With my one-year contract, my classes sections have had to complete student evaluation during the fourth week of both the fall and spring semesters. As we reach the fourth week of a 16-week term, counting finals, students are asked to comment on a professor’s teaching, grading, and overall effectiveness. No educator, and no administrator, can believe this is a good approach to faculty evaluation.
Early evaluations offer only one example of how broken the university system is. Other examples of dysfunction include the army of lecturers who willingly teach and work as much as tenure track faculty and the crowded classrooms of 35 students.
I have the luxury of walking away from a post that’s unhealthy for me. Colleagues don’t believe they have a choice.
Something odd happens over time. The year-to-year temporary professors start to see themselves as martyrs. They take a perverse pride in how little they are paid for how much they work. They humble-brag about the hours they spend grading and their poor physical health. Taking pride in misery becomes a self-defense mechanism.
I understand my colleagues stand on higher moral ground that I do.
Maybe I’m shallow, but I’m earning less than I did at my last two full-time teaching jobs. I’m earning half of what I did previously. There’s nothing acceptable about that. I work significantly more hours, teach far more students, and earn an insulting wage. Yes, I bluntly assess my salary as an insult to me… and other educators.
A better person would accept the low pay and take pride in this near-missionary work.
If I taught what I love, something media or business related, I might accept the lower wages and broken systems. I might, but I do not know for certain.
Though I am using the theme of “economic rhetoric” for the course I’m teaching, which is helping a great deal with my energy level. Students seem to be truly enjoying the class sections, which is rewarding. The problem is, if I remained at the university I’d be teaching composition again in the fall. I cannot do that.
Even when I taught composition, I had students let me know they appreciated my perspective, though I never claimed to be a good composition instructor. That did surprise me.
I have not been a good father or husband this year. Too much has fallen to my wife because I’m so busy — and she has a much better full-time job. Her job is more important than mine, and it seems to be a healthier job, too.
My wife and I have two young daughters, only five and six. They want to enjoy sports, clubs, activities, and trips as a family. Those things cost money. The girls need me to be healthy and energetic. We are foster parents, adopting the girls, and I love them with all my heart. A job that impinges on my ability to be a good father isn’t a job I want.
When I hear my colleagues talking about their tight finances, their struggles with the workload, their anxieties about their futures… I don’t want that life.
Higher education is broken. I cannot allow myself to be broken by higher education.