This essay makes many sound points about the misguided metaphors that pose adjunct labor as slavery. The core argument here–that adjunct labor is not, in any structural or analogical fashion, comparable to slavery–is sound. This is a point that needs to be repeated, again and again: when you pose things that aren’t slavery *as* slavery, you are going to lose your argument, because you clearly don’t grasp the consequences of your words. Put another way, the average adjunct salary of $22,041 is abysmal–been there, done that, TRUST–but that is indeed a salary.* Your advanced degree does not guarantee you success, nor a fortune. Given the decades-long supply-glut in my own field, the rational choice for those in academe is to channel honed skills into non-academic work–or to force open the boundaries of what is considered acceptable academic work. (Or, to get a different job and pursue a passion by other means.)
But, there’s a certain sentiment here that takes away from this argument. The second half’s search for an appropriate analogy could best be summarized as “Some People Have Real Problems: You Likely Don’t (When Placed In Perspective of Others’ Suffering).”
Yet, the aim for a rational short-term choice is how many get stuck in an adjuncting rut. In other words, some of us knew damn well we were getting a “single scoop of vanilla in a cup” when we got into it–but, for some of us, the recession made the job hunt writ-large feel like a giant game of trick-or-treat: an underwhelming dessert is better than a rock. The economic climate is different than it was 5 years ago–enough to see much more promise in pursuing alt-ac, post-ac, and non-ac avenues–but that doesn’t mean that people aren’t still caught in a web of decisions made half a decade ago.
But that’s the irony: A shitty choice is a still a choice. Further, that kind of choice reveals an interconnected system of opportunities for choice that go far beyond what could be exercised–or often imagined–within slavery.
Hence, the main argument here needs to be shouted from the rooftop (from every ivory tower?): You want change? First acknowledge your own privileged position–and the luck in being alive here, now–and then realize that your life and career are incomparable to slavery. You win no sympathies through that tactic, especially by using it around people who *literally* know better.
It’s evident the author understands the dilemmas that millions of Americans in shitty, underwhelming non-academic careers face. For academics, however, the advice trends toward “You made your bed, now lie in it, because at least you have one.”
*Income is an estimate given by U.S. Committee on Education and the Workforce. See: Andrew Erwin and Marjorie Wood, “The One Percent At State U: How Public University Presidents Profit from Rising Student Debt and Low-Wage Faculty Labor” (Washington, D.C.: Institute for Policy Studies, 2014): 10.
I’m a little late to the party on this, having recently been at the Zoo and now madly working on what could be the most scary presentation in my life to this point; however, I want to take a little time to address a seriesofinterestingposts, one of which really and truly pisses me off. I can’t be bothered to look back and find any number of other posts that talk about how academia screws graduate students, or how nobody warned them and now they’ve wasted their lives and money. I’m just… PEOPLE, what the FUCK are you thinking??
In case you’re a first-time visitor (it happens), I have spent time as an adjunct and VAP. Several years, in fact. I now have a full-time job. By many people’s estimations, my own included, I probably shouldn’t. I did a lot of things wrong during my (very long)…
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