This College Professor Has a Master's...And Is Living in Poverty

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/college-professor-has-mastersand-living-poverty



Professor Bolin, or Brianne, as she tells her students to call her, might as well be invisible. When I arrive at the building at Columbia College in Chicago where she teaches composition, I ask the assistant at the front desk how to locate her. "Bolin?" she asks, sounding puzzled, as she scans the faculty list. "I'm sorry, I don't see that name." There is no Brianne Bolin to be found, even though she's taught four classes a year here for the past five years. She doesn't have a phone extension to her name, never mind an office.



The mother of a disabled eight-year-old boy named Finn, Bolin rushes in late to the lobby—she'd offered to give me a tour of her workplace. Her red hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and red electrical tape is wrapped around the left temple of her black geek-chic glasses; they broke a few months ago, and she can't afford a new pair. Bolin dressed up for the occasion: a black vest (from a thrift store, she'll tell me later), jeans (also thrift), and a brass anatomical version of a heart dangling at her throat from a thin black string. This is a rare and coveted evening off for her—Finn's father's fiancé agreed to babysit—but so far she's too agitated to enjoy it. She just learned that the woman and Finn's father, a blacksmith, are getting married in a few weeks, and they won't be able to take care of the boy during that time. It's all on her, again.

After she shows me the computer lab and some of the students' abstract photography and video installations, we settle down to talk in the student lounge, which features sleek modern furniture and high-rent views of the city's Grant Park and Lake Michigan. By this time, Bolin seems more angry than anxious. An adjunct professor, she earns $4,350 a class, never more than $24,000 a year, she says. At the moment, she has $55 in the bank and $3,000 in credit card debt. She is a month behind on the $975 rent she pays for a two-bedroom house next to railroad tracks in a western Chicago suburb, where every 20 minutes a train screeches by. Her bookshelves are full of poetry and philosophy from grad school, she can recite poems from memory, and she collects French 1960s LPs, but she must rely on food stamps to feed herself and her son. And because her job doesn't offer health insurance, they're both enrolled in Medicaid, the state and federal health-care program for the poor. (Coverage for a child Finn's age in Illinois caps at an income equaling 142 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $22,336.)

It wasn't supposed to be this way. Bolin, the English major, knows that's a cliché, but she can't help thinking it all the time.It wasn't supposed to be this way. In college at Eastern Illinois University downstate, she inhaled books—lived "in a trailer park with a friend, reading the novels of Virginia Woolf and Marguerite Duras, getting into Kerouac and Ginsberg and that Beat rebellion thing," she recalls. She earned a bachelor's and a master's, studying avant-garde poetry. She didn't expect to become an academic star—Eastern Illinois wasn't the University of Chicago—but she did assume she'd have a steady job with adequate pay. "I like nice things—I'm a little bourgeois," she says. "I thought at 35, I'd have clothes without holes in them and money in the bank, but I shop at Goodwill exclusively. I wear Banana Republic $5 suit jackets that wear out quickly because they've already been worn so much beforehand….

[Starry Messenger]

1. K&R

[xchrom]

3. you win the internets for Gross Thinking. nt

[Katashi_itto]

4. Enjoy your stay.

[ladyVet]

6. Good God! Did I finally make in in before somebody got tombstoned?

I'm so happy. Fourteen years. Fourteen years before I got lucky.

[xchrom]

8. i know, right?

i'm never this lucky.

[Katashi_itto]

12. I got to do him in! WOOT!

[MohRokTah]

7. Wecome back! eom

[madville]

5. Sometimes you have to put the dream aside

Like the career counselor says in the article, at a certain point you have to change strategies if your current path isn't working.

My aunt was a social worker for the state, made 24k a year, she got fed up and got a nursing degree at age 40 and liked the field, doubled her income at the time.

Could she take classes for free where she currently teaches? Switch to elementary or secondary education maybe? Then get a job in a more rural setting where cost of living is cheaper? My sister teaches 2nd grade and makes about $45k a year with good insurance and a state pension plan, she has a masters degree as well.

[meaculpa2011]

9. Never put your dreams aside!

I majored in theater (with a minor in philosophy). I've written poetry and plays but still have to keep home and hearth. After graduation I had a few odd jobs, then scored a tech job with a TV network. Yay! After my third layoff I bluffed my way into an advertising agency. Still writing, still submitting, still getting rejected. Had a few staged readings and a few poems published. Used the fees to celebrate with Big Macs.

Early on my kids developed this irritating habit. Even though I fed them yesterday they still want more food today.

Then, 35 years ago I stumbled into speech writing and I'm still at it. But I'm still writing plays and poems. I even won a couple of drama slam competitions here in NYC. I cannot count how many times I've put my theater background to good use in my work.

I'll NEVER put my dreams aside, even though my kids still expect food on the table and a roof over their heads.

[madville]

78. I was referring to turning your dreams into a career

Of course someone could still pursue them, it just may not be feasible as a career or a full-time livelihood.

[meaculpa2011]

82. That's my point.

I have found a career I love and I'm still able to pursue my dream of becoming a successful playwright. I write surrealist drama so success for me is defined a bit differently. I compete in drama slams at small avant garde theaters and most of the younger playwrights I meet at these events are aspiring sit-com writers. Nothing wrong with it, just not my dream.

Hey, I'm only 64 so I still have many more productive years ahead.

[madville]

83. I always dreamed of being a pro golfer

Never been anywhere close to good enough to do it though. That's why I'm an electronics technician, because it pays the bills and provides benefits. I still play golf and enjoy it but I'll never do it for a living.

[meaculpa2011]

84. I still dream of breaking 80.

Shot 81 at Bethpage Red last year.

[1StrongBlackMan]

127. LOL ...

I always dreamed of being a pro golfer

You, too? And when that didn't pan out, I sought to get BabyGirl 1SBM in on the dream ... I figured, she'd be the pro, and I'd carry her bag. I had it all planned out ... we'd travel to the best courses in the world, I'd play a practice round with her on Monday, do the caddie scouting thing for her Tuesday practice round, be on her bag Wednesday for the Pro-Am, be on her bag Thursday and Friday, and the Weekend, if she made the cut ... if not, we'd travel to the next great course and do it all again.

But alas, she fell in love with chemistry!

[daleanime]

66. So no one should teach?

[madville]

80. Of course they should

But if $24,000 a year and no benefits isn't cutting it maybe they should pursue other options in the education field. Like the example with my sister, almost double that income from the article with a pension and good benefits.

The federal government hires education professionals all the time, civilian education service officers at military bases, teachers at prisons, benefit counselors at the VA, etc, etc. They are usually good paying GS jobs.

[daleanime]

88. I'm trying to make a polite response....

don't think it will be possible. If you value some one's work you reward them, if your unwilling to reward them, you don't value them.



You show yourself as someone not worth listening to.

[Recursion]

98. If fewer people were trying to, adjuncts would make a lot more money (nt)

[Warpy]

102. Adjunct professors are among the poorest paid teachers out there

There is little job security, there are no benefits, and while per class pay might seem high, they make sure those classes are spread thinly.

They're desperate for unionization but sadly, most don't realize it.

The best advice i have for any of them is to try to find secondary education until and unless the system is changed from dead end, starvation wage labor into a real career.

The system is broken. People with others depending them need to exit it and hope that some day, those without families can fix it.

[ileus]

10. I know a Dr. that lives in an RV

and another Dr. that lives in a doublewide and doesn't have two nickles to rub together. I know several that are newly out of school and inundated with student loans and other debt it'll take years to start getting ahead.


Sometimes life it tough.....

[Liberal_in_LA]

86. +1

[Blue_Tires]

95. Well, at least she's still young...

I remember this horror from the archives: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023694356

[exboyfil]

11. Did make a passing mention about the father

Why don't the journalists for these stories attempt to interview the father to determine why he is isn't helping out as well? The child is his as well.

She would do better by moving away from Chicago and getting a public school teaching certification. The situation with adjuncts isn't going to change anytime soon. I know of doctorates that are teaching in public school.

[jberryhill]

21. Unless he's dead

I imagine if he was a stone cold dead rotting corpse, your comment would look silly.

[Ino]

59. Since the OP said the child's father is getting married...

your comment is the silly one, don't you think?

[jberryhill]

65. Good to know he's feeling better now

[Ino]

92. LOL! (nt)

[BubbaFett]

24. The father is a blacksmith.

Not much need for a blacksmith in the City of Chicago anymore.

[Fla Dem]

27. That's her father, believe the reference was about "her" child's father.

It said in the article he was a 20 yo one time hook-up who was in a band she liked. Doubt the kid is even around anymore.

[dumbcat]

29. No, I think the article is pretty clear

The mother of a disabled eight-year-old boy named Finn, Bolin rushes in late to the lobby—she'd offered to give me a tour of her workplace. Her red hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and red electrical tape is wrapped around the left temple of her black geek-chic glasses; they broke a few months ago, and she can't afford a new pair. Bolin dressed up for the occasion: a black vest (from a thrift store, she'll tell me later), jeans (also thrift), and a brass anatomical version of a heart dangling at her throat from a thin black string. This is a rare and coveted evening off for her—Finn's father's fiancé agreed to babysit—but so far she's too agitated to enjoy it. She just learned that the woman and Finn's father, a blacksmith, are getting married in a few weeks, and they won't be able to take care of the boy during that time. It's all on her, again.

Her son's father is the blacksmith.

[Fla Dem]

33. You are so right, but I do have a touch of vertigo

this morning, so will use that as an excuse for my lack of comprehension.

[dumbcat]

36. Works for me

I have occasionally been known to read things wrongly, especially before coffee.

[NewDeal_Dem]

60. actually, smithing is more in demand and good money these days, thanks to

the increased concentration of wealth. Chicago would be a good place to have a studio-- lots of money there.

they do more than horseshoes.

We are a blacksmith shop and Metal Art Studio located in Chicago Northwest Suburbs. We have been creating and fabricating custom iron work for nearly 12 years. Our hand crafted iron is displayed in both residential homes and commercial buildings across the USA...

http://www.wroughtiron-chicago.com/wrought-iron-work/wrought-iron-for-home/


http://www.davidnorrie.com/

[Recursion]

99. I know two smiths who make good money making stuff that hipsters buy

It's a pretty small field (I took some classes from them but don't seem to really have a talent for it -- I'm good at smithing little conical piles of slag, mostly), but it would surprise me if a skilled smith in a place like Chicago was going hungry.

[TransitJohn]

32. self delete

n/t

[Depaysement]

13. Horrible

But not unexpected from the University Class in the US. Their exploitation of labor is commonplace.

I have a one word policy solution to her plight and the many others like her: UNION.

[marions ghost]

50. yes it is exploitation

[mike_c]

75. could not agree more....

UNION

[aikoaiko]

14. Sadly there are winners and loser in the academy game.

Its tough out there for a lot of new Ph.Ds let along mere Master's level grads.

Combine that with being stuck in Illinois for the aid to her child and having to also care for a disabled kid as a single mom, there isn't much of an opportunity to advance or get a better position.

Getting an MAT is probably her best option if she doesn't want to go private sector.

[RadiationTherapy]

16. "mere" master's level. hahaha.

You are correct, I am just laughing because a master's used to be a valued accomplishment.

[aikoaiko]

19. On one hand it is an accomplisment, of course, but I work at a 3rd tier state university,

and we wouldn't even look at her for a non-tenured track full-time position (unless she was an accomplished author).


If you can't move to a state more desperate for instructors and can't find time to get the Ph.D., or to publish, then a meaningful career isn't going to happen at a college or university.

[yeoman6987]

35. Not in achedemics. You need a PHD and maybe

You MIGHT be able to get a professor job and eventually tenure. However, that is not easy either. At my university, we have many that get turned down with tenure and are gone at 7 years. Good luck to this individual.

[a la izquierda]

121. Even PhDs don't protect one from poverty.

I have a PhD, teach at an aspiring R-1 that pays shit, and live paycheck to paycheck. And I know just how lucky I am.

And I'm not an adjunct. I'm tenure track.
I can't wait to get tenure and then quit my job. I hate academics. It's now nothing more than a gigantic business that pumps out degrees to students who, in many cases, don't deserve them. But that's the pressure we face from grossly overpaid administrators.

[RadiationTherapy]

126. I've seen them defy the laws of supply and demand.

Does your school regularly break its own enrollment records while steadily increasing tuition?

[Recursion]

125. In engineering it still is, not so much in other fields

Even within STEM its utility seems kind of limited to engineering

[RadiationTherapy]

15. As a 13 year uni employee: Get used to it. Uni is a wealth generator for the campus 5%.

It is no place to find a secure income unless you are in the 5%. Enrollment and tuition break records every year and no pay raises will be given. Over and over you will see new buildings, new tech infrastructure, new awards handed between the administrators to justify their own increased pay, but none of it will trickle down. Peruse the state budgets that are online and include state public uni employee salaries. There is the 5% and the 95%. So not only do degrees have outrageous costs, they contribute to completely dysfunctional local economies and serve as a wealth generator for a very few.

Education is critical and the university system is corrupt.

[pscot]

23. Console yourself with the knowledge

that your football coach is dragging down $2mil per year.

[yeoman6987]

37. Separate funding, but you knew that.

[RadiationTherapy]

39. Athletics programs usually net profit.

[d_r]

57. rarely net profit

Just 23 of 228 athletics departments at NCAA Division I public schools generated enough money on their own to cover their expenses in 2012. Of that group, 16 also received some type of subsidy — and 10 of those 16 athletics departments received more subsidy money in 2012 than they did in 2011.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2013/05/07/ncaa-finances-subsidies/2142443/

[joeglow3]

101. Because of title nine

I am not saying title nine is a bad thing, but most major football teams make a shit ton of money, but usually have to foot the bill for a dozen or more sports that all lose money (some basketball programs make money). If you looked at football by itself, most make plenty of money for their schools.

[xocet]

97. Unless one lives in Iowa where Ferentz (the UI fb coach) is getting closer to $4 million per year...

n/t

[JDPriestly]

107. Thank you.

[oberliner]

17. Now that this article is published, maybe she can do a kickstarter campaign

People seem to like to give money when they read articles or watch youtube videos about an unfortunate situation.

[Historic NY]

18. Apparently no one told her she needs to earn money...

trying to get by in a job that isn't creating it, isn't helping. Its nice to dream, but dreams in this case don't pay the bills or feed the kid. She has the power to change her condition if she wants to.

[Prism]

20. I know a music PhD working at the local Target

It's tough out there.

[Shemp Howard]

25. She studied avant-garde poetry.

And that's a problem right there. Everyone should follow their dreams. But everyone should also have a back-up plan. So go ahead and study avant-garde poetry. But get a minor in education, and with it a public school teaching certificate. So if the college professorship doesn't work out, you can pursue a high school teaching job.

But there is a bigger problem here. She DID land a college professorship. Yet she is paid poverty wages. What do the Columbia elite say about that? You know, the ones who go to fancy dinner parties and talk about social justice.

This lady has been abandoned by those hypocritical elites. She needs a strong union to stand with her.

[Fla Dem]

28. I believe one of the reasons she hasn't gotten a "full time" position is because of child care.

Other than her parents, she has no one to care for her disabled child. It's a vicious cycle. She doesn't have a good enough job to pay for childcare and she can't get a "full time" job because she doesn't have child care.

[Shemp Howard]

31. You're right. nt

[Recursion]

100. Conservatives at this point leap in and say "get married if you have a child"

Which is the wrong answer, but does a pretty good job at pointing out the problem: one adult usually cannot both work steadily and care for a child, particularly a disabled child. But if the 1950s nuclear family model has failed us, we need to figure out one that works (extended family, neighborhood co-op, whatever). It's probably not realistic for an adult and a disable child to be able to live on their own rather than, say, with extended family of some sort (or whatever).

[appalachiablue]

128. If this country had health care, social safety services and child care like Europe- Sweden, Denmark,

Germany and France she and her child would make it. But in 30 years this country won't stop the death march of underpaying and exploiting the working and middle classes while allowing the wealthiest class unprecedented gains from tax breaks and subsidies and executive stock options that fill their troughs (and 2nd homes) rather than contribute to the common good, as was the case pre-Reagan when this nation was the strongest ever.

My grandfather must have paid around 90% taxes, several uncles around 70%. And they all lived well. (Other relatives were average, some knuckleheads too). They were grateful for the resources and ample opportunities this country provided, and they defended it in all wars. There were no vacation homes in the tropics or mountains, and no complaining about 'Uncle Sam, DC, the Guvment', Not One Word. They were hard workers, ambitious, built a successful company, provided employment to many and gave back to society.

A generation and a half ago, an American could have a home, raise children, enjoy security and live a decent life on one salary from a decent job with benefits. Since 34 years of destructive neoliberal transnational economics, the US is now a rapidly declining, decaying and highly dysfunctional former first world industrial nation. Our middle class, the largest and greatest the world has ever known, is no. 2 for the first time ever, behind Canada since 2013, and it's suffering and dying while the rich get richer and the hoarders pile higher.

[alp227]

130. And "PRO LIFE" conservatives to boot.

When I read about the professor's disabled child I was reminded of George Carlin's "pre-born/pre-school" joke. If right wingers were really pro-life they'd be advocating for a greater social safety net & education services for the less advantaged children.

[Jackpine Radical]

38. An adjunct, ad hoc teaching position is NOT a professorship.

Professorships are these hoity-toity arrangements that come with tenure, health care, full-time salaries, allocated time for research & writing, retirement plans, and all that other fancy stuff.

As one who spent some years on the Untenured Academic Staff trail before abandoning it, I have full sympathy for her. Fortunately for me, I was able to retread my PhD into a clinical degree, which allowed me a way off the Adjunct track & into "real jobs."

Any time I want to, I could pick up a few ad hoc courses at one of the local universities, but the amount of work balanced against the rate of pay just doesn't add up to anything I'd want to do.

So, yeah, this woman has my sympathy. She is the victim of a crazed society that does not value its poets and teachers.

[marions ghost]

52. I like the way you said that

"...a crazed society that does not value its poets and teachers..."

So true and so wrong.

[daleanime]

89. Amen....

[mahatmakanejeeves]

58. "What do the Columbia elite say about that?"

The school is Columbia College Chicago, not Columbia University in New York City. I doubt that there's much elite about Columbia College Chicago.

Columbia University was the school of "Kerouac and Ginsberg and that Beat rebellion thing," as she said in the article.

Beat Generation

Columbia University

The origins of the Beat Generation can be traced to Columbia University and the meeting of Kerouac, Ginsberg, Lucien Carr, Hal Chase and others. Jack Kerouac attended Columbia on a football scholarship. Though the beats are usually regarded as anti-academic, many of their ideas were formed in response to professors like Lionel Trilling and Mark Van Doren. Classmates Carr and Ginsberg discussed the need for a "New Vision" (a term borrowed from Arthur Rimbaud), to counteract what they perceived as their teachers' conservative, formalistic literary ideals.

[Iris]

111. She's an adjunct. That's not a professorship.

At the University I work for, her title would be "limited term instructor" if she is signing one year contracts or "part-time instructor" if she's signing semester - long contracts for individual classes.

I don't think it's possible anywhere to be hired as a professor (even at the first level - Assistant) without a PhD.

[Recursion]

124. MFA's can be professors in a lot of places

But an MFA is probably more comparable to a JD than an MA.

[Iris]

132. You're right.

I forgot about that. So she could eventually get a professorship but right now , she's an adjunct. These years won't count towards tenure if she ever does get such a position.

[Vattel]

26. She needs to find a job. Adjuncting is not supposed to be a regular job.

With only a masters degree she isn't even attempting to become a university professor. So the first step is to choose a career path. I sympathize with her difficult situation, but I don't see "exploitation of adjuncts" as the problem here.

[Shemp Howard]

30. You make a point, however...

Some adjunct professors prefer the adjunct situation. They have jobs elsewhere, or are semi-retired.

But there is, in general, an "exploitation of adjuncts". Many colleges are now choosing to hire, say, two adjuncts instead of one full-timer. And the reason is obvious. The full-timer would have to be paid more, and would receive benefits. The adjunct get next to nothing.

I find it sad that so many colleges are doing this. The elites at those places (rightly) criticize private companies for exploiting workers, yet they do it themselves.

Now, if colleges got their minds right on this, would it help the woman in this article? Probably not. As you noted, she has no PhD. But some other adjunct would have a chance at a full-time job and a living wage.

[Vattel]

43. I agree that some universities have been hiring fewer fulltime professors

to save money. That actually increases opportunities for those who want adjunct work but are not pursuing a career in academia. It's downside, as you point out, is that there are fewer fulltime academic jobs available for people who do want a career in academia. The real question is whether universities have their priorities straight when it comes to deciding what to spend money on. I think administrators often forget core academic values and spend tons of money on tangential stuff. Government doesn't help either as they push nonsense like outcomes assessment which just generates more bureaucracy. Loss of state support for universities has also reduced the amount of money to spend. But in spite of everything, the USA has by far the best university system in the world.

[JDPriestly]

109. The administrators whose jobs are often unnecessary usually get high salaries.

And when you pass a college campus, you see lots of construction going on. It's a question of what is important to us as a society. In my view, the teachers should get pay increases. We should have fewer administrators. Let the teachers take over some of the administrative responsibilities, and make do with the buildings you have. Hold classes in the early morning and late evening if rooms are available at those times.

Teachers are the heart and soul of our schools. We should treat them well and pay them wages that compensate them for their time and the time they put into being educated.

[appalachiablue]

129. Well said. Respect and support teachers if we want strong young people for the future society.

[MillennialDem]

54. A PhD is not required to be a full time college INSTRUCTOR

I have a master's and teach at a community college. Granted mine is in math so I'm in more demand but some of our "softer" degree folks only have master's degrees as well. There are some university instructors that don't have PhDs either, generally the smaller ones without any graduate programs or only a small number of graduate programs like MBA/Education only.

In any case I wish her luck and hope she is willing to move anywhere in the western world for a full time job.

In the long term we should end the exploitation of adjuncts.

[Igel]

74. This is true and not quite right at the same time.

I've been an adjunct, but the courses I've taught weren't essential in any way.

They satisfied a temporary, short term demand and to hire a permanent person for that would be crazy, or they were filling in for somebody who was on sabbatical (or whose tenure-line was waiting to be filled). This adds variety and breadth or scope to a dept. It provides flexibility and as such is good for the students, too. My formal semantics teacher was one of those--he used his experience as adjunct to get hired in a tenure-track position in the Netherlands (sadly, killed in a car crash a few years later). Another adjunct was finalizing his dissertation, and it provided income and experience after his winter diss defense but before he filed and graduated in late spring. (He's tenured at MIT now.)

Or the adjuncts' courses weren't relevant to the university's mission as the university defined them. My dept. always had adjuncts. The adjuncts taught introductory language course electives, one or two per year, year after year, but "introductory language teaching" at a Tier 1 research university is a service course at best. Moreover, we're talking Romanian, Hungarian, or other languages that ended after two years of instruction. No 3rd year Hungarian, only perhaps a Hungarian or Romanian survey literature class every 4 years. One year nobody signed up for Romanian. Bye-bye adjunct. (If the teacher had been tenured, what then?)

You don't want that kind of teacher to be tenured if you have to worry about finances. They typically have small teacher:student ratios, a good thing. But they tie up resources so you have large core classes that can't be funded. Complaining about how universities get their money is no help: The universities get their money and then decide on adjuncts or no. My dept. not only had adjuncts for Romanian and Hungarian, but tenured faculty for 3 lesser-taught languages. These tenured faculty had to teach 3 courses a semester, two of which were 1st and 2nd year language classes. 1st year would have perhaps 10-20 students, 2nd year would have 3-8. Their non-language courses might have 10 students, so fewer than 40 students per semester. Meanwhile in psych or English they'd "core" courses with more than 40 students each taught by adjuncts because the regents only had assigned so many tenure lines, and 3 of them were taken.

As those underutilized tenure-lines were vacated by RIFs and retirements they went to psych and English and those other language courses were staffed by adjuncts. My dept. went from lots of tenured faculty to some tenured faculty in a sea of language adjuncts.

The one exception I saw to this mission/non-mission division was a language instructor with a master degree who made a name for herself as a kind of theoretician. She didn't just teach some undergrads how to order a meal in a restaurant or reserve a train ticket in a foreign language. She taught 4 years of the language, but that wasn't enough. She trained grad students to be excellent teachers, observing them, assigning readings, going over lesson plans. It still wasn't enough. She co-authored a 1st year textbook, then a second-year textbook, then a pedagogy manual. She started writing papers and presenting at conferences on pedagogical techniques, using data from courses she supervised to show not how to teach a language better but how to train language teachers to be better teachers.

After fighting for several years, and an offer of a pay increase + tenure from another Tier 1 school, she was converted to tenured faculty. Thing is, she wasn't primarily a language instructor at that point, but supervised TAs and onoly taught pedagogy classes and upper division language classes.

Teaching freshmen or even advanced composition ... Not research. Not academic. It's secondary or even tertiary to the primary mission of the dept. and in the context of a tier 2 university it's still just a service course. It's like algebra and pre-cal. It's the kind of thing universities should contract out to local community colleges for, and community colleges should offer at high schools for dual credit.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

34. I've been working part-time as an adjunct for years now

and I've always regarded it as basically a volunteer position since it doesn't pay much. I've been doing it because I enjoy it, and fortunately I never had to rely on it for necessary income. However, it really is ridiculous that colleges and universities have come to rely so much on adjunct faculty because they are cheap. It used to be that adjunct instructors were people who worked in a particular industry or profession and were hired to teach a few courses that required specialized knowledge that, for example, an English professor might not have. This made sense, and it's how I ended up teaching (in a specialized, industry-related field that related to my "day" job). But now a lot of schools have adjuncts teaching just about everything and paying them crap so they can hire expensive administrators and fund expensive sports programs. And the tuition just keeps going up and up.

[exboyfil]

41. I agree with you on the spending priorities

but one huge consideration is the reduction in state support for public universities. In general the pay of those teaching reflects the market forces in the country as a whole. For example non-tenured lecturer positions in engineering at my daughter's university can make $80k. That is what her Statics teacher with a Masters degree was getting paid. I have adjuncted a couple of times for engineering classes (the same scenario you describe). Us doing this is part of the problem. Our willingness to take low wages creates a downward pressure on salaries, but we are actually only a small part of the problem.

Go through the organization chart at a large university with which you are familiar. Try to figure out why some of the positions exist. You will find of these people are busy doing something - is that something adding value to the students' experience. Almost every university have "efficiency experts" come in and make recommendations. Most of them are more damaging that the savings which are accrued. My father in law was the long time head of a department. His opinion is many of the tenured professors are prima donnas who have no interest in being in the classroom. Unfortunately they are right. Even if you get all sorts of teaching awards you will not get tenure if you do not publish and/or bring in external money. These professors salaries have probably gone up faster than the inflation rate, but there teaching load has been reduced dramatically. Any university that tries to expect more from their professors than is typical in academia will quickly see them leaving. Especially for the courses that don't mostly service their majors, I think most departments do the minimum to retain accreditation

[YarnAddict]

40. I wonder how much she'd be making if

she had majored in engineering. Or accounting. The fact is, she made her choices, and she apparently had a lot more choices than many people.

And now she's lamenting the results of her own choices.

She should have did a little research into how much $$$ she could make with an MA in her field, compared to what other degrees would have gotten her, and made better choices. Especially since she admits that she "likes nice things."

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

42. If she'd majored in accounting or engineering,

assuming she also wanted to teach, she'd probably still be an adjunct and would still be getting the same shitty wages. The issue isn't whether this particular person should have chosen a different career; it's that the universities won't pay decent wages to their highly-educated professional staff, whether they teach English or accounting or physics. The states have cut the budgets of state universities, and at the same time university administrators prefer to spend money on themselves, on fancy buildings and on sports. The point is simply that colleges should be hiring full-time faculty and paying them well, instead of relying on horrendously underpaid part-time instructors, for all courses that don't require the specialized knowledge of someone who works in a particular field (which was the original purpose of having adjunct faculty in the first place).

[librechik]

47. exactly n/t

[Starry Messenger]

62. Bingo.

[PasadenaTrudy]

45. Not everyone

has the brain for it! You think we are all robots and can just do anything? Art history major here.

[YarnAddict]

51. English major here.

I have worked as a bank teller, and an insurance co. grunt. I've never complained. I made my choices, and I'm living with them.

Have you read the article? This woman was "scary smart" as a child. She probably could have done anything. In addition, her parents paid for her undergrad degree. How many people do you know who could start out in a career with no student loans?

[PasadenaTrudy]

68. Yes, I read the article....n/t

[Skittles]

96. I agree she could have made better choices

but these adjunct folk should still be paid better - seems like all the money is flowing to the top....I made more money than this gal does now in 1990, with NO college degree

[YarnAddict]

114. Yes, it sucks

I think the tenure system is messed up. The people who have tenured positions hang on to them well past the time they should have moved on and made room for someone else. They hold the positions, but it seems they do less and less teaching, while the people who are doing the teaching are paid peanuts.

[marions ghost]

55. OMG

don't you realize that poets and English teachers generally do NOT have the option to become engineers or even accountants? People have different abilities and the problem is that arts and humanities are not valued in American culture.

But that does not mean every English major could become an engineer (or vice versa) ...it's a different set of skills entirely at the college level. You disrespect both fields by your comments.

--"should have did" in your post--I see you were no English major...

[marle35]

61. That poster WAS an English major

Said so in a later post. Amazing, isn't it?

[PasadenaTrudy]

69. Preach! n/t

[YarnAddict]

70. Yeah,

I saw that grammatical error AFTER I had posted, and cringed. That's seriously NOT typical for me. I considered editing, but decided it wasn't worthwhile.

There are always options. Academia is a crappy choice right now. It's just the way it is. So--you choose something else. Even if it isn't engineering or accounting, there are other ways to make a living. Since she acknowledges that she is "scary smart" and her parents paid for her undergrad education, seems to me that she had a whole universe of choices that many people don't have.

[n2doc]

44. "Every American thinks they're a temporarily embarrassed millionaire: I am no exception."

True dat. And they vote that way, too.

[alp227]

131. *capitalists technically

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#Disputed

[aikoaiko]

46. She has really nice Ratemyprofessors ratings and comments.

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=1373995

Hopefully a community college English department head will see this article and offer her full-time employment.

[Vinca]

48. Wonder what the football/basketball coaches make?

Universities seem to have their priorities "bassackwards."

[Doctor_J]

49. pretty standard story these days. our adjuncts make half of what bolin makes

and they're limited now to two classes per semester because for more than that, the college world have to let them join our healthcare plan per the ACA. We've been in the bottom ten percent for pay for fifteen years, and our health benefit was recently slashed, while we got a new football stadium, new baseball field, and new student center, any one of which would have brought our pay to the fortieth percentile. Teachers are just expendable labor now.

[Trillo]

53. "It wasn't supposed to be this way."

Advertising has created a lot of false dreams.

[valerief]

56. Most of us never get to do what we want to do. nt

[Blue_Tires]

94. I really wish you were around to tell me this 15 years ago

[valerief]

118. Ah, you must be youngish, raised when everyone got a trophy and when everyone

was told they could be what they wanted if they only worked hard.

I grew up female before the women's lib movement of the 70s. And poor. I was taught I couldn't do anything but have babies. Some bullshit, though, was just too hard to swallow. That, Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, and angels never made it to my concept of reality.

I'm not sure if I would have swallowed the swill you were fed, though.

[hunter]

63. Any job worth doing ought to pay a comfortable living wage...

... and anyone who is taking care of a disabled child ought to receive additional social services, including free child care as necessary.

I am appalled at some of the responses here.

Wage slavery is destroying the U.S.A..

We are truly and totally fucked if people here on DU can't tell what's wrong here.

The oligarchs who run this nation need to be taxed out of existence, and all their "realistic" victim-scolding sycophants can go to hell.

[smokey nj]

77. Empathy's pretty hard to come by on DU these days.

[Man from Pickens]

110. Especially since so many think the economy is doing great

amazing how many times I have heard here about an alleged recovery or other allegedly great things happening in the economy -comes universally from people who are completely clueless about the macro picture, and that if one variable improves while several others go south, all they do is tout the improvement in that one variable. Often said variable is a derived/estimated/adjusted figure of little real-world relevance, too.

[Initech]

64. Income inequality is becoming the biggest issue of our time.

[YarnAddict]

71. The problem is demographics more than

income inequality. Tenured professors hang onto their positions until their decomposing bodies become a problem for the people in adjacent offices. As long as they won't leave there are no positions for young people.

My son was considering a life in academia. He spent six long, frustrating years working on a PhD in biology before his program ran out of funding. He spoke often about the fact that tenure-track positions were almost impossible to find.

[Adrahil]

67. Does she have an MFA or MA?

I'm curious, because if it's an MA, she is NOT a professor.

But yeah, it sucks. Tenure track and full time college gigs are rare, and hard to get. It's a two pronged problem. Universities are turning out more terminal degree academics than there are jobs for, and Universities are replacing full time professors (tenure track and simply full time contracts) with adjuncts making poverty-level wages.

My wife is lucky, she got a tenured gig, but even then, working conditions are terrible, and pay is mediocre (considering her education level.... PhD).

[SheilaT]

72. Like others here, I have sympathy for this woman,

but she's made a choice, just not a very good one. The fact that there's not that many job openings in academia is not exactly breaking news. The trend to hiring mostly adjunct instructors started around thirty years ago. And just because she loved literature, devoured it as a child, and majored in something she loved -- well she should have been smart enough to see that assuming she'd have a steady job with adequate pay simply wasn't realistic.

And, as others have said, she ought to face reality and get a job that will pay more, or take classes to get a certificate in something that has a better future. The community colleges out there offer many such.

If more of those who currently settle for the appalling wages paid to adjuncts, then maybe there's be enough of a shortage that the schools would start paying more.

Plus, the boy's father needs to be a lot more responsible.

[davidpdx]

104. Thank you for brining that up

Plus, the boy's father needs to be a lot more responsible.

While it is hard to know the situation for sure it sounds like he's not trying very hard to help out. That bugs me as a man. I grew up in a divorced family and the little amount of money my mom got from my dad was sickening.

People who don't want kids or are too young to have them should make sure they don't. Yes, accidents happen. Condoms break, contraception can fail, in the heat of the moment people say "fuck it".

When I was 19 I ended up sleeping with a gal who later claimed her baby was mine. It turned out I was one of a few candidates (maybe just the stupidest looking one since I was "chosen" by her to be the baby's daddy). Thankfully a paternity test proved otherwise. I was ready to step in and take responsibility, but grateful it wasn't. I decided in my 20's to get a vasectomy as I never wanted children. It was a combination of that experience and the fucked up childhood that brought me to that point.

Hey I like sex as much as anyone else, but if you play you got to play the piper.

[SheilaT]

115. While I sincerely believe the fathers need to be vastly more responsible than they are,

I also believe that if you're not the father, you really are off the hook.

In this particular case, the woman got pregnant, and decided she's have the baby. I get that. I have no problem with that. But what she didn't know ahead of time was that her baby would be born handicapped. I cannot begin to know what she was thinking at any point in this process, but I think it's fair to guess that she thought she'd have a "normal" kid at the outset. All of us think that. But that's not what happened. Nonetheless, the father is very responsible here.

And it can be important to have testing to ascertain paternity.

[daredtowork]

73. The Adjunct situation is Blatant Exploitation

I wish there was some automatic link between having an M.A. and ticket out of poverty, though. You'd be surprised how many do, especially if you include people on some form of disability fixed income.

Someone should do a study of the "brain drain" involved in benching all the people who have extremely advanced education, but who then ended up separated from the productive workforce because of disability or cycles of poverty that started while in graduate school. India is always wring it's hands over how we are "stealing" its top minds. Perhaps we are letting poverty steal our top minds right here and nobody has bothered to track it.

[Dreamer Tatum]

76. She got a highly academic degree from a nowhere university and chose to make it her profession.

Welcome to real life. It has always been the case that if you want to get a good job in academia,
especially in liberal arts, you have to have a sterling pedigree. Period. Paragraph. Yes, you do.

She does not have a pedigree. She also apparently hasn't made her pedigree moot by publishing. She is
getting what you get when you live a dream. And yes, teaching a subject you love rather than doing something
to pay bills is living a dream.

And if the kid's father can have a fiancee, he can chip in for his kid.

The issue of bum pay for adjuncts is real, but she chose her lifestyle.

[sundevil2000]

79. This is what stood out to me...

She is wearing glasses mended with red electrical tape.

One can buy a pair of glasses online for $7, plus tax and shipping. Cheap, huh?

Too bad one has to renew their prescription every year. How much is an eye exam these days? How about a contact lens exam?

Why does one have to have an eye exam every year???

[marions ghost]

85. You've never been poor

right?

Talk to the optometrists, doctors and dentists who know that plenty of people haven't been able to afford routine exams for years. Exams can be expensive. Often parents will pay for a child before themselves.

[sundevil2000]

108. Um, that was my point.

Please re-read my post.

I asked why one have to get an eye exam every year...

[MineralMan]

81. A Masters in English is what it is.

With it, you can do almost anything, as long as you have some other marketable skills. I have one, and I've had several careers and a few reasonably successful small single-person businesses.

Alone, though, a Masters in English is of little value, career-wise, I'm afraid.

[Warpy]

103. It used to allow you to walk into middle management

in the PR or advertising fields. Those days are long gone, I'm afraid.

[Hekate]

113. Long, long gone.

[MineralMan]

117. It's all part of the devaluation of language.

I made the decision to work for myself in the mid-70s. I mostly wrote for consumer magazines, but used my language skills to make a few small businesses successful as well. The downside is that I never made piles of money...just enough to keep doing what I was doing.

[drray23]

87. you dont get to have a career in academics with a master

At least not in my field (physics). Its highly competitive and even with a phd you have to fight for tenure the first few years of your career. She would have better luck teaching at high school level.

[Adrahil]

93. That's why I asked if she is an MFA...

... Which is a terminal degree. But if she has an MA, she's not done. My wife is a PhD English Prof... None of her full-time colleagues have less than an PhD or MFA.

[riderinthestorm]

90. Chicago public school teachers starting salary is more than $50k

And you can earn your teaching certificate while you teach.

She needs to get very realistic about her job status. Her masters degree is from a mediocre school unfortunately and without a PhD she's going to be stuck as an adjunct forever.

Time to get real (and get the father to.pay some child support!)

[bloom]

91. Re: There aren't jobs, etc.

There are jobs - she has a job. The trouble is how bad they are paying.

If college professors (i.e. adjuncts) were paid a reasonable amount, it would be a whole different story.

Problems include not as much tax money going to schools, the administrators taking the money that the professors / adjuncts should be getting, etc. And basically a disrespect for teaching. And the idea that if you can get away with exploiting people, then go for it.

And yes - it does matter that coaches are paid millions while most teachers are paid crap.

The system sucks.

[davidpdx]

105. I have heard academia is tough in the United States

and positions as an adjust don't pay much. One of my dear friends who I worked with here in Korea teaches in the US. She finished her Phd in Education last year. I'm in the process of finishing my dissertation (hopefully by the beginning of April), but already employed as an English teacher. I wouldn't go back to the US to teach given what they pay.

[Kalidurga]

106. That's terrible

Every one of my children make more than this. They have all been to college/are going to college no degree yet. Two are managers one is a CMA. She could make more money just by getting a fast food job and fast tracking into management or by working at a gas station and fast tracking into being a store manager. Or she could get a job in retail and fast track into management she would be making about 50,000 a year as a retail manager. It won't be her dream job, but paying bills won't be a nightmare anymore.

[Fumesucker]

133. Getting that management position is a lot about personal politics

I've seen people who were excellent managers with the consistently most successful stores who never got the next step up due to not being good political players.

Motivating a team of subordinates and sucking up to superiors are two entirely different things.

[Hekate]

112. I've heard of lecturers patching together a living at 3 or more colleges; "freeway flyers"

They call them freeway flyers. They have MAs, PhDs, it doesn't matter. They are cheap. C.H.E.A.P. It means the institutions they work for can avoid the whole issue of tenure, which is expensive. Offices cost the department money, and sometimes the department has to scrounge to find a vacant one -- I know, for awhile I was an Admin Assistant at a University.

Career track -- expensive
Tenure -- expensive
Benefits -- expensive
Offices -- expensive
Retirement -- expensive

Adjuncts and Lecturers don't cost much at all. They are paid by the hours they teach, not a salary that assumes they spend all the rest of their time prepping, researching, counseling students.

Whenever I read that another group is agitating for a union, I give a silent cheer. They are treated shamefully, and they should unionize, because otherwise they will never be accorded a decent living.

[My Good Babushka]

116. I usually try to avoid reading comments after stories like this

I'm sure there's a litany of "she should have made better choices", but this is not about one person. It's an illustration of the lack of value we are putting on education and the face of American academia, as a nation. It's about our priorities, not hers.

[WillyT]

119. K & R !!!

[steve2470]

120. I forwarded this article for my son to read

He has aspirations (so far) of being a music professor. I'm all for him pursuing his dreams, but yes, he needs to be realistic, and get the Ph.D. I hope this lady gets a good full-time job at a university or community college somewhere.

[oberliner]

122. If you really wanna live in poverty, go for a PhD

Especially one in something like literature or philosophy.

[Omaha Steve]

123. After Marta got her Masters she was asked to do the adjunct thing

That was as far as it went. Seeing the time vs pay level.