We're Not Your Colleagues - Chronicle.com

My dad asked me a week or so ago what an adjunct was. Because I'm so immersed in the day-to-day of academia, I don't often realize how a) archaic and b) inscrutable our world can be sometimes. Instead of answering his email, I decided I wanted to answer in a blog post because adjuncts and how universities treat them will continue to have an impact on higher education.

An adjunct is a part time faculty member. This web page from CUNY, although mostly unreadable, does a good job of explaining what an adjunct is. Highlight the text and you'll have an easier time. Adjuncts teach a few credits a semester and are not full-time faculty. The university is thus under no obligation to provide benefits, an office, or support for them. They're paid less per credit hour (from my experience being one and from friends who have done it, it's something like $1500 a credit hour per semester. Meaning that to make $30K, you would have to teach 10 3-credit classes a year. That's a lot of work for not very much money.)

Adjuncts have a hard time becoming part of the faculty with which they serve, and do not often receive any support from staff. In the article quoted below from the Chronicle of Higher Education, this particular adjunct had a difficult time getting keys to the adjunct office, finding out the copier code, and getting his textbooks in time for class.

Other factors complicate the life of an adjunct. They often teach at several institutions, meaning things like gas prices affect them more than regular faculty. They don't have much time to spend with students, and yet students don't understand why they're not around and take it out on them. "Where is Dr. Sanders office?" I get asked all the time, needing to then explain that Dr. Sanders is an adjunct, works full time, and therefore has no office. In return I usually get a blank stare. But the callousness of business students to the working man is not a subject for this post. Another time.

Enjoy the article below. Because it's in the careers section of the Chronicle, I think you can read it w/o a subscription.

We're Not Your Colleagues - Chronicle.com: "Adjunct faculty members are not really part of the academic division — not at this university and not, I suspect, at many others. A lot of us certainly want to be, but the tenured and tenure-track faculty members don't see us as colleagues. So far, after a year at the university, I have had only limited contact with my chairman, and I have yet to meet any of the full-time faculty members. I have not been included in any meetings, activities, surveys, discussions, or social events — except those invitations that got the mass-mailing treatment from the president's office.

It is apparent that my job is to teach a class and not cause problems or take up anyone's time.

As adjuncts, we must find our intrinsic value in the classroom, and universities continue to count on that to be enough to keep us coming back semester after semester. And if not, oh well — my own situation proves that adjuncts are replaceable on short notice."

Part 2

A School Where One Size Doesn't Fit All - washingtonpost.com: "Old divisions are to be discarded, he said. Students will ally with teachers to decide what and how to study. Subjects such as math and science might be studied together when it makes sense. Class periods won't necessarily adhere to strict time frames as students take large chunks of time for individual or group projects. Students of different ages will work together and learn from each other."

Sounds a bit chaotic, no?

A School Where One Size Doesn't Fit All - washingtonpost.com

A School Where One Size Doesn't Fit All - washingtonpost.com: "Much of Shusterman's plan is inspired by John Dewey, a 20th-century educational philosopher whose devotees have called for teachers to be 'guides on the side, not sages on the stage.' Dewey led a movement called progressive education in which, he said, children learn best when pursuing individual projects that allow them to explore their world."

Thought this was interesting. I like these sorts of project-based learning in theory, and students should definitely be involved in their own education as soon as possible. Their ownership of their learning makes them more invested.

The problem I have is, what's going to happen to reading? Can you encourage students to read? I'm in a "Great Books" (redefined) class right now, and one of my fellow students mentioned that her students were excited to read a Jodi Picoult novel. She hated making them put it away and turn to reading Lord of the Flies. I remember in middle school there was a series of witch books and Ann Rice's vampire series my friends loved to pass around. And yes, I would sit in the back of English class and read those books instead of... whatever was in the textbook. Great Expectations. Ugh. But some things I had to read in school, like Ayn Rand's Anthem, sparked an interest in reading more of her books.

There has to be a balance. We should find a way to encourage students to read what they want to into the curriculum, and yet make sure we're stretching them to new works, new ideas. Not many high schoolers will pick up a book of poetry, yet reading it can give them an appreciation for language in new ways. I still have lines from poems I read in high school run through my head, and although it was largely unsuccessful, enjoyed writing poems in high school and my early days of college. It's a great way for children to play with language. We must stretch them as well as letting them learn to enjoy reading.

In Closed Schools, History Lessons - washingtonpost.com

In Closed Schools, History Lessons - washingtonpost.com: "For Nancye Suggs, the call from D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's office about nearly two dozen schools she planned to close was bittersweet: Suggs said that she was heartbroken about the loss, in one fell swoop, of so much history but that she was ecstatic Rhee was offering her a chance to retrieve some of it."

This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in oral history and the history of education. There might be a dissertation here. I'm tempted to do it myself, but it's not really my specialty.

U.S. National Commission for UNESCO Laura W. Bush Traveling Fellowship

I found the perfect funding opportunity to do my dissertation about Arabic speaking students in French schools! You know, the perfect dissertation, where I go and live in North Africa for a year? Awesome!

Except... I'm too old to apply for this now. But if you're between 18-25, check it out. I don't know why it's named after Laura Bush. But hey, why not. She's not bad, right?

U.S. National Commission for UNESCO Laura W. Bush Traveling Fellowship: "U.S. National Commission for UNESCO Laura W. Bush Traveling Fellowship"

Buildings & Grounds: Commuter-Rail Reading: 'Architectural Design and Ethics: Tools for Survival' - Chronicle.com

From the Chronicle of Higher Ed. Or "the Chronicle" as we in the field call it. I love, though, that our news is centered around University life, and yet includes just about every aspect of real life, from commuting to the environment to food to business. The cover of the Chronicle this week says "Price of Gas Fuels Tough Choices for Adjuncts."

Probably an article about my future as an adjunct.

In any case, what you realize is that academics do, in fact, study the real world. And without them we wouldn't have measured perspectives on a variety of issues. Like the Minneapolis bridge collapse, which provides fodder for Thomas Fisher's new book Architectural Design and Ethics: Tools for Survival. Looks super interesting, and is filled with aerial shots of Minnesota to discuss design issues in our environmental planning.

Buildings & Grounds: Commuter-Rail Reading: 'Architectural Design and Ethics: Tools for Survival' - Chronicle.com: "Commuter-Rail Reading: 'Architectural Design and Ethics: Tools for Survival'"

I feel a bit constrained(?)...

I feel a bit constrained(?) by this Jott medium because it's so short, it's just not enough time to really put thoughts into words. Okay, I think I'm out of time. listen

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Back to Edu

So I haven't really been blogging about education policy, as you might have noticed. Intellectually I'm tied up by statistics, and emotionally - well, you can see I'm a bit distracted.

Besides all that, summer seems to be a bit of a slow time for education policy. Congress is in session, but not much has happened since the House and Senate committees voted on the Higher Education Act.

The NEA voted to endorce Obama. They weren't, like, THRILLED about it - but mostly because there was only one name on the ballot. Just like in Michigan's "Soviet-Style Primary."

OK That's the thoughts for the day. I'm adding Twitter updates to my blog. FYI.

I cannot brain today

Lolcats ‘n’ Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?

Newness

I moved apartments. I love where we're living now (well, except for the ants and the fact we have no gas, therefore no way to cook). And we're on Capitol Hill - it feels like, for the first time, that I live in DC and not some anonymous (noisy) city. It's actually a lot quieter where we live - peaceful, really.

Summer's a slow time to work at a University. It's not that I don't have anything to do, it's that there's a lack of urgency to do it. Which means I'll spend August running around like the sky is falling, but oh well. Between moving and my statistics class and my mom getting injured this weekend, there's not been any time to care that much about work. I'll be down in Florida tending to my mom who shattered her ankle and can't put any pressure on it for at least two weeks. Of course, I can only go down for a couple of days but I suppose it's better than nothing. At least I can cook some food and freeze it for her to make life easier for a bit.

Life feels like a bit of a struggle right now. There's a lot that is new on the horizon, with the new apartment and more. I'm trying to work as hard and fast as I can on finishing my PhD, but life keeps getting in the way. There's never enough time or money. When I was little my grandma told me that you either have time or money. How come it feels like I have neither?

I'm also worried that as time passes, these trips like the one I'm taking to take care of Mom will become more and more frequent. I don't even have children yet, and already I'm starting to need to take care of my mom. I know there's a lot of good in the future for me, but I also see the challenges starting to take shape. Luckily I can bear them with a good teammate, B.

But I am a little scared, I have to admit.