Washington Monthly - September/October 2015 - 77
ASSOCIATED PRESS
of the recession, despite growth
in revenue, public and private research universities cropped their
education-related spending. One adjunct teacher, JJ, posting a comment online, calculated his/her pay
as an adjunct as $65 per student per
semester, adding up to the princely sum of $2,000, noting that "each
student paid $45,000 in tuition and
took about 4 classes a semester.... I
think their parents would be rather
upset to learn that only $65 of the
$45,000 went to pay one professor
for an entire semester."
Of course, what parents really care about is whether their students are benefiting from the money they're spending. So the real
question is whether the shift to adjunct teaching has helped or hurt
Nothing to lose but your grades: Part-time educators at Central Connecticut State University
education outcomes. That turns out
take part in a "grade-in" as part of National Adjunct Walkout Day in February.
to be a hard question to answer definitively, because comprehensive
data on student outcomes is hard to come by and the va- ured professors (who, for the most part, aren't hired for
riety among adjuncts (part-time, full-time, graduate stu- their teaching ability). What seems to make a difference
dents, and so on) and schools (selective schools, open ad- is how adjuncts are treated. At most schools, adjuncts
missions schools) makes comparisons difficult without
simply aren't getting the tools, training, support, or even
good data. According to some research, adjuncts get high status that they need to do their job. Mary Grabar, who
marks. One study found that freshmen at Northwestern
worked as an adjunct for many years, sums it up:
University learned more in introductory classes taught by
non-tenured faculty. Another study, of a public four-year
Consider the harried part-timer pulling her cart from
school in Ohio, showed that students who took science
the car to the "office." This was necessary, for in most
and engineering classes from adjuncts were more likely to
places one could expect at most part of a file drawer for
take more classes in those fields, especially if the adjuncts
storage, or if she had some seniority among adjuncts,
were older (the authors theorized that the real-world ina small locker for her coat and papers next to a cubidustry experience of these older instructors may have
cle in the hallway near the regular faculty offices. At
captured the students' imaginations).
the state university we had one large room called "The
Other research, however, points strongly in the opBullpen." It contained cast-off desks and chairs. If your
posite direction. A study of community college students
office hour happened to not be at a popular time, you
found that those who had more exposure to part-time
would be lucky and get a place to sit, along with a chair
teachers were less likely to transfer to four-year unifor your student. I seemed to get the desk with the worst
versities. Another detailed study of six public universichair, one which required a delicate balancing act, as
ties within one state found that at four of those schools,
it wobbled precipitously. There was certainly no leanfreshmen who had more time with part-time faculty were
ing back into a reverie about the poetry I was about to
substantially less likely to return sophomore year. Interteach! That was too dangerous.
estingly, however, at the other two universities in that
state, freshmen with higher exposure to part-time teachAnd Grabar says she certainly didn't have much time
ers were slightly more likely to persist to sophomore year. to spare for students with similar reveries, or students
The difference, the researchers discovered, is that these
who simply had questions.
two schools gave their part-time instructors more supWith contracts that last only a semester, adjuncts
port, including them, for instance, in new faculty orienare hard-pressed to do more than just find the next
tation programs.
term's job-updating their courses, mentoring students,
This last finding gets to the larger point. As a class, and writing letters of recommendation has to come out
adjuncts probably aren't any worse at teaching than ten- of time in which they are writing their own applications
Washington Monthly
77
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Washington Monthly - September/October 2015
Contents
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