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Starting in 1999, I was an adjunct online professor for both undergrad and grad courses. I really enjoyed it in the early days, but then the requirements became too onerous, to the point that the ROI was not worth it. I left when the online universities added little value managers and baby sitters, and or changed the system of assigning classes. It was always a part time job for me.
I think the real, underlying complaint is that college teaching jobs have turned into a gig, much like driving for Uber. The colleges and universities charge megabucks for tuition and pay the adjuncts who teach the courses a mere pittance.
The system survives because these adjuncts believed they were going to become tenured college professors like those teaching them. That's what they trained for. But so many of them were produced that there weren't jobs for them. So they took whatever they could get. Colleges and universities saw the glut and realized that they didn't need to have full-time positions. There were more than enough part-timers available. So much of the work became part-time.
Department stores have done the same thing. Why hire a full-timer when two (or three) part-timers allow you to staff more efficiently? You can have two workers at peak times instead of just one. Not having to pay them benefits or even work them at all when not needed (without having to pay unemployment) is icing on the cake.
I was an adjunct in addition to my full-time job as a high school English teacher. It is a lot harder than one poster made it seem to be, but that's largely because I taught English 101 and 102 classes. Grading essays is horrendous.
Being an adjunct in something like art history is more of a hobby or part time gig. One of my friends works as a snack food vendor alongside his teaching job. He's in it for the passion, not for the money (which isn't there)
An "adjunct" in most colleges and universities that I'm familiar with is usually a part-time instructor. They are not tenure-track, and while they may teach one or two classes a semester, they almost always have other jobs in private industry or government. Adjunct professors have no expectations on them in regards to research or publishing, and depending on the school/university, they probably have limited or no use of graduate students or teaching assistants.
They may teach 3 - 6 hours a week, with office hours of 1-3 hours a week and while there is class prep, that's normally more intense the first time they teach it and have to organize their class. After that, most are teaching from the same notes and preps, with adjustments for new textbooks, etc.
Salary generally depend on the school and the number of students in the class and, in some cases, how famous you are (which often translates to classes with higher demand). :-) An intro or overview class with 50+ students will probably pay better than a specialized class for 20 or less. As with most job -- you know all this going into it. Adjunct positions are seldom considered to be a "full time" positions, leaving the teacher a great deal of freedom to consult or engage in other pursuits the rest of the time. If you don't like the terms of the job, then find another job.
Frankly, I wonder if some of them should try to become teachers instead. I mean, it's similar to teaching at a college or university, but at a lower level.
Ah, but then they would be expected to work 5 days a week, from 7:30-ish to 3-4 pm, grade homework, possibly participate in extra-curricular activity sponsorships, etc. And even then, they would be poorly paid -- at least, that's what teachers tell us.
Ah, but then they would be expected to work 5 days a week, from 7:30-ish to 3-4 pm, grade homework, possibly participate in extra-curricular activity sponsorships, etc. And even then, they would be poorly paid -- at least, that's what teachers tell us.
Teaching is such a thankless job that I'm not sure why anyone would want to do it.
I was an adjunct part time at 3 different colleges. it was great extra money. In the 90's I was getting paid $2400.00 per class.
But by no means was this all I did. Did consulting work in my field I taught in. Adjunct was my fun money. Would never think I could make it in life just doing that. And neither did any of the other adjuncts I knew at the time. Everyone of them either were self employed or had a job.
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Originally Posted by foundapeanut
I was an adjunct part time at 3 different colleges. it was great extra money. In the 90's I was getting paid $2400.00 per class.
But by no means was this all I did. Did consulting work in my field I taught in. Adjunct was my fun money. Would never think I could make it in life just doing that. And neither did any of the other adjuncts I knew at the time. Everyone of them either were self employed or had a job.
I think the real pain is in Humanities. There are simply too many qualified people applying for too few tenured track positions. Therefore, almost all of them end up temping. Humanities training offers no leg up in industry, so they're stuck.
I was a political science major for a time. I thought the professors had such cool lives, and who wouldn't want to do it?
That was fifteen years ago, and most were at least 50 then. Totally different market. Almost everyone I know who went the full PhD track has struggled, unless that PhD was in STEM.
Teaching is such a thankless job that I'm not sure why anyone would want to do it.
It's a high stress/thankless, but high reward job in and of itself.
While many kids you deal with will make you reconsider bearing children yourself, you also get the opportunity to see many of them grow and progress. My fiance's school has a system where they basically get a class of high schoolers from 9th to 12th grade. I think it's equivalent to a home room. She gets to see them grow up from former middle schoolers to young adults, and I think she really enjoys that in most cases.
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