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Hogwash! I know exactly what classes I'll be teaching next Fall...starting September AND what I'll be teaching next Spring, a year away. I know which nights I'll be teaching, but for one class, I don't know the classroom. For the others I do.
Maybe I'm "special". I highly doubt it because every adjunct I've encountered are dedicated to their students. If a department wants you, they will do pretty much anything to keep you. My school, my department, appreciate their adjunct, and they let us know often.
All except PAY. They're full of love and information ... just not tenure track and the kind of modest but living wage university teachers could rely on throughout the second half of the 20th century. Or the good old days in Rodinia perhaps?
Last edited by Jukesgrrl; 04-28-2014 at 03:53 AM..
I have a master’s degree from Middlebury College and I taught AP language courses at the high school level for 10 years. In 2011 my teaching licenses expired. I couldn’t afford to pay the license fees, and for the extra coursework I would have needed to become a permanent teacher. Because I couldn’t work around the state bureaucracy, I had to stop teaching high school.
Quote:
I have around $60,000 in student loans.
Between 2006 and 2011, she couldn't afford the license fees or coursework to maintain her teaching certification, but she managed to obtain a $60k+ master's degree. Her main problem seems to be insisting on living in NY. I can't imagine a multilingual teacher, especially with one language being Spanish, would be unable to find a teaching job somewhere in the country. Starting pay for a public school teacher in the lowest paying states would be more than she makes right now. It also seems disingenuous to me to keep referring to her as a "professor".
I've worked as both a full-time professor and in other fields while maintaining adjunct status. Only once did I every rely on adjunct teaching as a sole income or it's never a good idea. The adjunct professor role is designed to get into teaching in higher education at the lowest level, network and build a resume to compete for full-time positions.
The article has nothing to do with tenure as she is not a full-time professor, nor does it have to do with her being homeless because she works as an adjunct. This article is about someone who feels entitled to a position they think they deserve because of their education credentials. She wants what she wants, but how she wants it and she's now complaining because she's not getting it.
All except PAY. They're full of love and information ... just not tenure track and the kind of modest but living wage university teachers could rely on throughout the second half of the 20th century. Or the good old days in Rodinia perhaps?
Most contracts are for 180-195 days.
That's only 1/2 of the year.
Are you keeping that in mind when you talk about "living wages" ?
Yeah it is horrible! We pay our local teachers on average a paltry $70-100k/yr and they work 180 days.
It is utter madness what peanuts they make!
Cida, the sky is not blue.
I can tell you right now that 70K in NYC is not nearly as much as it seems. Whatever the salaries are here subtract $30K for cost of living and you will get a good idea of what the equivalent is in another area of the country.
Most teachers here that are single MUST live with roomates to be able live in this place. Many have part-time jobs as adjuncts to help supplement their income. Has nothing to do with managing money and everything to do with NYC being too expensive.
If you don't believe me....come take a visit and see what I am talking about. I don't know one person here that is living off of $40K and has their own place in a safe neighborhood and can put away savings each month.
I am from the south and always get a laugh when I hear people bring up comment about NYC teaching salaries.
Search craiglist for 1 BR rentals in NYC. Manhattan studios alone start at $1700. You cannot even find a roomate for less than $1200-1300 bucks in the city. Not unless you want to live with 3 other adults in a crowded 2 bedrooom sharing 1 bathroom.
Teacher salaries are horrible period. Add to that the stress of working with unmotivated kids everyday and you will see why so many are switching fields.
Last edited by usamathman; 04-28-2014 at 08:57 AM..
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Teacher salaries are horrible period. Add to that the stress of working with unmotivated kids everyday and you will see why so many are switching fields.
Truer words have never been spoken. Used to be the time when educators were respected, valued, and honored as those who train the next generation for positions of responsibility and leadership.
"Unmotivated kids"? Extend that to young adults too. Out of my classes of 45, only about 5 or 6 really want to be there and put in the time and effort to learn the material. I don't feel bad when I have to fail a third of the class. The joke is on them because they either have to repay their financial aid or will not qualify for any the following semester. I've had more than one student repeat my class so that they earn a passing grade which removes the previous failing grade.
First of all, the snide comments about her "skills not being marketable" is bull. Those who made that comment probably don't even know that Spanish IS a romance language and Spanish IS a big thing in the US right now. She could easily find a job most anywhere teaching Spanish. Hell, I wish I had a degree in Spanish.
But... to the point:
I'm in the same boat she is--I'm not homeless, but I'm an adjunct professor. I've been doing it for over 20 years now, and I can tell you that I do EXACTLY the same job the regular professors do, and spend the same amount of time doing it, at about a tenth of the pay and without an office. And it has nothing to do with adjuncts doing a "sub-standard job" in many cases. I've been awarded instructor of the year several times over the years from my department and once for the entire university. Why do I continue to work for peanuts (about 12K last year)? I suppose because I am very good at it and I've been told so many many times by other educators and thousands and thousands of times by my students. I have no great love for teaching, really, and no great love for mathematics, but then again, I'd have no great love for anything else I could count on making wages from. So, it works. It beats digging ditches.
Now, having said that, and although I feel for the instructor in the article and can relate to her in many ways, if one is going to "make a living" as an adjunct instructor, one has to do what one has to do. First of all, she needs to move. There are places you can actually live on $12,000 dollars a year--New York is NOT one of them. Also, if things get tight (as they obviously are for her), you find another part or even full time job until you are financially caught up. I've had many part time jobs over the years to make ends meet when I haven't gotten enough teaching hours at the university (adjunct hours are generally "capped" to no more than the full time faculty work--personally, I'd work 90 hrs a week there if I could--that would put me up into the 30K plus range, which would be comfortable for me). I've worked in music stores, unloading semi trucks, mixing chemicals, working in shipping departments, inventorying... etc. There are lots of part time jobs for those willing to actually work. Even fast food. It's easy around here to work fast food.
What has helped me most, and this is just my tendency anyway, is being a minimalist by nature. No "stuff," or at least very little. Very, very small living quarters (but bigger than the back seat of a car ). Basically "subsistence living" in our modern times. It doesn't bother me much, but most folks don't exactly want to live that way. It looks as though she's a minimalist as well, although maybe not by her own choosing.
At the end of the day, I agree with her in some ways: college professors are way overpaid (but so is most of America) and adjuncts are way underpaid. They essentially do the same job in many departments (especially in non-research colleges). At the same time, I'm of the mindset that if it's not working for you, find something different. As I said, she could easily find a Spanish language teaching job somewhere. (try doing that with a degree in math ). Come to Utah... we're slowly going Spanish!
Some of you people on this thread need to cut the woman a break, though. Lighten up. I know for a fact that most of you would not be willing to do her job for any salary. I know this because I do the same job and I hear a lot of morons (no offense intended) all the time bloviating about how easy a job it is. Try it, if you think so. Especially for the pay. It was easier job for me when I unloaded semi trucks by hand (a job I had to make ends meet at one time and had my back killing me every night). But, at the same time, that job unloading trucks was meaningless. Some of us really need to feel some sort of meaning in our work. Even if we don't care about it... we at least need meaning. That's why most people who stay as low paid adjuncts stay, I assume... it is rewarding and for a good teacher, it makes them feel like they are actually worth something to somebody. I suspect that is why she feels so compelled to keep teaching even though her life is in shambles because of it. Most of you will never *get* that. But what she doesn't *get* is that she could make it work if she played her cards right.
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Want to try living on retail store wages?
). Basically "subsistence living" in our modern times. It doesn't bother me much, but most folks don't exactly want to live that way. It looks as though she's a minimalist as well, although maybe not by her own choosing.
). Come to Utah... we're slowly going Spanish!
