanent academic position (either TT or a continuing appointment) are really quite minimal. Did you take this into consideration when you got this degree?

-The child care cost/work equation: Do you value doing academic work enough that you're okay with a trade-off where your net income doesn't increase for awhile? If not, again, why did you get this degree?

I don't mean to be unsympathetic, but I am kind of shocked by how many people seem to think that just finishing an academic degree ought to be an immediate key to high-paying employment in the field of one's choice and in the geographical location of one's choice. Truthfully, can you think of any field at all for which this is true?

[watermarkup]

Probably the most urgent thing is for you to have a long talk with your husband about how he can support your career growth and intellectual development. Even if you turn down the adjunct job--and there are lots of reasons to say no--and even if you never have an academic career, you won't be happy, and your marriage will have difficult patches, unless the two of you reach an understanding about support and goals and all that.

But if it were me, I'd think hard about telling the adjunct opportunity to get lost, and use the time to polish up articles, unless you finished your degree with very little teaching experience.

Can't your husband pull himself out of his office for three hours a week so he can watch junior while you teach one class?

[kedves]

If you think you will want to pursue an academic career, one reason to take at least one adjunct comp class is the university affiliation that gives you library access.  What access you would have otherwise depends on the research you do and where you live (what else is available).

[wanderluster]

In response to msparticularity--I made none of these assumptions when I started my MA/PHD. I was in my late 20s and still thinking a bit idealistically.  Over the long path to degree completion I changed--who doesn't while doing their degree?--it's a long process. I knew finding work would be hard, I didn't expect to hit the worst academic job market in decades.

[buglet]

Wow, it sounds like you are going through many changes of identity.  You are a new mother and have moved from being a graduate student to Dr. Wanderluster.  But, now that you survived the hazing that is graduate school, you are finding you are expected to work for free to stay in the academic game.  And although we're conditioned to look churlish if we expect any payback from a Ph.D. in the humanities, it still doesn't seem much of a validation of a lot of hard work. I'd agree that it stinks, but sometimes what you make of situations like these lead to good opportunities.

Can you use the adjuncting position as a means to get to know people at the local university?  I'd agree that it would be difficult/impossible to find a permanent teaching position there, but there is the possibility that you might be able to score an administrative job by asking around and being willing to start at an entry level.  I've had loads of friends who have done this, and after paying dues for a year or so, they've moved up pretty quickly into a position more appropriate for a Ph.D.  After a few years, they are making the same or more as an assistant or associate professor. 

I guess my advice would be to take the adjuncting job more for the connections it could offer than the pay....see it as a temporary internship that leads to better things.   Explore your options, meet people, do some informational interviews, use this "down time" as an opportunity to chart your course.

The artist Henry Moore always told his students...if I had one piece of advice to give you, it is this: Never give up. Don't give up.  Best of luck to you, and congratulations on your new baby!

[msparticularity]

In response to msparticularity--I made none of these assumptions when I started my MA/PHD. I was in my late 20s and still thinking a bit idealistically.  Over the long path to degree completion I changed--who doesn't while doing their degree?--it's a long process. I knew finding work would be hard, I didn't expect to hit the worst academic job market in decades.

It's interesting that you believe that you were being idealistic in the past, when you thought of earning your degree and searching for jobs elsewhere, and that now you see yourself as being realistic. While the academic job market is indeed extraordinarily difficult right now, the idea that being "realistic" might include wanting to settle down to family life and finding a reasonably well-paying academic position in the humanities and locally has not in recent memory been truly realistic. Being realistic, in academia, means realizing that the PhD only has any chance at all of paying off if we are willing to relocate to get employment--among other things. It also means that we have to understand the importance of publication.

I'm not at all unsympathetic to your desire to stay where your spouse is employed and where you wish to raise your child. These are reasonable and realistic choices; I made many of the same choices when my child was young. I also totally understand the hard decision-making involved in deciding how to balance these considerations and expenses against one another in your current situation.

The specific piece of your post I was responding to is what appears to be a grudge that you will not be paid better to reward you for your achievement, and your sense that things should be different--despite the fact that you are apparently unwilling or unable right now to do any of the things that might actually lead to a better position. This part is, IMO, unrealistic at the very least.

[dellaroux]

I can't speak to the issues with your child, since I've never had one, but if you are wanting to keep the door open for a career in your field, I'd take the adjunct position as a sign of a tiny crack that's open enough to let you see into it.

I also once had a single adjuncting offer mushroom into four courses by the second week of the term. (This created several other issues, but that's another story.) First an overflow section opened up in a "trailer" to the survey I was already scheduled to teach. Then the evening department found I was teaching that survey and asked me to cover one for them as well, since they couldn't always find someone for it.

Then the instructor for the early period survey in a focused field within the broader survey got mono and had to drop out of the lineup a week into the semester. I was asked to take that section as well.

I ended up with almost 150 students, in four courses, only one of which I'd ever actually taught before. They were all surveys, I'd done research in both time frames, so it was OK, but...whew.

That only happened once, and I might manage it differently now, but that's one reason to take the adjuncting job; once they see you can do it, they are likely to call again (and you may also get referrals to other schools.)

You never know...

Whether it's worth it to you or not is a different question, of course; it's up to you.

You might do a tangibles/non-tangibles balance sheet.

I'd avoid make the mistake of valuing everything monetarily in this decision--that may be too narrow a parameter--and giving point values to the two columns (Yea, and Nay) that you construct...1 point, several, infinity, zero, whatever.

Watching yourself scoring the items, even before you tally them, you'll come to know what you want.

[wanderluster]

Thanks for the responses, especially buglet and dellaroux, whose replies I found particularly helpful.  Dellaroux's reply highlights what was in the back of my mind--taking the work is a way to make connections, find additional work.  If it comes off that I am only interested in money it's just that that's what I see as the most obvious reward of the course since it's outside my field and not really something I'm interested in pursuing. The opportunity to develop a course for my teaching portfolio brought rewards that equaled or exceeded my monetary compensation. 

[macaroon]

If the two of you are still stuck on thinking of your family financial goals by using the calculation: Dr. Wanderluster's Pay - Childcare = Is it worth it?, you need do to some serious thinking and planning.  You may even need professional help with that.

For both of you, your ability to generate income to provide for your family is a lifelong thing. In the long run, for most people with a college education, it pays to stay employed and put children in day care EVEN IF the cost of day care is higher than one spouse's take-home pay.  This is because the longer you spend out of the workforce, the longer it will take to get rehired. Also, if you do manage to get a full-time position, the benefits are worth quite a lot.  Any money in your retirement account will free up cash later on that will pay for your child's college tuition.

Have you really explained to your husband that you will not be able to generate income, likely ever, with your degree if he doesn't move?  Does he thoroughly understand that, or are you still wistfully telling him, "Well, maybe I can get a job within a 40 mile radius!  It doesn't hurt to try!"  If he fully understands the national nature of your job market, and you two still come to the conclusion that you won't move, you can try your luck on the non-academic job market with the degree you have.  Likely, though, you may need to retrain and go back to school again.  That costs money, and will likely necessitate getting part time care for the baby.  Is that better for your family than moving?  Are you making financial decisions right now that would free up the necessary money for you to return to school?

If you are going to do the moving around academic thang, it is way better to do it before your little one is in grade school.  And don't buy real estate.

[inthelab]

Did you take into account the tax break of child care costs?  Can your spouse get into the flex benefits plan at work to pay child care expenses pre-tax, which can save you money?

[lotsoquestions]

I've been in your exact same position, and looked at the same sorts of calculations that you did.  Two other options you might consider are:

1.  looking into on-line teaching, including at the university where you're considering adjuncting.  Usually you still get the library access and frequently you get paid the same but get to keep more of the money since you don't have to pay for childcare or a new teaching wardrobe (if, like me, you find that the old one doesn't fit the same after giving birth).  Or parking.  (Can you believe they pay you nothing and then CHARGE you for parking?)

2.  If your credentials are good enough and you are in any sort of position to negotiate, you might consider informing the dept that you are most interested in teaching evenings or some of those short-term, intensive courses that meet for several hours over the weekend.  That way you can swap childcare and your spouse will hopefully also get a better sense of how all-consuming childcare is, and why you can't, in fact, pump out five or six articles while the baby is asleep (at least I never could.)

I personally would think that the problem with simply taking any and all sections which the local uni offers you as an adjunct, is that then you get into that "why buy the cow" scenario. (She won't go anywhere else, she will never move, she needs this job more than we need her.)  Far better to send out LOTS of resumes for anything within a sixty miles radius of your house, pick and choose your assignments carefully and let them know that you're a desirable commodity, whether or not you're geographically mobile.

[hegemony]

Three things to think about:

Check whether there's a university daycare, and whether you might get a faculty discount.

check and see whether an adjunct position includes a Flexible Spending Account, which allows you to pay for daycare (anywhere, not just at a university daycare) with pre-tax dollars.  This could save you 30% or so on the cost of daycare.

And finally, you're figuring the daycare costs as coming out of your salary alone.  I see why you do this -- you're figuring that if you don't work, you'd be doing fulltime childcare.  But maybe you wouldn't.  A lot of parents have their kids in daycare, at least part time, to help the kids get socialized, to give the parents some sanity time, to let the parents work parttime, or whatever.  You might be using daycare even if you weren't adjuncting.  But more importantly, this child is 50% yours and 50% your husband's.  Looking at it from that point of view, you should really be paying only 50% of the daycare costs.  Yeah, yeah, but otherwise you'd be doing fulltime childcare.  Okay, but think what you'd be saving your husband in costs.  It shouldn't be assumed that women do fulltime daycare as the default.  He should be contributing 50% of the costs.  If he wants you to take over that 50%, it should be a deliberate decision on your part.

Also remember that heaven-knows-what could happen.  Your husband could get hit by a bus, he could run off with a go-go dancer, he could have an aneurysm -- it's risky to give up your earning power and career track without some careful and thoughtful planning.  I think now is the time for some thought about how you now feel about academics and your career, what you're both willing to commit to your future, and what the big plan is.  The lack of a well-paying academic job in your area right now is just the trigger -- ultimately you'll want to look at the whole picture, and strategize accordingly.

[zuzu_]

I agree that you should accept the adjunct position. It is only a one semester committment at this point, and it sounds like it would be a good investment both in your career and in your mental health.

Get creative with childcare: depending on the type of campus, consider hiring an undergrad to walk around campus with stroller. You should have no problem finding someone to do that for minimum wage. You can do your prep and grade papers at home when your husband is around evenings/weekends.

Having faced a similar recurring dilemma myself (except with a lower-salaried SO), I also second the suggestion to seek out work online and on evenings/weekend in future semesters.