At a student leadership forum Oct. 27 at Northeast Lakeview College, Chancellor Bruce Leslie told a student aspiring to become a college professor that although the number of adjunct professors is increasing nationally, the student shouldn't worry about finding a job after graduation.
Leslie said many adjuncts in this district make a living teaching as adjuncts at several colleges and universities within the city and that hopefully, "one of those institutions" will offer them health insurance.
Of course! Who doesn't want to crisscross town through traffic daily just to get to another low-paying, high demand, benefitless job, or drive to a neighboring city two days a week to teach?
Who doesn't want to learn three grading systems, three university systems, cash three pay checks and pay for three parking passes?
Complaints about $50 permits pale in comparison to UTSA ($150-$750) and Texas State University-San Marcos ($75 to $250).
The Alamo Colleges does not offer adjuncts health care as part of their employment contract.
The adjunct faculty at this college is increasing, while the number of courses being taught is decreasing.
As is tradition at this college, the increase in adjuncts was done in the name of cost-cutting.
How about cutting from the top down?
According to the Texas Tribune, which has a database of salaries of public employees, 157 people working for this district have six-figure salaries.
How many full-time faculty members could that pay?
How many courses might that open to students?
While many faculty members started their teaching careers as adjuncts, as Leslie pointed out, they at least had a good chance of becoming full-time faculty.
Graduates of the 21st century do not have that optimism.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which updates Texas' employment rates monthly, listed the unemployment of 20- to 24-year-olds, as of October, at 14 percent.
Today's generation is doomed to linger in a limbo of career uncertainty for a long time, so choose your career path wisely.
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