Splinter article: The Revenge of the Poverty-Stricken College Professors

[mahagonny]

Much as I like working in academia, I have often said that if it didn't pay enough to feed my family, I would walk away in a heartbeat. I truly don't understand individuals who seem incapable of even considering such a move. Similarly, much as I like my work, I look forward to retirement because there are other things in life that are important to me and that I wish to pursue. My employment does not define me as a human being.

Mmm...are you sure you can be above average at all these pursuits with only a little effort?

[marshwiggle]

Much as I like working in academia, I have often said that if it didn't pay enough to feed my family, I would walk away in a heartbeat. I truly don't understand individuals who seem incapable of even considering such a move. Similarly, much as I like my work, I look forward to retirement because there are other things in life that are important to me and that I wish to pursue. My employment does not define me as a human being.

Mmm...are you sure you can be above average at all these pursuits with only a little effort?

Being above average isn't required to enjoy something; it may be required to get employed to do it though.

[mahagonny]

But what is the objective process for determining the "appropriate" remuneration for any particular task? And how much agency do people need before they do have to take some responsibility for their own outcomes? In the case of adjuncts, we are literally talking about some of the most educated citizens in a democratic country who are eligible for all kinds of jobs, but choose to only consider ones which require their specific educational background. (This is without considering whether the choices they made in their own education, including in many cases going into great debt for advanced degrees, were reasonable.)

Much as I like working in academia, I have often said that if it didn't pay enough to feed my family, I would walk away in a heartbeat. I truly don't understand individuals who seem incapable of even considering such a move. Similarly, much as I like my work, I look forward to retirement because there are other things in life that are important to me and that I wish to pursue. My employment does not define me as a human being.

Despite that you and others who think this way are simply refusing to understand what's going on, I'll explain for the benefit of the thread.
Just because someone is proactively addressing the low pay and poor job security through unionizing doesn't mean that aren't also simultaneously considering leaving the field. We've had people in our university who were instrumental in setting up the union, then left either for another teaching job, or something else, shortly thereafter. Some people are fighters. Or it may be a sociology or political science prof other who doesn't like the corporatization. It could be a literature professor who teaches John Steinbeck. Some of them are galvanized by the push back from the administration. It could be anyone who's being asked to 'give back to the community' and responds with 'OH YEAH?? Watch this.'

[mleok]

My mother and I were just talking about this over the weekend, and we wonder the same.  After high school, she trained as a cosmetologist and supports the idea of more students training for vocations rather than being forced into a bachelor's program.  I completely agree, and also wish that more employers wouldn't require a college degree for entry-level positions that don't actually require one.

I think this is precisely the problem with the illusion that everyone can and should go to college. College is quickly becoming part of a K-16 program, and jobs which historically only required a high school diploma now require a college degree. So, it isn't so much that college opens doors, but that it prevents doors that used to be open from closing on college graduates. What's worse are the significant number of students who incur substantial college debt but fail to graduate with a degree.

A public system of affordable, high quality vocational training, like that offered in Germany, would be much more closely aligned with what many students how to obtain from their post-secondary education.

[ciao_yall]

My mother and I were just talking about this over the weekend, and we wonder the same.  After high school, she trained as a cosmetologist and supports the idea of more students training for vocations rather than being forced into a bachelor's program.  I completely agree, and also wish that more employers wouldn't require a college degree for entry-level positions that don't actually require one.

I think this is precisely the problem with the illusion that everyone can and should go to college. College is quickly becoming part of a K-16 program, and jobs which historically only required a high school diploma now require a college degree. So, it isn't so much that college opens doors, but that it prevents doors that used to be open from closing on college graduates. What's worse are the significant number of students who incur substantial college debt but fail to graduate with a degree.

A public system of affordable, high quality vocational training, like that offered in Germany, would be much more closely aligned with what many students how to obtain from their post-secondary education.

First, jobs are different now than they used to be and require more education.

Second, a bachelor's degree is a cultural marker. Companies want their entry-level employees to have bachelor's degrees because it assumes a certain level of knowledge of the norms and dispositions of the professional class, as well as a certain level of ambition and willingness to learn or at least jump through hoops.

[mleok]

So you wish things were otherwise. You wish people made better decisions. Me too.

But is there any realistic chance of current trends changing in the next 20 years? No. The use of adjuncts will just grow. Tenure will be weakened. There will be more administrators. Many small colleges will close or merge.

I'd be interested in signs that these trends are changing. Are any politicians advocating more job-focused training instead of college? Have any states been pushing programs that would mean young people go into job-training instead of college? Has any department decided that there are enough PhDs in their area and they don't need to contribute more to the problem so they will close down their graduate program?

None of my former PhD students are on the adjunct death march, because those not in permanent academic jobs ended up with extremely lucrative industry jobs instead. There is absolutely no issue producing more PhDs than can be absorbed by academia if there are non-academic career alternatives that are fulfilling and pay well.

[mleok]

First, jobs are different now than they used to be and require more education.

Second, a bachelor's degree is a cultural marker. Companies want their entry-level employees to have bachelor's degrees because it assumes a certain level of knowledge of the norms and dispositions of the professional class, as well as a certain level of ambition and willingness to learn or at least jump through hoops.

I think you'll find that most companies complain about how poorly prepared the typical college graduate is for entry-level jobs, and I content that the bare minimum requirements to obtain a degree signifies nothing in terms of skills and motivation beyond what a high school diploma did in generations past.

[ciao_yall]

So you wish things were otherwise. You wish people made better decisions. Me too.

But is there any realistic chance of current trends changing in the next 20 years? No. The use of adjuncts will just grow. Tenure will be weakened. There will be more administrators. Many small colleges will close or merge.

I'd be interested in signs that these trends are changing. Are any politicians advocating more job-focused training instead of college? Have any states been pushing programs that would mean young people go into job-training instead of college? Has any department decided that there are enough PhDs in their area and they don't need to contribute more to the problem so they will close down their graduate program?

None of my former PhD students are on the adjunct death march, because those not in permanent academic jobs ended up with extremely lucrative industry jobs instead. There is absolutely no issue producing more PhDs than can be absorbed by academia if there are non-academic career alternatives that are fulfilling and pay well.

What is your field? And what types of jobs are they in? Were they recruited out of their PhD programs by companies who came to campus?

[marshwiggle]

I think this is precisely the problem with the illusion that everyone can and should go to college. College is quickly becoming part of a K-16 program, and jobs which historically only required a high school diploma now require a college degree. So, it isn't so much that college opens doors, but that it prevents doors that used to be open from closing on college graduates. What's worse are the significant number of students who incur substantial college debt but fail to graduate with a degree.

A public system of affordable, high quality vocational training, like that offered in Germany, would be much more closely aligned with what many students how to obtain from their post-secondary education.

I think part of the problem now, compared to a few decades ago, is that the "you can be whatever you want" mantra has led to the decline of things like aptitude tests and other ways to get students in high school to try and identify fields that they may have some ability in. It's "too restricting", so it's almost like the goal of high school is to have students graduate with no idea what to consider for a career. The idea of focused training for a specific career is out of vogue.

[mleok]

So you wish things were otherwise. You wish people made better decisions. Me too.

But is there any realistic chance of current trends changing in the next 20 years? No. The use of adjuncts will just grow. Tenure will be weakened. There will be more administrators. Many small colleges will close or merge.

I'd be interested in signs that these trends are changing. Are any politicians advocating more job-focused training instead of college? Have any states been pushing programs that would mean young people go into job-training instead of college? Has any department decided that there are enough PhDs in their area and they don't need to contribute more to the problem so they will close down their graduate program?

None of my former PhD students are on the adjunct death march, because those not in permanent academic jobs ended up with extremely lucrative industry jobs instead. There is absolutely no issue producing more PhDs than can be absorbed by academia if there are non-academic career alternatives that are fulfilling and pay well.

What is your field? And what types of jobs are they in? Were they recruited out of their PhD programs by companies who came to campus?

I'm in STEM, and they're in research scientist/engineer and software engineering positions, and some appear to have made their initial contact through on campus recruiting, and others did summer internships with their future employers.

[polly_mer]

I think this is precisely the problem with the illusion that everyone can and should go to college. College is quickly becoming part of a K-16 program, and jobs which historically only required a high school diploma now require a college degree. So, it isn't so much that college opens doors, but that it prevents doors that used to be open from closing on college graduates. What's worse are the significant number of students who incur substantial college debt but fail to graduate with a degree.

A public system of affordable, high quality vocational training, like that offered in Germany, would be much more closely aligned with what many students how to obtain from their post-secondary education.

I think part of the problem now, compared to a few decades ago, is that the "you can be whatever you want" mantra has led to the decline of things like aptitude tests and other ways to get students in high school to try and identify fields that they may have some ability in. It's "too restricting", so it's almost like the goal of high school is to have students graduate with no idea what to consider for a career. The idea of focused training for a specific career is out of vogue.

I agree this is a contributing factor.  One of the most sigh-inducting part of living and working where I do is the constant mantra of "STEM" without the follow-up support to "and really it's just math through to the point one is comfortable with partial differential equations and then the science that needs that math as the language in which to discuss topics and then the engineering/technology that uses that science".  We're absurdly short in certain fields where becoming proficient in just the background requires a good ten years of study, regardless of whether one starts that study in middle school or in one's thirties.

We are also absurdly short on people who are good with organizing and getting stuff done so that others can focus on the areas that require STEM expertise.  I sigh every time I run into the "but I work so hard and get paid so little" when I know how many positions we have unfilled that would pay a lot more with benefits with fewer hours per week (only 40 h and we have paid vacation/sick leave/holidays) that could benefit from highly educated people putting their broad critical thinking skills to work.  If more people saw these jobs as "paying the bills so the family can live inside" good options, then we'd have less pressure on the "but this is exactly the job I want, except <describes a different job that has substantially different duties that pays more with benefits because it's a different job>".