Paradigm shifts are really hard...

Part of the problem with changing that status at any organization is that there are multiple reasons to keep doing whatever is the status quo. It's easy, no one has to be uncomfortable, and it has a guaranteed result. Change, on the other hand, is hard, makes everyone uncomfortable, and there are really no guarantees other than "change." Which is why, in order for change to occur, people have to be really unhappy with the status quo AND they must have a vision of what a better alternative would mean for them personally. This is what good leadership is all about. It means getting people to not just buy into change, but actually get excited about it (See Obama, Barack).


Which is why I find this article on being an adjunct faculty member really interesting. The author lays out why he thinks academics in general and tenure are pretty poor insitutions and claims that 20 years from now there won't be much more than a handful of tenured academic professors. I'm not an academic and I generally held most of my profs in pretty high regard. I found adjunct profs at my college to be incredibly bad on a variety of levels, but it's interesting to hear a different perspective.


What was striking about the article was how much of it parallelled my experience in teaching K-12 and how tenure can corrupt even the best of us. Seeing himself as a free agent with services to sell, he states, "...think of yourself as a valuable service provider trying to reach as much of the adjunct market as you can. Apply for jobs and schmooze everywhere. If you're good, you have a lot to offer. So offer it. You can help a lot of people and get paid well for it. Do well by doing good." I believe this is the better way of saying this.


Last thought on this is that when people complain that teachers don't get paid enough, they fail to incorporate tenure into the pay that teachers receive. In giving out tenure so readily, schools have essentially included the cost of not being able to hire and fire people at will on the basis of performance into the salary of someone who essentially can stay as long as they want in the job. If tenure was abolished tomorrow, I imagine that this individual's philosophy would become the norm.


Oh, and this is cool as well. Makes me rethink some of my plans about grad school for the future, but I probably will go ahead with my current plan.