While tuition costs are rising, professors’ salaries are lowering. Colleges and Universities do this by using adjuncts to teach more and more courses.
At Del Mar College, for the 2022-23 academic year, out of 707 professors, 389 of them taught adjunctly, or part time.
This number is more than half of the whole professor population at DMC. Now, while the majority of DMC staff consist of adjunct members, they certainly don’t receive the treatment to reflect this.
In fact, they hardly receive any. Adjunct staff members receive no benefits, are severely underpaid, have less job security, and usually have reduced accommodations on the campus; such as not having an office.
If you are a student, you may be wondering how this might affect you and your education. The honest answer is more shocking than you might think.
Teachers who don’t get paid enough most likely have to get a second job. Teachers who get a second job spread themselves thinner than those who don’t. Teachers who spread themselves thinner tire easier. Finally, teachers who tire easier are not focused on the obvious number one priority at hand when it comes to teaching; the priority of education.
In short, when teachers are put into a bind economically and not remunerated for their out of classroom time, their capacity for their students is greatly reduced. This chain reaction of events reflects a fallen value system that will sacrifice quality in education for extra money.
Therefore, if you’ve had professors that didn’t have time for you, or weren’t able to get feedback to you on time, or were absentminded or stressed, the reasons might be a consequence of this issue.
The solution to this problem is obviously radical change in the colleges themselves; but
how do we go about tackling a multibillion dollar policy?
There are many ways to tackle this issue, but the simplest and quickest way to fix it starts by raising awareness. Posting about it on social media, contacting your schools chief financial officers and educational board members, even talking about it amongst your peers.
Now, while you may be thinking there’s no chance of inciting change as just one small person, you’re wrong. The beauty of the technological world we live in today is the fact that it has never been easier to do so. All it takes is one click of a button to share or repost something online, and a couple of clicks later, that repost might just go viral.
True change could occur by these methods, yet they are only made possible by education and
awareness. The kind which starts with just one person, you.
We live in a world where adjunct teaching is so ingrained and normalized, even more so at Del Mar College. If this devaluing of teachers continues on, where will it end?
With our very own education on the line, it is our moral responsibility, as students, to ensure the very protection of it.
Otherwise, if we continue down the winding path of trading quality in education for extra money, the consequence will only result in the greatest loss both ways.
