tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post3008272722827314064..comments2023-06-11T02:19:27.429-07:00Comments on Academic Cog: When Our Working Conditions are Your Learning ConditionsSisyphushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880634753539329199noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-76199687415714944022008-04-20T18:36:00.000-07:002008-04-20T18:36:00.000-07:00Exactly! This post rocks! And it does suck for y...Exactly! This post rocks! <BR/><BR/>And it does suck for you (as TA), the students (whether they realize it or not), and the adjunct in question. It really does suck to be barely holding on financially and to be in job search mode.k8https://www.blogger.com/profile/07547334819703279971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-2317753452476037802008-04-20T16:40:00.000-07:002008-04-20T16:40:00.000-07:00Hee! Thanks for linking to me, peeps! (though if I...Hee! Thanks for linking to me, peeps! (though if I were given some sort of cabinet position it would take me even _further_ away from what I _really_ want to be doing...)Sisyphushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09880634753539329199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-67280016743345936892008-04-19T03:04:00.000-07:002008-04-19T03:04:00.000-07:00Thanks for this wonderful post. It inspired me to ...Thanks for this wonderful post. It inspired me to write a few comments over on my blog: <A HREF="http://lumpenprofessoriat.blogspot.com/2008/04/cogs-eye-view.html" REL="nofollow">A Cog's Eye View</A>.LumpenProfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11424425909102486647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-49417202563811565462008-04-19T00:59:00.000-07:002008-04-19T00:59:00.000-07:00I nominated you for Education Czar this week. I'm...I nominated you for Education Czar this week. I'm sure Clinton and Obama have already been notified.The Constructivisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07242149985581771922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-55994828441653062512008-04-18T08:10:00.000-07:002008-04-18T08:10:00.000-07:00What a thought provoking post. I'm sorry your adju...What a thought provoking post. <BR/><BR/>I'm sorry your adjunct doesn't seem to be really trying, even. It's a doubly sucky position for you as TA.Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-61017327623783971092008-04-17T20:03:00.000-07:002008-04-17T20:03:00.000-07:00Great post.Aynrand, I had a grad school situation ...Great post.<BR/><BR/>Aynrand, I had a grad school situation like that too: one class, one preparation (a couple of times it was a class with hundreds of people in it, but some were seminars of 17). But always one class, one preparation, one stipend which at the time was enough to cover tuition and living expenses.<BR/><BR/>So, even though after I got the hang of it I wasn't in training any more and the university was benefiting greatly from my cheap labor, it wasn't a hardship situation, and I had TAs and readers for those large lecture classes.<BR/><BR/>Cog is describing something else. It's one thing to be a TA teaching one class of your own, or a TA teaching under a professor who is pulling their weight. That's not Cog's situation and the point is not just that it's bad for Cog and the person Cog is working under but <BR/>that it bespeaks the general rotting away of ... structural integrity in the current academic industrial complex (?).Professor Zerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909063513731044826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-33020624615291083782008-04-16T22:36:00.000-07:002008-04-16T22:36:00.000-07:00So, I guess I've got a new name: Pissyphus.Greaaaa...So, I guess I've got a new name: Pissyphus.<BR/><BR/>Greaaaaaaaaaaaat.<BR/><BR/>(and AW that's so _not_ what I first read when I saw your comment! I was shocked, shocked I tell you ... then I actually read what was there.)Sisyphushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09880634753539329199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-33479898085368177142008-04-16T19:20:00.000-07:002008-04-16T19:20:00.000-07:00Hi! New to the blog and love it! I'm a third year ...Hi! New to the blog and love it! I'm a third year grad student who teaches a 300 person class (thankfully, they gave me a TA) and make the typical TA stipend. Sure, some may call it exploitation but no one's forcing me to do it and it beats a real job any day (well....almost any day). I would save "exploit" for individuals who do not freely agree to a contract or are somehow mislead. I doubt either holds for the case of TA'ing.Qhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00655167076723306645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-81146748947292146362008-04-16T13:52:00.000-07:002008-04-16T13:52:00.000-07:00Nothing really to say here except--word UP.(And li...Nothing really to say here except--word UP.<BR/><BR/>(And like your other commenters, I really enjoy your labor-related posts. And your pissiness.)Flaviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-24372335583140075982008-04-16T09:42:00.000-07:002008-04-16T09:42:00.000-07:00I don't have anything hugely profound to add, but ...I don't have anything hugely profound to add, but I love it when you blog about academic labor stuff.<BR/><BR/>Actually, I do have something to add -- in my more cynical moments, I feel like my current school's "we'll hire you as a VAP and dangle the carrot of a possible tenure-track offer in front of you for six months, then cut you loose" method might very well be a conscious and deliberate tactic to have it both ways. (It was made crystal clear to me when I was hired that I was going to have to invest lots of time and effort and collegiality and service up front in order even to be considered for the t-t version of my job.) I don't think they were being totally disingenuous, since New SLAC <I>does</I> hire its VAPs on a semi-regular basis, but as it turns out, there are tons more who don't get hired, and those, of course, are the ones a brand-new VAP doesn't get to see.Fretful Porpentinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165078003123517013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-50675076891621286462008-04-16T07:38:00.000-07:002008-04-16T07:38:00.000-07:00i have to say i'm kind of digging the pissy sisyph...i have to say i'm kind of digging the pissy sisyphus...and sucker is a fabulous word. the UC system of maintaining a well-spring of cheap labor is horrible. <BR/><BR/>as grad students in the system, are you always TAs then? and you move to adjunct as funding runs out? are you allowed to adjunct and TA? just curious--it worked differently at my home institution.gwoertendykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00542058287462910446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-14425925856559430272008-04-16T07:28:00.000-07:002008-04-16T07:28:00.000-07:00Sing it, sister!Your point about the job search ha...Sing it, sister!<BR/><BR/>Your point about the job search has come up in discussions at my institution about the quality of undergrad education. It's really useful for grad students and adjuncts to be able to say, hey, we may, in the abstract, but fantastic teachers and really know our shit, but here are institutional reasons X, Y, and Z why our classes may nonetheless not be as good as permanent faculty's.kermitthefroghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15742856153167362749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-63459405193699954302008-04-15T21:37:00.000-07:002008-04-15T21:37:00.000-07:00Great comment, and I know exactly what you mean ab...Great comment, and I know exactly what you mean about the problem of feeling personally responsible. Obviously - and as your post highlighted - these situations are the result of institutional problems, rather than individual inclinations. But, it is very difficult to be part of the process - hard to stand by, because these students deserve better; but impossible to pick up the slack in any small way without feeling like (and probably being) a sucker. How are you resolving these issues?Stampyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03867939796626869369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-81723207309104747942008-04-15T21:14:00.000-07:002008-04-15T21:14:00.000-07:00Dang why is she getting cogged like that? She's ne...Dang why is she getting cogged like that? She's necessary AND important!Acumenschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14502771279290190296noreply@blogger.com