...BUT most of that money needs to be flagged to go for instructional budgets. Legislatures: condition funding on tenure-track hires! Make sure your money pays for *teachers* and *teaching* not amenities or more empty-chair administrators. 36/41
Step 2: Shift administration and leadership back to the faculty, where it used to be. If it were me, I'd argue that every university ought to be led by *teaching track* faculty elevated into leadership positions for a period of years. 37/41
(Teaching track faculty are typically non-tenure-track faculty with heavier teaching loads and less research expectations. It's mostly a form of permanent academic serfdom, but in my experience, teaching-track faculty tend to value education and students the most). 38/41
Step 3: Using the first two steps as conditions, *cap*tuition.* And I mean *all*in* tuition - fees, everything. Index the cap to the average of inflation and teacher pay (counted as an average per-credit-hour so it reflects adjunct pay, not just TT pay). 39/41
That way, if universities want to raise tuition, they need to be reinvesting that money into smaller classes, more instructors and more instructional resources.
And honestly, legislatures should demand the superior teaching that comes from TT-faculty...40/41
And honestly, legislatures should demand the superior teaching that comes from TT-faculty...40/41
...who have the time to truly perfect the craft of teaching.
That way the next time we have to go online for a pandemic (it will happen again!) students will know they are still getting the thing they paid for: an education. end/41
That way the next time we have to go online for a pandemic (it will happen again!) students will know they are still getting the thing they paid for: an education. end/41
Addendum on 'the business model' of education - this article at Inside Higher Ed. from 2009 does a good job of explaining it. Back then, it was the up-and-coming model. It is now standard at almost all major state schools, even though it doesn't work. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2009/02/16/business-model-wrong-model
Addendum 2: Some folks are pointing out that adjunctification here is a little lopsided and incomplete.
And they're right! There just wasn't space in an already overlong thread. Being an adjunct myself, you can bet I have thoughts!
But that will have to wait for another thread.
And they're right! There just wasn't space in an already overlong thread. Being an adjunct myself, you can bet I have thoughts!
But that will have to wait for another thread.