Author Archives: jrhoskins

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Out-Martyring the Academic Martyr Squad

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Rebecca Schuman's avatarPAN KISSES KAFKA

O Academic Martyr Squad, your paper-grading crosses your defining characteristic–I see you the cross of grading, and raise you the cross of ACADEMIC FREEDOM.

A little backstory…

When I published “The End of the College Essay (An Essay),” I definitely expected a fracas. Here, in no particular order, is what I expected, and could handle:

1) Righteous indignation (the more senior the faculty, the more prestigious the institution–in short, the less likely one is to have graded an average Freshperson paper from the American hoi polloi in the past decade).

2) Disagreement and passionate defense of the essay, even when students don’t want to write it. And this was kiiiiinda my point. If you’re so wedded to the idea, then we need to work to fix it, pronto. The plagiarism, the rush jobs, the general consumer mentality of today’s American college students–these are real problems, and they need to be…

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Adjunct Professors Academic Apartheid

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Adjunct Professors Academic Apartheid.

Academic apartheid: hard words to describe a hard truth. These words accurately describe the situation which is widely ignored,, by most faculty, adjunct and tenured, even as the adjunct crisis of higher education begins to get national media attention. Fuller’s right, too, about what needs to happen to counter our dismal circumstances. We need to work at local levels to “end the exploitation” of adjuncts “relegated to the back of the bus.” But we don’t just need equity for adjuncts: we need reversal of adjunctification.

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The Highly Educated Working Poor: Adjunct Professors

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The Highly Educated Working Poor: Adjunct Professors

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The New Academic Proletariat and Its Shortchanged Students

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The New Academic Proletariat and Its Shortchanged Students

This is a great article that all labor studies professors should study. And an issue that should be in labor studies classes.

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Why Adjunct Professors Don’t Just Find Other Jobs

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Why Adjunct Professors Don’t Just Find Other Jobs

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LA City Council Passes Resolution in Support of Adjunct Professors

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LA City Council Passes Resolution in Support of Adjunct Professors

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Inside and Outside the Classroom

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Inside and Outside the Classroom

Joseph Fruscione is leading the way.

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Innovation–Doomed to Fail?

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Innovation–Doomed to Fail?

This is an important issue and why the adjunct crisis is a tenured crisis.

No matter what pedagogical innovation is tried, it will not change anything as long as the overwhelming majority of the faculty are disempowered.  From what I’ve seen, tenured ranks are such a skeleton-crew, innovations increase exploitation of adjuncts.  There is no one else to do the work.  For instance, the implementation of portfolio writing pedagogies require more time out of the classroom (the only time most adjunct are paid for), which in turn requires adjuncts to “volunteer” more unpaid hours.  We do indeed need a new employment practice.  The absurd practice of  search committees looking for the “best” candidate was a good idea in the middle of the 20th century, perhaps, but it is as appropriate for the current situation (75% adjunct) as a Model T car on the freeway. In efforts like the AFT FACE campaign, we need to emphasize the transition of adjuncts into full-time positions.  This is the only way that would not do massive injustice to that 75%. The adjuncts who are rehired routinely over years clearly are the “best” candidates.  It would be a simple matter to offer full-time positions, based on seniority, and whatever other criteria deemed necessary, to qualified adjuncts. How is this not the best way?