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Adjuncting or move on with your life?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by JohnHammond, Oct 28, 2015.

  1. JohnHammond

    JohnHammond Well-Known Member

    Noticed this video this week. Slate and the Chronicle of Higher Education also seem to have a running "adjunct surviving on $15,000/year" stories every few weeks. Problem with this case is the subject got a Ph.D. from a for-profit university and expects a tenure-track position. You'd think people would come to the realization a tenure-track job isn't coming after being an adjunct for several years.

     
  2. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    The thing with lots of these adjuncts is that they really don't have, as she puts it, "the same academic qualifications as the full-time faculty." Yes, she has a PhD. And in the department(s) at which she teaches occasionally, the full-time faculty tend to be PhDs. But she's not as qualified as they are. She's probably not even in the ballpark -- hell, even the area code -- as qualified.
     
  3. qtlaw

    qtlaw Well-Known Member

    I certainly admire people who want to pursue higher education and think that's great if you can do so. However, the economic realist in me understands that the market dictates that there are only so many positions available and going the alternative/for-profit route may not be the best use of resources if you are counting on a job. Its the problem with law schools and the saturation of the market.
     
  4. TigerVols

    TigerVols Well-Known Member

    This, indeed.

    The idea that someone with an online degree is teaching people paying thousands of dollars to be taught baffles my mind.
     
  5. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    What about all those that do have the same academic qualifications yet can't get in? Or are we blaming all of them for not bootstrapping enough?
     
  6. JohnHammond

    JohnHammond Well-Known Member

    Contrary to popular opinion, those with English and philosophy doctorates can get jobs outside of academia. They don't have to work at a bookstore or a coffee shop.

     
  7. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Just like all those thrown out of work by newspapers have people waving to them out of windows and screaming at them to come work somewhere else?
     
  8. JohnHammond

    JohnHammond Well-Known Member

    Some people don't know how to reinvent themselves. If you can't adapt, you are going to struggle. We can pout all we want about how unfair the system is, but there are plenty of people still willing to adjunct, just as there are still plenty of people willing to write for free. Large collective-action problem coupled with the fact students and parents don't care.
     
  9. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Yep, fuck 'em.
     
  10. JohnHammond

    JohnHammond Well-Known Member

    You can rationalize all you want on how you're all for the workers, but your day-to-day actions indicate you're just as callous to the plight of "wage slaves" as those you disagree with regarding ideology.
     
    Mr. Sunshine likes this.
  11. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Just about every person on this board needs to take lessons in callousness to come anywhere close to you.
     
    Baron Scicluna likes this.
  12. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    No, I'm not blaming them. It is not blaming them to note that they chose a career path in which the outcome they experienced -- never getting on the tenure track -- was far-and-away the most likely.
     
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