I am thinking about quitting doing what I enjoy and get paid for.
“I don’t have time to write that paper, which has been on my wish list of things to do for over a month. Because, as can happen too often, my teaching gets in the way of my writing.” That’s what I said in a January 23 blog post here at TCE.
That is the biggest impetus for my rethinking all my adjunct work. I like teaching upper division courses, but I have been working for this particular SLAC for a year, teaching the full-time load. There has been no discussion of hiring me full-time. And I’m on the schedule for full-time in the fall.
Here’s the deal:
I am teaching full-time, paid 2x as much as my other college pays, and given upper division writing courses, some of which I have full design rights/responsibilities for.
I like that.
But full-time teaching, for that college would pay 2+x what they are paying me now. I put their name on my conference papers and publications already. Why should they hire me full-time?
So, I am thinking that I need to tell them that I can’t work full-time for them, unless I am employed full-time by them. That would mean giving up 1/2 my money, though. And that’s a big sacrifice.
It also means giving up two classes of sophomore level writing that I thoroughly enjoy. That’s a sacrifice as well.
But if I don’t, what incentive do they have to ever hire me full-time?
And there is the catch-22 in the whole scheme.
And this is why adjuncts have become such a significant part of the higher education workforce.
On the other hand:
This school is not very fond of adjuncts. They have them, but they try not to have too many and they try not to give them to much to do. Right now they have eight in my department, which is a lot.
Six of us have PhDs. Three of us are retired and do not want to work full-time. The opportunity to continue teaching, and to make some decent money teaching classes we love, is worth it. I’m not in that “we” though.
I am the only one of the eight who is teaching a full-time load. And they don’t have another instructor who can teach those classes. Not, at least, without severely handicapping one of their full-timers. (One ft person teaches two of these classes. She would have to teach all four of them with only that course each semester in order to take are of it without me.)
So, what am I doing about it? I am getting my name out there. They have a campus newsletter and I am trying to make sure I am in it every week. (That means I need to stay busy!)
And I am using the school’s name on my conferences and papers. I am hoping that someone will notice how many of those works are out there. So far, I haven’t heard anything about it.
And that is why I am re-thinking my plan to continue teaching courses I love for decent pay.