- Adjuncts have no guarantee that the classes they are scheduled to teach will actually occur, and if changes to the schedule take place, they often happen at the start of the term, when it is too late to find other work. (What a dream it would be that we would be assured our salaries once we sign our contracts, like pretty much every other contract worker on the planet.)
- Adjuncts' health insurance is totally dependent on that unreliable schedule. Cobra is nice, but it's pretty hard to afford $450 a month when there's absolutely no money coming in.
- There is no incentive to teach well. Spending time on publications, degrees, and seminars is really the only way to advance from what is essentially a dead-end job.
- Adjuncts have to teach four or five classes a term anyway, in order to eat and earn shelter.
- Adjuncts have very limited access to the professional discourse that takes place in school. It takes extraordinary luck and political skill to be able to meaningfully contribute to that discussion. Even if an adjunct does make a contribution, there are no rewards or incentives that follow.
And to consider how difficult it would be to teach five classes and attend to other scholarly duties:
This is where Lectureships could shine. It's hard to teach four or five classes a term, and thus, having that many classes is an incentive to find more efficient ways of teaching. When there is a group of teachers in the same position, they can share their results of what works and what doesn't, and it would be easy enough to compile and share those improved teaching methods with others. Currently, we are alone in the classroom, because we ask and receive no help from each other, because there is almost no structure in place that encourages to ask for or give that help. We all know teaching can be strenuous, but the Lectureships offer a way through that problem as opposed to avoiding it.
No comments:
Post a Comment