Feeling the adjunct misery, and I'm not even an adjunct anymore!

I mentioned the summer pay massacre my colleagues and I took in my last post. I went from three classes to two, and one of them is at adjunct pay. The adjunct class is killing me. I picked it up at next to the last minute, just two days before it was due to start. It's a course I haven't taught in five years. No textbook was ever ordered for it as it was being taught by the ubiquitous Dr. Staff. A new lab requirement has been added to the course since the last time I had it, and there's no standard way to do the lab, so I have to make that up too. Working with the lab staff has been challenging as the course is at night, the director is on vacation, and the confidence level of the employees when I speak with them does not seem to match their abilities once the students actually work with them in the lab. Services for the night students are also in very short supply due to budget cuts, so many things I would like to do with them are just not possible. In short, I have been creating a course from scratch on the fly with next to no resources every day for the past week and a half.

I have no complaints about most of the students. They are polite, hardworking adults who seem to want to learn for the most part. I know they are frustrated with the lab component, so I am working hard to fix that as best I can for them. Their first major assignment is due next week, so we'll see how they're doing then. But in the meantime I almost feel bad for them because they got stuck in a class that was treated as a throwaway by the administration and is being cobbled together by a harried professor getting paid slave wages. I'm doing the best I can. I'm not sure it's good enough.

As I'm doing this, I'm disgusted at how much the adjunct system has changed since I was in it for real back in the Dark Ages. When I finished my MA, I moonlighted as an adjunct while I TAed for my doctorate. My experience was completely different. I was assigned classes well in advance, and the SLAC where I taught did a great job of scheduling. I think I lost one class in four years. I had a mentor who helped me learn how to choose texts, create syllabi, and deal with student issues. I shared an office with one other person. Although the pay wasn't great, if one stayed with the school for a couple of years and taught a certain number of credits, the administration would give a raise based on loyalty. I had evaluations that were based not just on student surveys but also classroom observations and college service. I was treated as a professional, and it made me want to stay in the profession.

I would not have picked up this class if I didn't desperately need the money. I took an enormous pay cut in the summer fiasco and found out right before the term began that I need major medical treatment this summer. I will be giving up my schedule a couple of weeks before the term ends. At least my sick leave will cover that. I've already decided I will be giving my classes to an adjunct and supplementing that person's salary out of my own pocket since the sub pay is even worse than regular adjunct pay. And you better believe that person is going to have several weeks' notice, have a completed course to teach, and will receive mentoring in how I have the classes set up. I will also be available to the sub by phone or email if any questions arise.

God bless those of you who are adjuncting today and sticking with it in hopes of getting on the tenure track. If I'd come into the system under these conditions, I don't think I would have stayed. This experience has made me even more appreciative of what you have to endure.