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Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

theguardian.com

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Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#91

Post by wfo »

Say it with me friends and colleagues,

Union.

This is the future for all of us, when programming becomes commoditized just as teaching has. When our salaries are pushed to the bottom. We are not owners, we are not capitalists, we are not bosses, we are people with a skill you can learn on the internet and a corresponding talent for it.

Either a) this will happen to us as programmers, b) we have credentialing and gatekeepers to keep supply low c) we have a union to collectively bargain, or d) radical changes in the government save us from this fate.

In the U.S. (d) seems impossible. Programmers as a group seem to be virulently opposed to (b). So choose, unions or barbarism.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#92

Post by troupe »

SomeStupidPoint wrote: post #8
thearn4 wrote: post #5

How does the academic bubble in the U.S. break? Knowing quite a few career adjuncts, I have to wonder if their situation will only be getting worse.

I believe there's a limit: I'm a programmer, and a PhD student's time is worth a certain amount to me -- at least, as a tutor on subjects I never got to learn but have an interest in. After all, most of the graduate students, adjuncts, etc have worked as tutors and instructors. Presumably, this is true of some fraction of other programmers. So you can support a community of some size by selling lessons -- it just req…

Some of the people who could be teaching as an adjunct professor are now doing well with classes on Udemy and similar sites. It isn't a magic, but it is another option that is available for making money using teaching skills.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#93

Post by petra »

One thing i didn't understand from the story: those are smart people, motivated people, with good people's skills. All the things our economy loves. Why don't they say "fuck it" and change profession, to something more decent ? it would be hard, but is it possible ?

And i say this without judgement, just out of curiosity.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#94

Post by pickitupsnake »

GuiA wrote: post #11

“I feel committed to being the person who’s there to help millennials, the next generation, go on to become critical thinkers,” she said. “And I’m really good at it, and I really like it. And it’s heartbreaking to me it doesn’t pay what I feel it should.” Sadly, there are more people with that kind of deep calling and sense of duty to the next generation willing to put it above a better salary than universities need,…

This is probably most of it for lower tiered schools and for libarts.

I know several adjuncts that teach law/business and they are largely indifferent to their adjunct pay - a drop in the bucket. The title 'adjunct lecturer' confers high-valued benefits of prestige, networking, and depending on the course, specialization signaling that helps fuel their practices.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#96

Post by dave_sullivan »

3pt14159 wrote: post #42
KirinDave wrote: post #9

For those who have university degrees, this should be a difficult read. Next time you say to yourself, "Sure, I went to college. I know that's a privilege, but I worked hard there and made it because of my hard work and nothing else!" Remember this article. This isn't a new phenomenon, but it's a phenomenon that's becoming more acute. Even if we ignore the adjuncts, the brilliant folks who taught us all what we know…

In parts of Europe there the expression: "That's Texas." It roughly means "That's crazy." but with a 'Murica flavor to it. Lately, I've been finding myself frequently thinking: "That's Texas." Let me get this straight. Take a course load of 4 double semester courses per year with 200 hours of class time total in the given year. Let's double it to 400 hours just to be safe to include exam marking and office hours. A s…

> How is the market so broken?

Student debt.

Look at the housing market: in the 70s you could buy a house for much less because houses cost less because people didn't have more money to overpay. With a thirty year explosion of the mortgage industry and the idea that anyone should qualify to own a home, suddenly consumers had extra money to outbid people on buying houses. This broadly increased property prices with no signs of slowing (unless the money runs out, as per '08). All of that debt is increasing people's ability to buy (raising demand, increasing prices) but not increasing their ability to pay (suggesting some kind of time limit).

Now look at the education market: in the 70s, you could buy an education for much less because people didn't have more money to overpay. The cost of education was in line with normal market mechanisms. But with a thirty year explosion of student debt and the idea that everyone should go to college and qualify for loans if they can't pay for it, prices broadly increased.

The problem is, for many, there is no alternative. "I'm the first one in my family to be able to go to college." "Not going to college makes it impossible to find a job." "I have to get an education." When "No thanks, that's crazy, I'll do something else" is not an option, prices are going to do crazy things. Perfect example being healthcare costs.

I think "Don't go to college" is the best advice today. Learn to program early, start working as a freelancer when you're 18 and graduate from highschool. By the time your friends graduate from college with a bunch of student debt and can't find a job because they don't have job experience and employers want to hire people that know what they're doing, you'll be making and saving a lot more money freelancing with 4+ years of experience under your belt already. Experience is waaaaaay more valuable than degrees. Might as well get it early.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#97

Post by scott_s »

searine wrote: post #66
eric_b wrote: post #43

I'm surprised to see adjunct's make so little. When I was in school the full-time professor's salaries were public (since it was a public university). They were all making over 100k/year, and this was some time ago. Many were high 100's or low 200's. Even the lecturers were pulling in 70k or more, and this was in a midwestern state with low cost of living. Why do the adjunct's put up with this? You can make more bein…

The difference between an adjunct and a full professor is the difference between a Temp and a rockstar developer. Adjuncts are a cost for the university, their salary is a liability on the budget line. Professors are a net positive. They have high salaries but they bring in millions of dollars in grants and attract talented students who can be paid worse than adjuncts (and teach classes). Adjuncts are space fillers.…

Agreed, but with one disagreement: professors in science and engineering bring in millions of dollars of grants. Those in the humanities tend not to bring in nearly as much grant money.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#98

Post by Leon »

irrational wrote: post #78
3pt14159 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In parts of Europe there the expression: "That's Texas." It roughly means "That's crazy." but with a 'Murica flavor to it. Lately, I've been finding myself frequently thinking: "That's Texas." Let me get this straight. Take a course load of 4 double semester courses per year with 200 hours of class time total in the given year. Let's double it to 400 hours just to be safe to include exam marking and office hours. A s…

The money goes to Football (and not the good kind of Football).

Usually Football pays for itself.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#99

Post by sgt101 »

paapi__gudiya wrote: post #37

What is the inherent value that lecturers offer anyways? All the material they teach in classes has been available online for the last 20 years. It makes sense (going by market needs) that they have been driven to such levels of poverty. The only value universities offer is that one can meet other like-minded and driven people at universities. If some other social structures can offer the same, i.e. a place where one…

If the value that your lecturers offered to you was that they stood there and recited course material then you are right. Also your university has done a bad thing.

For me the value of lecturers is that they respond to the needs of the group they are teaching and to the individuals on the outliers of the group. That interaction is what changes the educational trajectory of students from fail->pass and from pass->excel.

I find it hard to harden my heart to the idea that people who work to do that should be ill rewarded for the effort.

Re: Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

#100

Post by dsfyu404ed »

paapi__gudiya wrote: post #37

What is the inherent value that lecturers offer anyways? All the material they teach in classes has been available online for the last 20 years. It makes sense (going by market needs) that they have been driven to such levels of poverty. The only value universities offer is that one can meet other like-minded and driven people at universities. If some other social structures can offer the same, i.e. a place where one…

A professor, lecturer and teacher are all very different things and you can be good at any one while being terrible at the other two.
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