The New College Campus
Imagine meeting someone who says s/he works at a university. Some years ago, it would have been fairly safe to assume that s/he was a professor, and a member of the middle class with enviable job security. Not anymore. Two reports make clear that the nature of the college work force has changed substantially, possibly to the detriment of educational quality.
A report, released last month by the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, describes a growing population of more than one million adjunct and other nontenure-track teachers. “In 1970, adjuncts made up 20 percent of all higher education faculty,” the report says. “Today, they represent half.”
As a rule, adjuncts have few or no benefits. They are generally paid per course, and paid poorly. (The Coalition on the Academic Workforce estimates that the median pay for a standard three-credit course is $2,700.) Because adjuncts often teach several classes in order to cobble together a living, they have little time for the research necessary to advance their careers.
This increasing dependence on inexpensive adjuncts may be bad for students, as well. According to the report, students who took more courses taught by adjuncts “experienced lower graduation rates, lower grade point averages, and fewer transfers from two-year to four-year colleges, compared to other students.”
The adjunct boom has been accompanied by a parallel rise in the number of college administrators… Median salaries for administrative employees ranged between $55,000 and $60,000 in fiscal year 2013 — less than tenured professors but much more than adjuncts.
Colleges may well require more administrators in the 21st century than they did in the 20th because there is a growing need for employees wholly dedicated to fund-raising as state legislators reduce support for higher education. Nevertheless, the new college campus, rife with adjuncts and administrators, does not seem geared to fulfill what is, after all, the major mission of universities: educating students.
A. Are the statements true or false? Justify with a word or sentence from the text.
B. CLOZE TEST. Complete the passage using words in the box
In the past U.S. university professors held………………….which many people wanted to have. Today the situation is………………. different because most teachers in the universities have adjunct……………... These second class teachers work hard but get a small salary in return. Because they have to work long hours in order to make enough to live, adjunct teachers have no time for ………………..which is the only thing that can help them advance their careers. Despite the ………………. of means in U.S. universities more administrators are hired who ……………….. much of their working hours to …………………. . as states no longer put as much money in higher education as they used to do. It’s …………………to say that today universities look more like “money-seekers” than “education-givers”.
C. Find in the text the synonyms of the following words
D.
WWORD FORMATION. Use the correct form of the word between brackets
1. The (to assume) that university professors are members of the middle class is no longer true.
2. The nature of the university workforce is (detriment) to the quality of education.
3. (Poor) is the lot of many an adjunct teacher.
4. Most universities are (to depend) on adjunct teachers to work correctly.
5. The (reduce) of state support for higher education is a very bad idea.
E. WRITING. Write 10 lines to say TWO things you like about your university and TWO things you don’t like.
| STATEMENTS | TRUE | FALSE | JUSTIFICATION |
| 1. In the U.S. university professors have jobs that everybody envies them. |
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| 2. There were more adjunct teachers in the 70s than today. |
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| 3. To advance in their careers adjuncts have to teach many classes |
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| 4. The number of adjunct teachers has no negative effects on students. |
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| 5. Administrators are paid more than adjunct teachers. |
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| sad, altogether, research, status, fundraising, positions, devote, scarcity | |||
| SYNONYMS | WORDS IN THE TEXT | ||
| 1. INCREASING |
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| 2. BADLY |
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| 3. EMPLOYEES |
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| 4. CHEAP |
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| 5. ADVANTAGES |
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