Looming strike is about money
For the second time in a half-dozen years, a strike looms in our state higher education system.
I feel sorry for students who might need to put their lives on hold until this is resolved. It is all about money as the administration seeks to tighten its belt a little more.
As a public school teacher for 37 years and the parent of three college graduates, it is shocking to see the lack of accountability in higher education. Courses are often taught by professors who are knowledgeable in their fields but cannot teach. Why doesn’t higher education require teaching degrees for their professors? My children were often frustrated by the vagueness of lectures, needless busywork and the confusion of poorly comprised evaluations.
Most professors only teach a couple classes a week, whereas public school teachers often teach more than seven hours a day. We routinely shell out tens of thousands of dollars to institutions that staff educators who can’t teach. The cost of textbooks is infuriating as well. They are priced with a blatant disregard for a student’s finances. Sometimes books were required and never used. We also had to purchase books written by the professors themselves.
Another troubling trend is the revolving door policy that seems to be the norm recently. When I got my degrees, there were some professors who were better than others and those were the ones you tried to get for your courses. Now, there is a far greater proportion of part-time, nontenured professors. To their credit, my children did have several young, promising educators whose employment was terminated at the end of their contracts because they would move up the pay scale and perhaps become full-time. They were replaced by a new crop of untested adjunct instructors. How is the profession going to attract quality educators in the future?
If higher education is to remain a viable component in the preparation of our young people for their futures, colleges and universities had better start looking at the multitude of ills afflicting them. There is more at stake here than the bottom line, as students of the future will increasingly look for a quality education that has value.
Sally Brown-Pawlosky
Hickory