Teaching Reform

Behind health care reform, teaching rights are probably the next closest political issue to my heart, and to be honest they are intricately related in many ways. Having been an adjunct teacher at 4 different colleges (so far) I have been exposed to a number of different systems and environments. The discrepancy between pay rates, hours, etc. is quite startling at times, but overall I, like most adjuncts, feel very lucky to be teaching at all. That being said there are a number of deeper issues that still trouble me.

At the top of this list is the fact that most schools are no longer hiring full time faculty, instead they are relying on the large crop of eager adjuncts to fill in the gaps. This is not only detrimental to the students and institutions as a whole (except financially) but also to any future possibility of stability and a living wage for many teachers.

"In Vermont, 100 percent of the state's community college faculty are adjuncts, or part-time teachers. Nationwide, 44 percent of college and university faculty are now classified as part-time. Of these, fewer than 20 percent receive any health benefits or contributions to retirement. This is not just an issue at community colleges, however. At New York University, for instance, 80 percent of the faculty are classified as contingent, meaning they are working on short-term contracts as adjuncts or graduate employees.

About a third of adjunct faculty are "part-time employees" in name only. Across the country, professors known as "freeway flyers" or "roads scholars" are forced to teach full time by working part time at more than one institution just to gain an adequate income."

This is why I am so relieved to see legislation being put through the House of Representatives that could potentially address this issue. The President of the AFT recently asked that the statement below be included in the final version of a bill addressing another troubling problem of more financial aid being shifted toward private banks away from the colleges themselves.

" The AFT believes that academic staffing is a critical component of student success, yet it is too often overlooked in discussions about how to improve our institutions of higher education. The lack of attention paid to the loss of full-time tenured faculty positions, and the overwhelming growth of poorly paid part-time faculty, has been taking a toll on higher education for many years. Today, almost three out of four undergraduate instructors are contingent rather than permanent full-time faculty members-contingent faculty members teach a majority of the nation's undergraduate courses. Unless we take steps to reverse course, this trend will greatly impair the ability of our colleges and universities to reach the national goals Congress has set for them. In fact, a growing body of research shows the correlation between the declining investment in faculty and the increasing problems with student persistence, transfer and completion. [snip]

Specifically, we believe it is essential that programs designed to improve persistence and completion, especially those targeted at community colleges, should include provisions that encourage institutions to strengthen their instructional workforce by creating additional full-time faculty positions or providing more stability and equitable compensation for part-time faculty. Such investments in the frontline educators-those most responsible for helping students succeed-are fundamental to increasing persistence and completion rates, and improving the quality of education at our nation's two- and four-year colleges and universities."

If you are a teacher, student, or anyone at all who cares about this issue, please take the time to go to the following site and petition your Senators. The site calls for more aggressive language, which I am whole heartily behind, but no matter what it would be great to get this ball rolling.

As far as I am concerned education should be the core issue. It is the only sure thing that can fundamentally change the dynamic of a society for the better. I am always saddened when I see great teachers being discouraged and disheartened because of the current lack of support. Please take a moment to help change this.