Why do you adjunct?

[simpleSimon]

I suspect this may generate some heat, but I want to ask those of you whom adjunct in saturated fields why you continue to do it... beyond a year or two?  Do you really believe/hope it will lead to a full time position?

I have a friend who graduated at least seven years ago and he has been adjuncting ever since.  This term he is teaching at six classes at five area schools.  He says this is his "last year" on the market (before electing to do something else) but he has been saying that during all the time I have known him.  I have another acquaintance who has been adjuncting for his entire career and he is now in his mid 60s.  On more than one occasion, he has said he feels "trapped" and "stuck" and doesn't know what else to do.

Many years ago, for reasons of romance, I moved to a new city without a job.  I saw an advertisement for an adjunct position I was qualified for and was hired.  At the end of the term I decided that the compensation for the work represented an inefficient use of my time.  When the school called me to teach again the following term I said "no thank you" and moved on.  Over the years, I have seen no shortage of articles on the plight of adjuncts, and I have to say that my sympathy decreases with each article.  Obviously, the system is broken, but like all systems it is governed by the law of supply and demand.  If 50 or more people apply for an adjunct position that pays $2-6k per course what possible incentive exists for institutions to hire full-time faculty?  Countless adjuncts are scrambling to make ends meet unsure of what the next semester will bring.  Why do you allow yourself to be exploited in this manner?

If you are not happy with your current lot in life, you change it.  What you do not do is stay on the hamster wheel and hope that someone, somewhere will change "the system." 

[mamselle]

I've adjuncted in 3 different situations for several different reasons.

1. While doing my grad work, my hyperdysfunctional department messed up my funding for several years. I'd worked as an academic/STEMresearch center EA to make ends meet for several of those years, but wanted to be doing something closer to my own research and develop some ideas I had with the area of art history (one of the interdependent disciplines I work in).

As it happened, a nearby school admitted 600 too many freshmen that fall, thanks to a computer glitch in admissions, and they had several sections of Intro to Art they needed instructors for. I taught for them in about 4 different areas for a few years, and in the process did develop a line of study I'm currently building a booklet/monograph/whater-it's-going-to-be-when-it-grows-up, around.

That worked for awhile, then it didn't, and my school finally figured out the errors of its ways in that realm. So I stopped.

2. Later, I did a couple more stints at two other schools in similar courses, but they were both hiring FTTs so it was just fill-in.

I enjoyed it, was still teaching music students, so the income worked.

3. Much later, after one of the EA jobs I'd returned to fell apart (layoffs, etc.) I taught beginning French for a couple terms. A back-stabbing adjunct who'd been there longer (but was, I think, threatened by what was apparently more work and especially more research in my CV and other class activities) put paid to that (I have a great degree of sympathy for a certain Ukrainian abassador... ) and I sort of decided that was no fun, so stopped trying.

When things come up I take them as they fit in with my plans; if not, I have alternatives.

M.

[mahagonny]

Job A: Good pay, health insurance, building up equity, good professional networking, professional development opportunity. College with no tenure track.

Job B: College with tenure track. If I were not teaching as an adjunct, the students in that department would be dependent on a certain group of professors (designated full time) for their knowledge. I could not in good conscience allow that to happen knowing I could have done something about it. Also, union needs many hands to make light(er) work.

[downer]

The short answer is: for the money, for access to a university library, and because it can be interesting work.

There is the question: why not do something else that pays more and has less annoying aspects? The answer for now is that most of my teaching is online so I can work from home a lot, and I am reasonably good at reducing the annoying aspects. I also don't want to move.

I would like a job with good health insurance, especially dental! But that isn't necessarily easy to find without making a huge amount of effort.

I might well soon cut down on the less rewarding adjunct work and do other things instead that make life richer.

[Wahoo Redux]

I adjuncted as a trailing spouse while I finished my dissertation.  I then worked my heinie as a staff member who taught on the side and the outgoing dean of student services noted this and turned my staff position into a FT job while I continued to teach on the side.

Spouse got a better TT job (we both hated the first place) and I followed; the new school made it clear that there was no FT work available when spouse was hired, so I went back to adjuncting.  Along the way I got a VAP for a year.  Then it was back to adjuncting at the home school and on the side at an area school.  Then a FT job opened up at the home school; I was hired FT NTT.

So yes, it is entirely possible to go from the adjunct world to the FT world.

I adjuncted because I would not starve (spouse worked on the TT);

because I had already tasted the brew of the 9-to-5 death-oriented-world and found it unbearably bitter;

because I'd finally found something I was good at;

because I was among my own kind after years spent among the pleasant, honest, but dull and unimaginative corporate monkeys;

because I enjoyed teaching, more or less, and loved the reading and writing and life-of-the-mind aspects;

because my spouse worked and so we spent my meager salary on rent and then blew the rest on fun;

because I had invested so much of my life in learning the trade;

because I did not want to be the "old guy" intern among the 20-somethings or have to start over after attaining a measure of success as a teacher and writer;

because I finally felt like I was doing something of substance in the world;

because the dissertation and the teaching took so much time that I doubt I would be marketable in any career other than an academic one;

and because I continued to believe that I could move to a FT job----

and then I was proven right.

If my wife and I had not hooked up I probably still would have been an adjunct somewhere----probably I would have moved to my home state and looked for a roommate among my old friends.  Or, who knows, maybe I would have done a nation-wide search and landed something more substantial.

Regardless, I stayed the course because I believed I would be ultimately successful, and basically I have been.  It IS entirely possible to move up in the ranks, but one has to do it smart and get a very lucky break; preparedness must meet opportunity.

The adjunct march bothers me both because I believe we are hanging some of our best people out to dry----even if they make a basically quixotic bid to stay in the profession against all reason----and often hire bad or the worst people out of necessity because we have not given our best people real employment, and because I believe we are damaging our entire higher ed system through this practice.

[mahagonny]

I suspect this may generate some heat, but I want to ask those of you whom adjunct in saturated fields why you continue to do it... beyond a year or two?  Do you really believe/hope it will lead to a full time position?

I have a friend who graduated at least seven years ago and he has been adjuncting ever since.  This term he is teaching at six classes at five area schools.  He says this is his "last year" on the market (before electing to do something else) but he has been saying that during all the time I have known him.  I have another acquaintance who has been adjuncting for his entire career and he is now in his mid 60s.  On more than one occasion, he has said he feels "trapped" and "stuck" and doesn't know what else to do.

Many years ago, for reasons of romance, I moved to a new city without a job.  I saw an advertisement for an adjunct position I was qualified for and was hired.  At the end of the term I decided that the compensation for the work represented an inefficient use of my time.  When the school called me to teach again the following term I said "no thank you" and moved on.  Over the years, I have seen no shortage of articles on the plight of adjuncts, and I have to say that my sympathy decreases with each article.  Obviously, the system is broken, but like all systems it is governed by the law of supply and demand.  If 50 or more people apply for an adjunct position that pays $2-6k per course what possible incentive exists for institutions to hire full-time faculty?  Countless adjuncts are scrambling to make ends meet unsure of what the next semester will bring.  Why do you allow yourself to be exploited in this manner?

If you are not happy with your current lot in life, you change it.  What you do not do is stay on the hamster wheel and hope that someone, somewhere will change "the system."

I've been wondering about something too. Now that you've dispensed your unsolicited advice, why do you need information from us? Is your advice going to change? Or do you envision someone wanting your endorsement?

[marshwiggle]

I suspect this may generate some heat, but I want to ask those of you whom adjunct in saturated fields why you continue to do it... beyond a year or two?  Do you really believe/hope it will lead to a full time position?

I've been wondering about something too. Now that you've dispensed your unsolicited advice, why do you need information from us? Is your advice going to change? Or do you envision someone wanting your endorsement?

One thing I have noticed is that everyone who has replied has not stayed on the edge of financial ruin for any length of time. Everyone seems to feel that their financial situation was or is sustainable, even if less than ideal.
So unless/until we hear from someone staying in a more precarious financial situation, the OP's original question may not be satisfactorily answered.

[mahagonny]

I suspect this may generate some heat, but I want to ask those of you whom adjunct in saturated fields why you continue to do it... beyond a year or two?  Do you really believe/hope it will lead to a full time position?

I've been wondering about something too. Now that you've dispensed your unsolicited advice, why do you need information from us? Is your advice going to change? Or do you envision someone wanting your endorsement?

One thing I have noticed is that everyone who has replied has not stayed on the edge of financial ruin for any length of time. Everyone seems to feel that their financial situation was or is sustainable, even if less than ideal.
So unless/until we hear from someone staying in a more precarious financial situation, the OP's original question may not be satisfactorily answered.

Long way of saying he would enjoy hearing from someone whose life is a mess. That's called voyeurism.

[marshwiggle]

I suspect this may generate some heat, but I want to ask those of you whom adjunct in saturated fields why you continue to do it... beyond a year or two?  Do you really believe/hope it will lead to a full time position?

I've been wondering about something too. Now that you've dispensed your unsolicited advice, why do you need information from us? Is your advice going to change? Or do you envision someone wanting your endorsement?

One thing I have noticed is that everyone who has replied has not stayed on the edge of financial ruin for any length of time. Everyone seems to feel that their financial situation was or is sustainable, even if less than ideal.
So unless/until we hear from someone staying in a more precarious financial situation, the OP's original question may not be satisfactorily answered.

Long way of saying he would enjoy hearing from someone whose life is a mess. That's called voyeurism.

So are all of the people who let the media profile them living out of their cars engaging in exhibitionism? Or are the reporters engaging in voyeurism? How is it OK to publicize their situation but not to ask them to explain why they stay at it?

[Caracal]

1. Because, like Wahoo, I came to my current location as a trailing spouse. My wife makes a lot more money than I do at a different institution,  and that takes a certain amount of the stress of a non permanent position away and also simplifies the health insurance issues.

2. I've been lucky enough to land somewhere where I've been able to reliably get classes (knock on wood) I haven't had to teach at five different places.

3. I have an office. Technically I share it, but on my teaching days it is mine. I'm not squatting in the coffee shop or pushing around some weird cart with all my junk. That actually makes a big difference for me in terms of morale. I may not actually be a part of the department in important ways, but at least I get the kind of collegial relationships that come from seeing people in the hallway and dropping by someone's office to chat.

4. I like teaching, on most days anyway. I think the subject I teach is important and relevant.

5. My chair has treated me well. Nobody interferes with my classes and I'm treated like a professional.


If any of these things change, I might have to figure something else out. But right now it works ok.

[mahagonny]

I suspect this may generate some heat, but I want to ask those of you whom adjunct in saturated fields why you continue to do it... beyond a year or two?  Do you really believe/hope it will lead to a full time position?

I've been wondering about something too. Now that you've dispensed your unsolicited advice, why do you need information from us? Is your advice going to change? Or do you envision someone wanting your endorsement?

One thing I have noticed is that everyone who has replied has not stayed on the edge of financial ruin for any length of time. Everyone seems to feel that their financial situation was or is sustainable, even if less than ideal.
So unless/until we hear from someone staying in a more precarious financial situation, the OP's original question may not be satisfactorily answered.

Long way of saying he would enjoy hearing from someone whose life is a mess. That's called voyeurism.

So are all of the people who let the media profile them living out of their cars engaging in exhibitionism? Or are the reporters engaging in voyeurism? How is it OK to publicize their situation but not to ask them to explain why they stay at it?

If a person enjoys getting fifteen minutes of fame for being homeless he might be an exhibitionist of self dramatizer (and we are probably all that way a little), but it's still news of what I would call legitimate public interest that teaching in college pays as little as it does.

[Caracal]

One thing I have noticed is that everyone who has replied has not stayed on the edge of financial ruin for any length of time. Everyone seems to feel that their financial situation was or is sustainable, even if less than ideal.
So unless/until we hear from someone staying in a more precarious financial situation, the OP's original question may not be satisfactorily answered.

That is probably because there actually aren't many adjuncts who are making terrible choices in their personal lives and being driven to financial ruin. Every story I've read about homeless adjuncts or adjuncts who met some tragic fate involved people who had fallen through the extremely porous social safety net in the United States. Most of them had other problems in their lives that left them unable  to change their circumstances when things went downhill. They happened to be adjuncts, but they could just as easily have been working any number of jobs in the gig economy which come with little stability, low pay and no employer sponsored health insurance. Like the rest of these jobs, adjuncting can work ok for lots of people, but if you find yourself isolated, in poor health and/or facing some sort of mental crisis, it isn't so great.

[revert79]

Other people have given most of the smart answers already, and I second all of them.  For what it's worth I will add that I didn't want to move away (I have a kid, a {modest} house, etc), and I'm literally not qualified for anything else.  That is basically it.  Plus I was afraid of the job market.

I stopped adjuncting after 10 years when a non-teaching academic dream job came up in my neighborhood.  But guess what.  It pays the same as I was making before, when I was an adjunct.  So I don't know what the moral of my story is but there you go.  I still can't afford the Dyson pet max stick vacuum I've been after—but I don't live in a vehicle or anything like that

[mahagonny]

The adjunct march bothers me both because I believe we are hanging some of our best people out to dry----even if they make a basically quixotic bid to stay in the profession against all reason----and often hire bad or the worst people out of necessity because we have not given our best people real employment, and because I believe we are damaging our entire higher ed system through this practice.

One of the best people I ever knew in my field actually was teaching at four or five colleges every week. He kept it up a few years, got very tired and bitter, and then left the field entirely. Was young enough to learn a trade and never looked back. We've been trying to find someone of his caliber for a long time --- no, wait, I've been trying. The department doesn't care. They are of the 'good enough is just fine' mindset that Polly promotes. Yet the 1940 statement from the AAUP says economic security is essential. Obviously that's been repudiated. And even that is lied about, as they maintain tenure is the norm.

That is probably because there actually aren't many adjuncts who are making terrible choices in their personal lives and being driven to financial ruin.

But along with making a sensible employment choice, it often involves understanding that the decision to go for the PhD was a mistake.

[jerseyjay]

I would not currently identify myself as an adjunct. (I do, actually, teach part-time for a school, but that is in addition to being on the tenure track somewhere else, and the reason I continue to teach part-time is because I've done it forever so it is not that demanding, and it adds about 25 per cent to my annual take-home pay.)

I have gone through three periods of teaching part-time as my main source of income:

(1) in grad school, because I lived in a place with at least a dozen schools within commuting distance, and it paid more than most other things I could do and it looked good on a CV;

(2) after my first VAP, when I taught for several colleges for about three or four years while applying for full-time work. Then I got another VAP (at a place where I had taught part-time; this lasted for several years.

(3) After my second VAP and I needed something to do. I taught for a semester and the summer term, until I got a full-time non-academic (but academic-related) job. I continued to teach at one place (which is the school I teach part-time for now).

Then, after about four years of my 9-to-5 office job with an hour commute each way, one of the schools I had taught part-time had a line and I applied, and now I am on the tenure-track.  I do not think this is typical.

There were some good things about adjuncting--even some, from my current position, I sorta miss.

Compared to a 9-5 job: you do not have to be at work 40 hours a week. You meet interesting people and get paid to be smart. You have access to an academic library. I find a job where all your students change twice a year more interesting than the same people in the same cubicles for years on end. The work is rather steady; once you get in the groove (especially with a union), you often have a job forever. You don't have to go to faculty meetings, do service, or explain your publications to the dean. There is a relatively large amount of autonomy (so long as nobody complains). Of course, this is just my experience; but when I had a part-time teaching job that I didn't like, I just tried another school.

I am of course aware of the very real negative sides: the low pay, the precarious nature (it may seem like a job for life, but of course it is not, especially without a union); the lack of health insurance, the heavy work (grading, etc) that isn't paid; the long commutes; the lack of self-respect if you are still trying to get a full-time job.

My point is not that adjuncting is a good job--it is not--but that there are rational reasons to continue. Of course, there are also irrational reasons to continue: the hope of getting a full-time job (which happened to me, and some other people I know, but is very, very, rare); the illusion of remaining in academia; the conservatism of not trying other jobs that pay more.

Rather, I think that being an adjunct is like being in a bad relationship. I can look back and say, why in god's name did I do that for X years, but there are good as well as bad moments.