“You must become indispensable to thrive in the new economy. The best ways to do that are to be remarkable, insightful, an artist, someone bearing gifts. To lead. The worst way is to conform and become a cog in a giant system.â€
—Linchpin by Seth Godwin
Right now English teachers are still indispensable.
We teach the writing classes. But that is changing. At my last SLAC, the business departments and the social sciences departments took over the writing classes for their majors. At my current SLAC, the English department is considering handing those over to the major departments because those departments are squawking so much about the classes. (Don’t do it!)
How can you personally become indispensable where you are? (Don’t do that if you are an adjunct. Find someone who will pay for the milk, rather than cutting you up for steak a piece at a time.)