I had the privilege of being in class with one of those professors you might classify as “an inspiring human being” — intelligent, thoughtful, analytical — the one who inspires you to work and think.

We were given an assignment to develop a rant and then share it with the class, which was wonderful, since it manifested itself in a bunch of miniature speeches on topics that meant something to each of us, topics that we could legitimately get worked up about.

The professor led the way and expressed disenchantment with the academic world, disappointment with shortcomings in higher education. This was somewhat surprising to me, and made me want to know more about the reasons behind the disenchantment.

I was generously granted the time for an interview on the topic. The Q&A has been edited for clarity and content.

You live in the academic world, but have expressed your disappointment with it. What are some aspects of the academic world that leave something to be desired?

I can’t speak to every discipline, but I think some of the general themes are broadly applicable.

The academic world recognizes publications as fundamental to your development as a scholar and to the field as a whole. Therefore, “movement up the ladder” is based largely upon publications.  

However, recognized publications are geared toward academic circles — in my field, the scholarly monograph is the standard, something that needs to be produced. In others, the expectation is a certain number of journal articles per year.

Mountains of scholarly work are being created, which is fantastic, but even if you are within the field, it is virtually impossible to keep up with. And because it is aimed at an academic audience, there are very few people outside of academia who will be exposed to this knowledge. As scholars, we are knowledge creators, but then that knowledge doesn’t get shared — and what’s more, you don’t have time to share it. 

The university classroom should be a place to share this knowledge, but it just isn’t. Part of this is because your work is so specific — it is difficult, if not impossible, to design a course around your work, since it is so narrow.

Additionally, the sheer size of classes makes many things impossibility. Discussion is an impossibility with a class of 200 students — the only option is to lecture, even though we are told lecturing is the worst way to present material. And how do you assess these students? You give them a multiple choice exam that anyone should be able to pass if they have been through high school. How can you expect people to be motivated and participate when there is no need to and when they are simply taking a class to fulfill credits they must have?

Do you think professors are losing some of the respectability they once had? Why would this be?

I definitely think the respectability of professors has diminished in the public eye. This could be due partially to the fact that many people subscribe to the opinion “anyone can teach,” which isn’t the case. A person in industry coming in and showing a few slides does not constitute teaching.

 I think it is also due in part to a misunderstanding about what professors do, since we don’t often talk about what we do — the job entails much more than just teaching. 

Could you talk more about the responsibilities of being a professor? 

Officially, the job is supposed to consist of roughly 50 percent research, 40 percent teaching, and 10 percent service to the university. 

You spend your time conducting research, producing publications, serving on committees, designing curriculum, filling out yearly review forms explaining what you did in a year (even though this information is already available in your resume). You meet with a lot of people, you advise students and you read an absurd amount of material.

With so many things to balance, it is difficult to dedicate a large amount of time to any single thing. Also, the 10 percent service requirement is not accurate and ends up consuming much more of your time.

Any last thoughts?

I don’t think this gets enough light. The state of affairs for part-time faculty is largely unknown.

Adjunct faculty are paid a paltry amount per course they teach — yes, they aren’t expected to do anything else for the university. But they also receive no support from the university. There are literally adjuncts who have to apply for food stamps. You get no benefits, no medical.

 Adjunct faculty are still expected to be experts in their fields, but they have to conduct research on top of teaching, at their own expense. If you are in a field where you have to conduct studies, there is no way to do it as an adjunct worker.

You would think this is rare, but it’s not. Something like 75 percent of courses across the country are taught by non-tenure track faculty — the umbrella term they use now is “contingent faculty.” There are more contingent faculty employed by universities than tenure track faculty.

Adjunct work was brought in as a temporary expedient, because more instructors were needed as enrollment increased. But it stayed and now there is no plan for how to make it better. It’s a shame. Many great minds are pushed out of academia because adjunct work barely pays anything. A lot of people simply become disillusioned and leave the academic world altogether.