CHE: Tenured, Trapped, and Miserable in the Humanities

[no1capybara]

https://www.chronicle.com/article/tenured-trapped-and-miserable-in-the-humanities

This article just made me sad. 

[Wahoo Redux]

Meh.  It hits things on the head with a wee bit of bathos.  Even though The Chair is pretty dumb, I still thought this was pretty relevant:

The recent Netflix series The Chair dramatizes — honestly, I would say — the pathos of certain tenured professors who feel they have outlived their value to their institutions and become irrelevant, yet will not leave their jobs.

Yeah.  I am definitely getting the impression we are the uncool kids hanging by the punch bowl at the prom.  No one but us seems to think what we do is either interesting or important.  Our institutions look at us as a necessary expense as long as we teach comp and business / technical writing.  And then will nuke us if they can.

The humanities are definitely on our way out...at least for now.  Business and tech everyone!

On the other hand, I seem to be the only person who ever compares what I do now with what I used to do back then.  I had a lot of jobs in big buildings where all the guys wore ties and all the women wore pants-suits.   My soul still has not recovered.

We've been over all this stuff before.  Time to let the ship sink.

[mahagonny]

see, I'm not the one to say it, because everyone thinks I covet those on the tenure track but...tenure isn't necessarily good for the people who have it, not in all cases. If it weren't for tenure people would change schools more often. And often for the better.
and it incentivizes the use of temp gigs.
There's a better model, somehow.

[mleok]

see, I'm not the one to say it, because everyone thinks I covet those on the tenure track but...tenure isn't necessarily good for the people who have it, not in all cases. If it weren't for tenure people would change schools more often. And often for the better.
and it incentivizes the use of temp gigs.
There's a better model, somehow.

Tenure has never prevented the superstars from moving, nor does it prevent professors in lucrative fields moving back into industry.

[Wahoo Redux]

see, I'm not the one to say it, because everyone thinks I covet those on the tenure track but...tenure isn't necessarily good for the people who have it, not in all cases. If it weren't for tenure people would change schools more often. And often for the better.
and it incentivizes the use of temp gigs.
There's a better model, somehow.

Tenure has never prevented the superstars from moving, nor does it prevent professors in lucrative fields moving back into industry.

Most of us are stuck because there aren't any jobs to move for.

[mleok]

see, I'm not the one to say it, because everyone thinks I covet those on the tenure track but...tenure isn't necessarily good for the people who have it, not in all cases. If it weren't for tenure people would change schools more often. And often for the better.
and it incentivizes the use of temp gigs.
There's a better model, somehow.

Tenure has never prevented the superstars from moving, nor does it prevent professors in lucrative fields moving back into industry.

Most of us are stuck because there aren't any jobs to move for.

And eliminating tenure isn't going to address that problem, but try telling that to mahagonny. A robust competition for talent is what improves working conditions, the elimination of tenure will not magically cause that to happen.

[Wahoo Redux]

see, I'm not the one to say it, because everyone thinks I covet those on the tenure track but...tenure isn't necessarily good for the people who have it, not in all cases. If it weren't for tenure people would change schools more often. And often for the better.
and it incentivizes the use of temp gigs.
There's a better model, somehow.

Tenure has never prevented the superstars from moving, nor does it prevent professors in lucrative fields moving back into industry.

Most of us are stuck because there aren't any jobs to move for.

And eliminating tenure isn't going to address that problem, but tell that to mahagonny.

Sometimes one should just give up on certain objectives.

[mahagonny]

see, I'm not the one to say it, because everyone thinks I covet those on the tenure track but...tenure isn't necessarily good for the people who have it, not in all cases. If it weren't for tenure people would change schools more often. And often for the better.
and it incentivizes the use of temp gigs.
There's a better model, somehow.

Tenure has never prevented the superstars from moving, nor does it prevent professors in lucrative fields moving back into industry.

I didn't say that. I say it de-incentivizes leaving a school where your fit is no longer the best, because to do so starts the arduous seven year probationary clock all over again. It can also contribute to department infighting by allowing people to work in the same department who talk past each other at meetings and hold opposing views about the department's mission. The dean's job is to tolerate that discord and dysfunction under the ruse of academic freedom. This can impact adjunct faculty negatively too when they are hired to teach in a department where some of the tenured faculty believe their (the adjunct's) work is not warranted or not even valid at all. Sometimes the resulting toxicity torments these adjuncts through the voices of students.
I remain astonished that tenure track faculty feel entitled to support for the tenure system from part time adjunct faculty. At the same time, puzzled as to why it even matters. You don't need us to sign your paycheck.
ETA: Instead of posting 'I'm not the one to say it' I should have just posted "I'm not the one who did say it."
Sure, some adjuncts have nicer things to say about tenure than I do. Let them give their impressions and experiences. I have mine -- the good and the bad.

[Aster]

For people that whoan and begroan the tenure track and those that are on it, I recommend working where there isn't a tenure track and asking the professors there how they feel about that. You will get an extremely lop-sided, and extremely emotional (angry/sad/disgusted), response.

[Caracal]

https://www.chronicle.com/article/tenured-trapped-and-miserable-in-the-humanities

This article just made me sad.

Mark me down as suspicious. People like to complain. Lots of people feel stuck in the middle of their career. If you write an article about your career change you'll get a lot of responses from people who are interested in the idea. It doesn't tell you that the humanities are dying and humanities professors are superfluous, or any of the rest of the sad trumpet stuff.

Generally if people who seem capable of doing something different don't do it, it means they don't really want to. Sure, these people sometimes want to quit their job and leave it all behind, but they also like having a job where they may be able to just go home at 2 on a Wednesday. I know a number of people who left mid career to go do something else.  its another to actually decide you want to Is everything great about the humanities? No, but that doesn't mean professors are all a bunch of sad sacks trapped in a prison of the mind. The real questions ar why humanities professors are so into these lame narratives combining personal stagnation and institutional decline and why everyone else weirdly buys it.

[Aster]

https://www.chronicle.com/article/tenured-trapped-and-miserable-in-the-humanities

This article just made me sad.

Mark me down as suspicious. People like to complain. Lots of people feel stuck in the middle of their career. If you write an article about your career change you'll get a lot of responses from people who are interested in the idea. It doesn't tell you that the humanities are dying and humanities professors are superfluous, or any of the rest of the sad trumpet stuff.

Generally if people who seem capable of doing something different don't do it, it means they don't really want to. Sure, these people sometimes want to quit their job and leave it all behind, but they also like having a job where they may be able to just go home at 2 on a Wednesday. I know a number of people who left mid career to go do something else.  its another to actually decide you want to Is everything great about the humanities? No, but that doesn't mean professors are all a bunch of sad sacks trapped in a prison of the mind. The real questions ar why humanities professors are so into these lame narratives combining personal stagnation and institutional decline and why everyone else weirdly buys it.

This. Replace "tenured humanities professors" with "middle/senior management" pretty much anywhere and you will end up with a near identical response. Sure, you read and here about the small minority of portable individuals, but the overwhelming majority of of workers will, at the end of the day, prefer staying where they're comfortable, and prefer staying where they've already invested their sweat equity.

I have *so many* colleagues who work contract jobs at colleges and universities and who are always complaining how much better it would be for them if they had tenure or worked somewhere else with better pay/benefits/whatever. But when I ask most of them how their job search is going to get that awesome job that they talk about all the time, I almost always get the stammering same response.

"Well... um... blah blah blah is here and I really don't have the time to look into that."

[jerseyjay]

In a way, tenure is like rent control in Manhattan. Some economists will decry rent control, saying it incentivizes staying in apartments that people have outgrown, and deincentivizes landlords from improving the apartments that are already rented. Having lived in New York, I know there is an element of truth to both of these criticisms. However, the fundamental issue is the lack of affordable housing stock in Manhattan. Sure I might want to leave  (say) the studio five-floor walkup I've been living in the East Village for decades and move to an apartment that is closer to the train, has an elevator, and a bedroom. But unless I move to Trenton, I probably won't find one I can afford. Rent control at least makes it possible for me to keep my current apartment.

Similarly,  I might want to move to a better school. But the reason I don't is not that I have tenure, but that there are no other jobs out there. So tenure at least lets me stay at my current employer.

People who cannot get a rent-controlled apartment (which are most people who haven't been living in the same apartment since the 1980s) may resent those who have one, but it isn't rent control that is keeping them from finding an affordable Manhattan apartment. If every rent-controlled tenant were evicted tomorrow, it would just mean that the landlords would raise rents and Manhattan would be home to only luxury apartments. People who cannot get a tenure track job (most PhDs since the 1980s) may resent those who can. But if tenure were abolished, then all it would mean is that most jobs would be converted to casual (part time, lecturer, etc) positions and academia would become one vast adjunct jungle. In both cases, it would mean making the situation a more intense version of what it already is, and making life less livable for many people.

Of course there is more to tenure than the economics, such as academic freedom. And just as choosing an apartment involves more than just the apartment itself (the neighbors, etc), a teaching job also involves certain intangibles (the student body).

[apl68]

Being able to enjoy the job you do, at least some of the time, is a great blessing.  But no job is enjoyable all the time.  Most long-term jobs have substantial patches where they aren't very enjoyable at all (Like this morning, at my job.  Which I was not even supposed to have to come in for today!).  And even the best job is ultimately not going to give anybody what he or she needs most from life.  Jesus once said "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst to be right with God, for they shall be filled."  Everything else in this world, career included, will leave us unfulfilled in the long run.

[mahagonny]

For people that whoan and begroan the tenure track and those that are on it, I recommend working where there isn't a tenure track and asking the professors there how they feel about that. You will get an extremely lop-sided, and extremely emotional (angry/sad/disgusted), response.

I do work at a place that doesn't have a tenure track and the pay, the union and everything about it are way better. My experience is one example.

[ciao_yall]

In a way, tenure is like rent control in Manhattan. Some economists will decry rent control, saying it incentivizes staying in apartments that people have outgrown, and deincentivizes landlords from improving the apartments that are already rented. Having lived in New York, I know there is an element of truth to both of these criticisms. However, the fundamental issue is the lack of affordable housing stock in Manhattan. Sure I might want to leave  (say) the studio five-floor walkup I've been living in the East Village for decades and move to an apartment that is closer to the train, has an elevator, and a bedroom. But unless I move to Trenton, I probably won't find one I can afford. Rent control at least makes it possible for me to keep my current apartment.

Similarly,  I might want to move to a better school. But the reason I don't is not that I have tenure, but that there are no other jobs out there. So tenure at least lets me stay at my current employer.

People who cannot get a rent-controlled apartment (which are most people who haven't been living in the same apartment since the 1980s) may resent those who have one, but it isn't rent control that is keeping them from finding an affordable Manhattan apartment. If every rent-controlled tenant were evicted tomorrow, it would just mean that the landlords would raise rents and Manhattan would be home to only luxury apartments. People who cannot get a tenure track job (most PhDs since the 1980s) may resent those who can. But if tenure were abolished, then all it would mean is that most jobs would be converted to casual (part time, lecturer, etc) positions and academia would become one vast adjunct jungle. In both cases, it would mean making the situation a more intense version of what it already is, and making life less livable for many people.

Of course there is more to tenure than the economics, such as academic freedom. And just as choosing an apartment involves more than just the apartment itself (the neighbors, etc), a teaching job also involves certain intangibles (the student body).

Exactly. The solution is to build more apartments or create more tenure-track positions, not abolish the whole system.