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(55,745 posts)The New Feudalism.
raven mad
(4,940 posts)Spouse and I firmly believe that is what the 1% want - serfs, tenant farmers, servants - instead of educated employees. Hence, the vicious attacks on unions, on taxes that pay for education and overall safety, on anything that goes to infrastructure, etc.
I am scared to death for my grandkids; I've watched this slide since 1968 and tho momentum has the slide moving faster and faster. I'll be dead by the time the perceived becomes the reality, but William and Shelly Maree will not.
And, sadly, I can't see a way around it.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)Not sure if that is meant to be the takeaway from this (seems to be making a statement about hiring illegal immigrants), but the whole system of hiring adjuncts and churning out people with degrees geared towards college teaching when few such jobs exists is messed up.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)like everything else. Education is dispensed only to the extent that it doesn't cut into the profits.
raven mad
(4,940 posts)Ask not what you can give if you're educated - ask whether or not the 1% can make money or retain power because of what you do.
n2doc
(47,953 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)It's a statement about day laborers. In many cities and towns, people (mostly illegal immigrants) congregate outside and wait for some guy with a truck to pull up and hire a few of them for odd jobs (under the table).
Read this:
New York town can't ban day laborers soliciting work, judge rules
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-ff-day-laborer-ban-20150904-story.html
The comic is spoofing that process.
n2doc
(47,953 posts)Chan790
(20,176 posts)It's a statement about education, not day-laborers except in so far as they're being referenced to make a commentary about the state of higher education. The comic isn't spoofing that process, it's using it as a referential touchstone to make a commentary about how academic professionals are increasingly treated.
You've missed the forest of the comic for the tree-roots.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Adjunct professors are not hired in that way at all.
In fact, there is an extremely rigorous process by which they are hired.
The idea of someone with a truck driving up and hiring people off the street is a comment on day laborers.
Using potential college teachers in that context as opposed to illegal immigrants hammers that point home.
spooky3
(34,438 posts)And adjuncts are not always selected in a rigorous way, but that really isn't Trudeau's point.
Orrex
(63,200 posts)Scandalous!
spooky3
(34,438 posts)JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)My God, someone needs to drive up and hire you! You should be explaining these things in publications like the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Daily Worker, or The Onion.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)I am glad someone appreciates it. Other folks were giving me crap.
paleotn
(17,911 posts)Our did you miss that class on metaphors?
I'll have to reflect on it a bit more. Maybe I'm the one who missed it!
Fozzledick
(3,860 posts)Cheap and disposable with no job security.
eppur_se_muova
(36,259 posts)... he explained to the satire-impaired.
spooky3
(34,438 posts)Treated and paid as day laborers, despite their advanced education and experience, and students' and others' high expectations of their performing a demanding job well.
sunnystarr
(2,638 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)GoneFishin
(5,217 posts)marym625
(17,997 posts)It is both
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)like day laborers. It's true. No exaggeration. They are hired on a temp basis and paid extremely little. In some schools they make up a lot of the teaching staff.
Meanwhile tuition is. Astronomical.
The teachers are paid less than they might pay to put a child in a good daycare and students pay premium prices for their classes.
This makes no sense.
spooky3
(34,438 posts)Adjuncts typically do not do research or much if any service. They are strictly contractors, for teaching. So they were not necessarily ever on a tenure track.
Brainstormy
(2,380 posts)in terms of my experience at least. I was an adjunct professor for 10 years.
spooky3
(34,438 posts)Including now, a dept head, program head, or other positions at two top universities.
What may be true at some universities is not true at all of them and depts and schools within universities may vary. So the prior poster is incorrect to make a blanket statement about how rigorous the selection process is. And adjuncts are not, as was implied, people doing essentially the same work as tenured or tenure track people, but tried and did not get tenure.
Your contract may have specified certain terms, or you may have been full time or half time, etc., but note that I used the word "typically."
GoCubsGo
(32,079 posts)And, to be on the committees of graduate students. They do little, if any teaching. Instructors, on the other hand, are hired only for teaching, and they are not on tenure tracks.
Gidney N Cloyd
(19,833 posts)Very recently they (admins and the full and PT faculty unions) came up with subcategories that basically award some adjuncts a bit more pull, input, and security, largely based on years of service and projected demand-- though they're still pretty vulnerable.
spooky3
(34,438 posts)There are multiple reasons why someone is an adjunct, but that's definitely not it. Those who didn't get tenure generally don't even stay at the school where they didn't get tenure. They move on and work somewhere else.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)salaries.
Full professors may do research, but they may have grad assistants to help grade papers and do other work that is involved in teaching.
Students pay high tuition to have good teachers, not to have professors do a lot of research.
Somehow, professors should be both excellent teachers and do the research. Many adjuncts would and could do research if they did not carry such heavy teaching loads.
Universities take advantage of the adjuncts in the same way the contractors take advantage of day laborers who very often do not have the legal documents to allow them to work at the standard rate.
This is a scandal in higher education. Adjuncts deserve better treatment. They should have health insurance and retirement plans like other teachers with their level of education.
spooky3
(34,438 posts)I simply wanted to correct some minor factual errors.
1monster
(11,012 posts)a full roster of classes.
My son recently had an adjunct professor who was teaching at three different colleges in order to make ends meet.
There was a time when an adjunct professor made enough to support a family on his/her pay. At the rate of pay they are now paid, even working three semester (that includes the shorter summer semester), the adjunct only makes, before taxes, $30,000 per year.
Considering the amount of tuition students are paying, that's criminal.
brush
(53,764 posts)Adjunct professors, highly credentialed, are treated horribly also. From quarter-to-quarter or semester-to-semester you never know what your income is going to be as you never know if enough students will sign up for your classes. If not, there is no class and you don't get that income, which isn't that much in the first place.
So instead of your fate being determined day-to-day as with day laborers it's quarter-to-quarter or semester-to-semester, and no benefits.
I know, been there, done that.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Thanks for the insights everyone. Apologies if I came off snarky.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)Saying that, under our corporate masters, it has been extended to those formerly considered "elite."
It's us against the corporations. The 1% is a great meme, and I agree, but (attempting to create another meme), IT'S THE CORPORATIONS, STUPID!
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)And how pretty much every professional is treated these days
MyOwnPeace
(16,925 posts)isn't this reflecting part of the Repugs' dismissal of any intellectual acumen - from John Kerry speaking French to rejecting "science" regarding climate change?
GoneFishin
(5,217 posts)they are treated like day laborers.
StarzGuy
(254 posts)...and this pretty much sums up my experiences. I was asked to take on more "assignments" but not enough to be a full professorship level. And, of course, not eligible for healthcare or other perks of being full time such as retirement benefits. I also had to maintain a full time teaching position at the high school level. I once discussed the adjunct issues with one who had just attained full professorship. He told me that he had to do adjunct teaching and wait 8-10 years until some other full professor retired or otherwise left the college. 2 year community colleges do not have the funding to hire too many full professors so they rely on adjuncts to fill their need. I was in good standing with the department chair at my last adjunct position. We often discussed the need for more full time professors. But, the college wouldn't allow her to hire any. She often complained how she had to work 60 hour or more in a week to get things done as well as teaching a full load of classes.
It's a nice gig if you are lucky to attain one. But as was said there is a glut of newly minted PhD's out there and the competition for the few full time openings is fierce. I was ready to finish up my PhD then the funding source for tuition dried up. I was never able to finish because I got too sick to work anymore. Now on disability.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)teaching more than half of the classes. White collar slave labor.
erronis
(15,237 posts)For many licensed professions degrees may be the key to unlocking the employment door and are necessary but a lot of students are going through without getting a worthwhile diploma.
However there are a ton of colleges (and "universities" that are nothing more than ways to extract money from parents and via exorbitant loans when the results from these mills doesn't translate into (better) employment.
I've noticed a lot of small colleges, frequently religious-tinged, that have sprung up in small communities. Sort of like the old hair salons and body shops - ways for people to try to make a living in tough times.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)To some extent, I think it's been a scam for a long time. Even the so-called "legitimate" colleges and universities. Seems like it's just about paying for access to a network and less about learning things.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)tblue37
(65,319 posts)Last edited Sun Sep 6, 2015, 09:59 PM - Edit history (1)
instructional improvements or costs. About 75% of all undergraduate classes are taught by low paid, job insecure adjunct faculty or TAs. Believe it or not, TAs in some courses (mostly science lab or math courses) are sometimes only sophomores or juniors themselves!
One reason why costs at public colleges have skyrocketed is that states have drastically reduced support for public universities. Another is that more layers of well paid bureaucrats (+ support staff and office space and equipment) get added, and another is that the explosion of paperwork required by the increasingly burdernsome compliance regime makes even more administrators (+ support staff and office space and equipment) necessary.
Then there is the firece competition for students (or more precisely, their tuition dollars), which means heavy spending on elaborate amenities: athletic fields, gyms, etc., even beyond what is used for the schools' competitive teams; dorm suites that are much fancier than the tiny cinderblock rooms earlier generations lived in; IT support, computer labs, "media enabled" classrooms, wireless available everywhere on campus (these things are needed, no doubt, but not cheap); expensive marketing campaigns; high salaries to "star" professors who teach only a handful of students each year--etc.
Money also has to be spent on elaborate academic support systems for students who need reading, writing, and math remediation, as well as guidance and assistance to help them develop study skills and "life skills" that will prevent them from crashing and burning during their first year. Because high school is so undemanding in most cases, a majority of new students arrive on campus without the foundational knowledge and skills necessary for surviving the heavier work load and the more rigorous grading standards of college.
About 25% of all first year students either flunk out or drop out (often because they are about to flunk out) before completing their first year. If you include those who manage to complete their freshman year but do not return for their second year, that goes up to 30%. Even students who got high grades in high school (including quite a few valedictorians!) are at risk. Providing the necessary academic (and psychological) support systems adds to the cost of student services, which also gets passed along as increases in tuition and fees.
But since colleges and the individual departments depend on enrollment to maintain themselves, they must continue to aggressively market themselves to prospective students, even if job prospects are limited for those who get their undergraduate or graduate degrees.
bbgrunt
(5,281 posts)explicitly add the "education is a business" and students are customers mentality that has overtaken any shred of higher purpose.....all part of the profitization of all social goods/services these days.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)TlalocW
(15,380 posts)TlalocW
ewagner
(18,964 posts)They've always been treated like crap....disposable people...to old or too sick to work? fine. open up another can of day laborers...there's always more where they came from...
and now...
Universities and colleges are gravitating toward adjunct professors and paying poverty wages to them ...and like day laborers, they are disposable, replaceable...
for profit?
for the profit of whom?
certainly not labor.
TomVilmer
(1,832 posts)I can't find the original now, but I am pretty sure Doonesbury ran with the same one about ten years ago. The topic is an easy joke, so many others have done it too.
TomVilmer
(1,832 posts)It was twenty years ago. This one and the rest of that week:
http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1996/09/09
Memory is a strange thing!
lpbk2713
(42,753 posts)Look what progress we have made.
Sigh.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)People treated as commodities. Well, the arc of history may be bending in the right direction. One can hope.
1939
(1,683 posts)There are so many people with advanced degrees looking for teaching positions in colleges, that they have the same degree of desperation as day laborers.
Babel_17
(5,400 posts)cer7711
(502 posts)And so very, very sad.
colsohlibgal
(5,275 posts)Laugh out loud funny and a sad truth as well. Thank you Oligarchy.
Gothmog
(145,128 posts)The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)Wow that is a disturbing comic. I am guessing it is very close to true. Many European countries have over educated their populations and can't provide jobs. Education is not worth much if there is no demand for the educated individual. Colleges are a business and they do not care if there are no jobs for the education they provide.
I guess my advice is be careful how much you invest in education. In the Philadelphia area a skilled tradesman makes a very good living. Low stress good pay. The skilled tradesmen I refer to have served a four year apprenticeship. That is also an education.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)A job that pays well and requires your actual physical presence.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Being a tradesman is not remotely a cushy gig, I have a relative now who is quite literally counting the days until he can draw SS and lay his weary and much abused body down.
Trade work seems fine until you hit middle age and then it becomes more physically difficult every year, by late middle age it's extremely difficult to keep going.
The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)Which is why the trade unions in my area have excellent early retirement plans. These workers have to get a certain amount of hours in over time and then can retire. It amounts to 30 and out. But you may have to put in more years because of bad years of little work. Retirement at 55 is not unusual. I never said the work was cushy, it is low stress.
The issue you bring up is important because republican keep talking about raising the retirement age. For the Americans who do physical labor for a living increasing the retirement age is not something that can happen. 65 year old carpenters or iron workers is not something that will workout.
What I would like you to consider is if the Unions can offer and fund these early retirements then so can corporate America. The trade unions run/manage their own pensions. They collect the money from the companies and invest it. They have an excellent record with these funds. So the question is why can't corporate America and our state governments do the same?
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)If my husband had not been able to retire at 66, I believe he would not be alive now.
As for the corporations and governments, they don't know, don't care, or both.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)You are dealing with other people just as much as in an office setting and there's the added stress of weather both being exposed to it and dealing with the delays caused by it, commuting to a different job site on a regular basis, contractors who see you as just another piece of equipment to be used until it breaks and then get a new one and on and on.
Plenty of jobsites where one false step, one moment of inattention can result in severe injury or death, it's only "low stress" if you find potentially fatal situations relaxing.
The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)I have worked on both sides. I managed 30 union machinist and I have worked in the maintenance field. Me, I think the management position was very stressful and I didn't like it. So I guess what I am saying is stress is what you make of it and how you perceive it. Like how a 5 year old's problems are in fact very important to the 5 year old.
I presently work as a maintenance mechanic for a large corporation in their research facility. We maintain and repair several buildings infrastructure and build things for scientist. My boss has a plate full everyday and I often remind myself how I am glad I do not do that work anymore.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Education is about understanding the world and being able to contribute to understanding in the world.
Learning skills you can use to get a job is important too.
I quote from your post;
Education is not worth much if there is no demand for the educated individual.
Requiring students to run up a lot of debt to get an education turns education into a commodity, something to be sold and then for the student to use to resell to an employer or a customer for profit or a salary.
That is not what education should be about.
I know lots of very well educated people who prefer to work as skilled tradesmen. But their education helps them to be better citizens of their communities and the world.
That is why a college education today should be free at state colleges and universities for those who want it -- as should be training in trades.
Education is not really a commodity. Education improves understanding.
And we need so much more understanding in our society.
Not all educated people have degrees. Many people are self-educated. It's what they know and their lifelong learning that makes them educated.
So I think that education has a much broader value and definition than we sometimes realize.
I understand what you are saying in your post, but I would define what you are talking about as career development. That is only sometimes the same as education.
The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)However as education is presently run in this country it is a commodity.
I presently work with a man who scored 1599 on the SATs. He is working in the trades by choice.
I would also like to see a system where secondary education is much easier to get. But as I stated in my original post Europe has several countries with highly educate citizens and no jobs. The most important issue is how are we going to force a more equatable society of the top 1%. Our society is in trouble. All the wealth at the top will not work never has.
Feel the Bern
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)salib
(2,116 posts)Maybe this is the only way some of those haters will finally drop that tired meme "elitist liberal."
Then again ... haters just hate.