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Thread for anyone who's going to write a hot take on how higher ed costs so much because of "rock star profs" making 6 figures a year to wear tweed, discourse on poststructuralism, and teach one class a year. Spoiler: YOU'RE WRONG. Here's why: /1 https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1291930566066135045
2/ it's clear that the recent @politico piece's author googled "average professor salary" and then used the first search result they found to rail against "overpaid" profs. Yo, my first year students learn better research methods by week 4.
3/ with that googling, here's what these intrepid sleuths find (h/t @KevinReuning for the screenshots):
4/ now, I'll be the first to admit that the system of ranks and such in academe is fairly confusing. So here's your explainer: first, know that this chart below only covers full-time faculty. So why is this important?
5/ *Because 75% of all credit hours across ALL of higher ed in the US are taught by adjunct or contingent faculty.* These are faculty who are on a term-to-term or year-to-year contract (if they're lucky) or paid by the course. And the pay rate for that usually sucks.
6/ so if you're talking about "professor pay" and your calculations don't include adjunct pay, you're not really talking about the faculty as a whole. And to act as if you are is deceptive; it simply erases three quarters of the professoriate.
7/So in the 25% of total credit hours that are being taught by full time faculty, know what not all of these folks are tenured or tenure track, either.
8/ and what people think of as "professors" actually encompasses the three ranks at the top of this chart. A tenure track faculty member starts as an assistant prof, and is promoted to associate prof, and finally Professor (or "full prof") after tenure.
9/ That whole process takes almost 15 years from date of hire. You go up for tenure, usually, in year 6. For associate (assuming tenure is granted, which is not guaranteed) in year 7-8, and full usually around year 12-14. But assistant and associate are still "professors!"
10/ Also: stats 101--average isn't as reflective of the data as median is. I'm a full prof, and have been one for 6 years. My salary is maybe 65% of the average in this chart. Not every school is Harvard, and not every Professor has an endowed chair augmenting salary.
11/ If you used the MEDIAN in this salary data, you wouldn't have a handful of elite unis making it look like all of us are making sweet cash. In other words, you'd have data that's actually representative. I know math is hard, but you hot-take writers can always ask a professor!
12/ So, TL;DR-before you decide to pontificate about faculty salaries, do some actual research on what the faculty *is*, and don't mistake google-dilettantism for actual research. While you're at it, stop using weasely stats to obscure the reality. And talk to adjuncts!!
13/ If you're looking for reasons education is so expensive, ask the legislatures who've eviscerated higher ed funding for the last four decades. Ask the business-school-trained admins about the administrative bloat they've foisted on us. Because "overpaid profs" ain't it.
14/ using full professors' salaries to talk about how much faculty make is like using lottery winners to calculate an area's average income. And now you know, so no excuses for the next bad take based on lazy-ass googling. Do. Better.
