4 ms·
Universities would have to hire and pay actual professors instead of milking their students?
by cudgy 4y ago
Universities would have to hire and pay actual professors instead of milking their students?
- lapcat 4y agoYes, and actual professors are vastly more expensive than grad students, so how is that going to help with undergraduate costs?
- cudgy 4y agoAre they really that much more expensive? Also, wouldn’t that provide more actual jobs for PHd’s instead of competing for a scant number of jobs? Furthermore, I do not believe that the costs of undergraduate education are driven by professor salaries; I suspect there are other drivers like administrative overhead and overbuilt facilities.
- lapcat 4y ago> Are they really that much more expensive? Yes. From the article: "If the deal is approved by union members, graduate students would receive a minimum stipend of $34,000 by October 2024—a raise of $13,000 for some students". So as I said, professors are vastly more expensive. > Also, wouldn’t that provide more actual jobs for PHd’s instead of competing for a scant number of jobs? Yes. But it wouldn't do anything to save money on undergraduate education. > Furthermore, I do not believe that the costs of undergraduate education are driven by professor salaries; I suspect there are other drivers like administrative overhead and overbuilt facilities. Then what's the objection to higher stipends for PhD students?
- cudgy 4y agoWhy pay higher stipends if the students are no longer performing professorial duties? It may be the case that they are still warranted, but fewer duties means more learning and opportunities to earn money part-time in coops or private companies.
- tosc 4y ago> I suspect there are other drivers like administrative overhead and overbuilt facilities. Right, and this is why they are trying to underpay teaching staff. There is no problem with “whiny” PhDs. The problem is with overpaid self-dealing administrators betraying the purpose of the institution.
- jleyank 4y agoActual professors, no. Adjuncts. They don’t need ta’s for anything other than lab safety for the major-specific courses. It’s the first two years with the gobs and gobs of students.
- ablatt89 4y agoIt's not just lab work, I TA'd for physics and students would come to TA discussion sessions to get a more detailed lesson on the material covered that week since often the professor is just repeating the contents of a textbook. Also, many TAs would spend many additional hours in tutoring and office hours, giving individualized attention to students, and this workload adds up. TAs also grade quizzes, final exams, create questions for problems, etc... The professor often does very little work and leaves it to the TA, at least in my experience as a TA for physics courses. It's a lot more than just maintaining a lab.
- thatfrenchguy 4y agoCan’t get adjuncts for the price you pay phd students in California though.
- mcguire 4y agoThat's a different group in the strike. (https://www.science.org/content/article/postdoc-union-reaches-tentative-agreement-university-california https://www.science.org/content/article/postdoc-union-reache... discusses "postdocs and academic researchers", which isn't faculty, but I believe included adjuncts.)
- tomrod 4y agoThey outsource grading from professors to TAs. Adjuncts do this too where they can.