About a year ago I wrote about my working journey and how
things were going to change. A full year
later, let me assure you the changes are. . . astounding
ly minimal.
I am caught in the same loop the standard adjunct finds
themselves in all across the nation.
Some pitiful figure like one in five of us will ever gain tenure-track
positions. Of those who do get hired,
only 10% are hired at the school where they adjunct. This means it’s becoming increasingly clear
to me that the likelihood of my securing full-time employment at the school
where I currently teach is shockingly low.
And it makes sense. I
remember Steven Leavitt’s chapter from Freakonomics on incentives. Currently my employer has less than zero
incentive to hire me. Why? I am engaged in the equivalent of full-time
employment from a teaching perspective. They have from me all of the teaching
they would ever want at what I calculate to be about 30% (or less!) of the cost
of a full-time professor. Of course
there are a variety of other attributes I could easily bring to my employment –
my knowledge of state policy changes, my understanding of some of the drivers
of continued student improvement and success, my experience with recruitment
and retention of minority students, and obviously my sparkling personality –
but those things count for rather little when asking them to pay me 70% more.
As such, I can’t help but feel like I’m either going to have
to accept a lifetime of adjuncting, go to school for certification to teach
high school, or find another career altogether.
In the meantime, I can’t help but feel like I’m stuck in the unenviable
position of supporting a broken system without any voice or power to change it.
Of course then I feel as though my continued participation in the system only
empowers it to roll on.
Of course I don’t mean this to be a pity party for me. We’re
not hurting financially – it’s why I can
do what I do. This is not really much more than an acknowledgement of where I
am and where I would like to be. I’m a
good teacher who loves what she does and gets measurable growth from her
students – exactly the kind of person who should be retained. Unfortunately, my
years of adjuncting and applying for full time positions to no avail have
driven me to the verge of leaving the profession altogether. I guess the
saddest part of all is that I’m not alone. I know plenty of amazing teachers
who have left the profession for lack of compensation, support, and most of
all, respect.
Dear Monica, I sure hope you don't leave teaching! You're one of the best professors I know! I know how hard you work. You know I "adjuncted" for 10 years before landing full-time. I taught at 5 schools, sometimes at the same time :-) I found full time when several professors retired at the same time, leaving 3 spots available. I'm rooting for you, my friend. You deserve a full-time position.
ReplyDeleteMy heart is very much in the classroom, I think. After long reflection and several years of looking elsewhere, I think it's clear to me that other jobs just won't cut it and yet I feel so very hamstrung as an adjunct - my opportunities to fully help students in the ways that I wish, they simply aren't there without a faculty gig.
ReplyDeleteI'll keep at it. :)