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> She had a number of ailments that bothered her—her asthma, her heart—and the rigors of being an adjunct added to them. > Two deaths occurred back to back. Fi

> She had a number of ailments that bothered her—her asthma, her heart—and the rigors of being an adjunct added to them. > Two deaths occurred back to back. First, Cooper, her companion. Then, a few months later, her mother, Grace. > If Thea had a tenure-track job and access to proper health insurance to be appropriately diagnosed, she might still be alive, they said. The factors in her death -- work stress, health issues, life tragedies, and a lack of health insurance -- don't seem more strongly linked to the job of adjunct professor than to any other low-status job.

romwell 8y ago
The times we live in, when university professor is considered a low-status job.
- pwinnski 8y ago
  I have a friend who was an adjunct professor for a number of years, and I would describe him as barely above homeless most of the time. He never knew whether he would have a job in the fall, and the pay was barely above minimum wage. He was planning to give up and move back to his hometown before this year when he was hired as a full-time professor. I learned a lot about modern higher education from him, and I would absolutely describe adjunct professor as a low-status job.
  - romwell 8y ago
    I don't disagree; that's why I decided not to try the academic job market after getting a degree. But it's a remarkably sorrowful state of affairs.
- barry-cotter 8y ago
  Adjuncts aren’t university professors. They’re part time teaching staff. Anyone who cobbles together enough part time hours to theoretically be working full time is manfully struggling against admitting that they played the academic tournament and they lost. The system spat them out. Adjuncts bear about the same relation to professors as a doctoral student teaching their own lecture course. No one is going to call them professors.
  - romwell 8y ago
    >Adjuncts aren’t university professors I know what adjunct professors are, and you seem to forget that second part of the job title. >The system spat them out. Adjuncts are 3/4 of the said system. It's a very peculiar definition of "spitting out" that you seem to have. >they played the academic tournament and they lost When 3/4 of a system are "losers", we should call that system a pyramid scheme, and refer to those people as "exploited victims". >No one is going to call them professors. Their students will. Although never mind. When academia is a "tournament" where instruction is done by the "losers", at least we should make it clear to the students that it is the case. Something tells me "75% of your classes are taught by losers!" won't make for a nice marketing slogan though.
peteradio 8y ago
The fact that professor could ever be considered low status is the story though.

romwell 8y ago

The times we live in, when university professor is considered a low-status job.

pwinnski 8y ago
I have a friend who was an adjunct professor for a number of years, and I would describe him as barely above homeless most of the time. He never knew whether he would have a job in the fall, and the pay was barely above minimum wage. He was planning to give up and move back to his hometown before this year when he was hired as a full-time professor. I learned a lot about modern higher education from him, and I would absolutely describe adjunct professor as a low-status job.
- romwell 8y ago
  I don't disagree; that's why I decided not to try the academic job market after getting a degree. But it's a remarkably sorrowful state of affairs.
barry-cotter 8y ago
Adjuncts aren’t university professors. They’re part time teaching staff. Anyone who cobbles together enough part time hours to theoretically be working full time is manfully struggling against admitting that they played the academic tournament and they lost. The system spat them out. Adjuncts bear about the same relation to professors as a doctoral student teaching their own lecture course. No one is going to call them professors.
- romwell 8y ago
  >Adjuncts aren’t university professors I know what adjunct professors are, and you seem to forget that second part of the job title. >The system spat them out. Adjuncts are 3/4 of the said system. It's a very peculiar definition of "spitting out" that you seem to have. >they played the academic tournament and they lost When 3/4 of a system are "losers", we should call that system a pyramid scheme, and refer to those people as "exploited victims". >No one is going to call them professors. Their students will. Although never mind. When academia is a "tournament" where instruction is done by the "losers", at least we should make it clear to the students that it is the case. Something tells me "75% of your classes are taught by losers!" won't make for a nice marketing slogan though.

peteradio 8y ago

The fact that professor could ever be considered low status is the story though.