ACADEMIC SHARECROPPERS: Exploitation of Adjunct Faculty and the Higher Education System
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
After nearly three decades of working in the higher education system for many colleges and universities, primarily as an adjunct professor (academic sharecropper), because I am a business and management consultant, this insider believes there is a story that needs to be told about the exploitation of adjunct faculty, students, and the general public. This book is a culmination of observations, experiences, research, and teaching at the college/university level. Higher education, as well as the health care system, are out of control and have been for quite some time. Greed and insatiable egos drive nearly all decisions regarding higher education. Unfortunately, the public hardly flinches when tuition is increased. Colleges and universities, with impunity, raise the cost. For the most part, the leaders of these institutions are interested in adding programs, building physical monuments such as libraries, colleges of business, sports arenas, and so forth, while increasing the salaries of administrators and full-time faculty incrementally. Yet, the “sharecropper faculties” (adjunct faculties) seldom see any change in their paychecks. Educational institutions, whether public or private, ride the backs of their adjunct faculty.
This book is not about a veiled attempt to embarrass, deride, or criticize specific individuals or institutions, because exploitation of faculty, students, and the public is a generalized problem. Many today are quick to criticize companies for outsourcing jobs and work to lesser developed countries (LDCs). Yet, higher education in the United States accomplishes essentially the same thing by using adjunct faculty to teach courses, that is, adjunct faculty receive approximately one-quarter to one-third the pay on a per course basis as do full-time faculty, fringe benefits aside. This writing is about immorality and ethical breaches where administrative power, politics, and pettiness prevail. The following pages contain factual information and numerous real-life examples of administrative, ethical, and moral failures by leaders of institutions of higher education, where part-time (adjunct) faculty, students, and the general public are exploited.
As a colleague and friend recently said to me, “You’ve heard of death of a salesman, there’s soon gonna be the death of a teacher.” I fully realize that writing and publishing this book will probably end my stint at adjunct teaching as an academic sharecropper, but one must live by his or her beliefs. This is an accurate account of what goes on in
Wendell V. Fountain
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
This is a nonfiction book which addresses the exploitation of adjunct faculty and the higher education system. The term “academic sharecroppers” is used synonymously with the nomenclature “adjunct faculty” because of the minimal financial and other support given to adjunct faculty by institutions of higher learning. This book is a result of the research, personal observations, and experiences of an academic sharecropper that spans nearly three decades. The issues of what is right, just, and fair are addressed relative to the failure of the academic system to properly recognize and reward adjunct faculty—academic sharecroppers. This book maintains that ethical and moral breaches by administrators in the higher education industry needs to be addressed at the societal level. Chapter one is titled “This Is the Way It Is—Believe It or Not” because of the outrageous exploitation of academic sharecroppers, students, and the general public. Chapter two is concerned with the issue of outsourcing of college and university teaching, Chapter three shows that the education industry is primarily a big business which rivals the healthcare industry. The influence of sports is highlighted and discussed. The plight of the adjunct is dealt with in chapter four. Chapter five is concerned with the efficacy of online courses. Chapter six expounds on the problems with the vagaries of student grades and the games people play. Chapter seven examines the issue of Student Faculty Evaluations (SFEs). Chapter eight provides insight into the administrative incompetence and strategic bungling of administrators in higher education. Chapter nine discusses the student customer and customer student dilemma. Finally, chapter ten is comprised of a series of vignettes experienced by the author in the execution of his teaching assignments in various geographical locations, and lastly, the epilogue contains final thoughts and reflections about the higher education system.
About the Author
Dr. Wendell V. Fountain—a lifelong resident of