As usual... I live my life constantly thinking of blog posts, but lately, I just can't seem to be able to get the words down for most of them. I don't want to sound ungrateful and whiny, you see?
Right now, the main reason it is so difficult to try and wrestle with the words is that there's so much I wanted to write about, but which I think won't be productive to discuss. I don't know exactly for whom, though...
This whole "working in the margins" thing. The keen awareness of one's situation, the reality of it, unsurmountable nature of the problem. Hard to swallow facts such as these: part time faculty "now make up at least 50% of the nation's higher-education faculty." (from here -- I wish I could find the energy to write more about this thought provoking piece).
Is there a way out of this systemic problem? Is there a way we could do something from the bottom up to try and see if we could have some rights? Highly unlikely. And thus I feel stuck. Shut up (in all its meanings), shut out.
Yeah... the ones with "the room of their own" have a hard time understanding this/us. Maybe I will come back and write more about, or maybe I will have to find another (wholly anonymous) outlet. I'll keep you posted.
And sorry for the depressing post.
It'd be interesting to know how long most adjuncts remain adjuncts at the same institution.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, what's the likelihood that you could get "a room of your own" within a few years? Or that you could eventually teach the classes you really like (even if as an adjunct) and then maybe move towards tenure?
I don't have as much experience with academia as you do, but it sounds like at least you've got a decent shot. (You've got your own classes and you're getting paid now, right?) ;)