Battle Pay for Adjuncts

Whatever else is required for General Studies, English will be required.

The reason is simple. English rules the world. English rules, totally.

Originally, the Seven Liberal Arts included Grammar and Rhetoric.

Today, it might prove quite embarrassing how many Shepherd grads lack grammatical competence, not to mention effective rhetorical style.

The last chance for many students is in general studies English courses.

Granted: a basic knowledge of history is essential. In addition, I am grateful for the undegrad course I took in biology, where I first heard about DNA.

And, frankly, I just cannot comprehend how a liberal arts school can fail to require a rigorous introductory course in philosophy for all students.

It also makes no sense to send business and political science majors into the world while lacking knowledge of either Spanish or French or German, not to mention Chinese, Japanese, or Arabic. Just consider the added earning potential these grads could have had if they were fluent in another language!

But the sole requirement for success in our time is mastery of English.

The dirty little secret, of course, is that the vast majority of required English courses are taught by adjunct faculty, hired one class-section at a time.

For a one-semester course, an adjunct with a master’s degree earns $1600.

If that same adjunct teaches, as many do, a full load of four courses in both fall and spring semester, the total yearly salary earned would be $12,800.

Forget about health insurance or other benefits. Adjuncts do not qualify.

This reliance on adjuncts brings obvious benefits to the institution.
The tuition money collected from each student in the class-room remains the same whether the instructor is an adjunct or a tenure-track professor. But the margin of profit expands exponentially by slashing labor-costs.

Besides, English courses are an academic cash-machine. They do not require expensive laboratories or specially designed studios.

All that English instructors must do is to read books and grade papers.

How many papers do English adjuncts grade? In the typical English 101, each student hands in six papers and two revisions. So, for a class of 25, the instructor must read about 200 papers each semester.

How many papers for a full load of four courses? Well, you get the idea.

And, remember, the pay is less than students earn at their part-time jobs.

Why do adjuncts accept these terms? Many simply love to teach and often do as good a job, or even better, compared to their tenure-track colleagues.

But, the adjunct system relies on exploitation. The instructors suffer the most, obviously, since they do not receive fair pay for their work. The students and their parents would probably be shocked if they realized how little these professors were earning despite the rising tuition rates. Finally, the university as a whole is undermined by being built on a foundation of gypsy scholars who are the academic equivalent of migrant farm workers.

Shepherd is not the only institution that leans on adjuncts. The same adjunct scandal-that-is-not- a-scandal runs coast-to-coast, in departments of English from Yale to Berkeley. Reliance on adjuncts has become business as usual.

If proposed curriculum reforms become a reality, there could be a newly revised general studies program and fewer hours required for graduation. Then, the dependence on adjunct faculty might be significantly alleviated.

But, for now, it only seems fair that adjunct professors should receive battle pay for doing their bit in the trenches at the front lines of higher education.