Well, the "adjunct" positions, a fancy word for part-time jobs, are the main problem at the Ph.D. level. A majority of credit hours at some institutions are taught in that way. At community colleges there are often only a handful of full-time faculty, with part-time teaching almost all the courses. Some four year schools have gotten onto the same track.
Twenty years ago it was a beneficial thing to both the institution and those who wanted to teach a course while pursuing another full-time position, or to a person who wanted to teach a course while caring for children. The institution benefited because it could fill out a schedule when there were not enough additional courses to make for a full teaching load for another faculty member. But institutions came to see it not as a way to fill out a course schedule, but as a way to avoid the expense of full-time faculty. At many institutions, part-time faculty really dilute quality, because they are not even provided an office to work out of and to meet with students. Meanwhile, there are many available, quality Ph.D. holders who would be very glad to get the work and would do a great job as full-time faculty members. A major cause of this situation for state institutions is the drive by state governments to reduce the funding to higher education, mostly driven by anti-tax political groups. ---- Neahga Leonard <[email protected]> wrote: > One thing that would help a lot would be to get rid of the system of unpaid > and underpaid internships and make those real-paying jobs. Many graduates > at all levels of education find themselves in a position where the majority > of positions available are internships, more and more of which require > graduate degrees to participate in. If even a portion of the internships > were shifted to paying positions it would mitigate the economic woes of > graduates tremendously and the work done would increase in quality as well. > > Neahga Leonard > > *There is not just a whole world to explore, there is a whole universe to > explore, perhaps more than one.* > http://writingfornature.wordpress.com/ > > > > On Sun, Feb 9, 2014 at 12:57 PM, David L. McNeely <[email protected]> wrote: > > > ---- Kevin Klein <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I haven't been able to follow the entire thread but one thing I draw from > > > what I have read is that it is incumbent on those of us who work with > > > students at all stages in their academic careers to also advise them to > > > consider the job market in their chosen disciplines. In so doing, they > > > make more informed decision and they study with eyes open wide on the > > > possibilities open to them at the next stage in their life and career > > > journey. Much easier said than done. It reminds me of two PhD markets > > in > > > recent years. One, where hundreds of applicants vied for the reported 2 > > or > > > 3 job openings that year and second the hundreds of positions open for > > the > > > 2 or 3 PhD candidates graduating each year. Hopefully we advise our > > > students of the job market realities. One place a student might look for > > > this information can be found here. > > > http://www.bls.gov/ooh/occupation-finder.htm > > > > > > > > Hmmm.... . I was an academic biologist for 35+ years, after the time > > spent preparing. I cannot recall a time when there were "hundreds of > > positions open for 2 or 3 Ph.D. candidates graduating each year." I do > > recall a good many times when the opposite was true. > > > > David McNeely > > -- David McNeely
