by In the Basement of the Ivory Tower: Confessions of an Accidental Academic
Likewise, when they spell it “Shaksper,” it is not because they want to be historically faithful to the author’s autograph.
They will manage to find new and endlessly innovative ways to flummox me, my students. But I don’t care. Years of teaching have left their marks on me; I feel scarred, nicked, marked up, chipped, bearing the signs of life lived as vividly as the old wallpaper in my bedroom. But I wouldn’t dream of stopping. Ever. It’s too good, in its own singular way. Adjuncting used to be something I struggled to fit into my world; now, years hence, I’ve come to see how much it anchors and enriches that world—how much it actually is my world. Without English 101 and English 102, I think I might well be bereft. Doesn’t that seem odd? It does to me.
“We need a thesis sentence,” I tell the class, for perhaps the five-hundredth time. I search for fresh words to convey what I mean. “We need an overarching statement. We need a great utterance that our writing endeavors to support. What are we trying to prove?” I throw out my arms dramatically. “Why are we writing at all? Why are we even here?”
“We have to be,” says a youthful wiseguy. We all laugh. “No, just kidding,” he assures me. “We love it here.”
I bring my hands together, the way a priest would. Experience has left me with a surfeit of hard-won wisdom, life’s consolation prize. I dispense a nugget. “Having to be here will not lead to profundity. Wanting deeply and seriously comes first. Rebelling against our circumstances will get us nowhere. Acceptance of where we are—knowing the shape of one’s life—is the first small step in giving shape to one’s writing. Let’s all have something to say. And while we’re at it, very important: subject-verb agreement. Always.”
While you watch American Idol and Dancing with the Stars, we’re gathering for another semester in the basement of the ivory tower. Students and teacher alike share flickerings of wonderment and uncertainty. How did we all get here? The classroom surroundings are familiar, even cozy: there’s a comfort to sitting in rows, and the desks wrap around the students protectively. The textbooks seem compendia of all the world’s knowledge. Who among us wouldn’t think: we can do great things in this room! What happens in a classroom can be of such great consequence, but for that to be true, the work done there must be worthwhile, suitably complex, challenging, even daunting. In the classroom there must always be much at stake, which doesn’t necessarily lead to ease of mind, and thus classrooms are not always the welcoming places they may seem at first. Important work is very often done in anguishing circumstances. A few students will thrive; many will wither.
We are, all of us there gathered, trembling with fright, short of breath, sick at heart, but perhaps hopeful. That our senses are so alive is thrilling. The whiteboard markers give off a vaguely medicinal smell. The edges of posters from semesters past curl away from the wall. Motes of dust bob in the light from the overhead projector. The old heating unit comes on with a shudder. There seems a meaning in all this mundanity that lies just beyond our grasp. Every new assignment, at least, starts us all thinking.
Notes
Preface
1 Sandy Baum and Patricia Steele. “Who Borrows Most? Bachelor’s Degree Recipients with High Levels of Student Debt.” College Board Advocacy and Policy Center—Trends in Higher Education Series, 2010.
2 Monitor’s Editorial Board. “Raise the Community College Graduation Rate.” Christian Science Monitor, 26 Apr. 2010.
3 Eric P. Bettinger and Bridget Terry Long. “Does Cheaper Mean Better? The Impact of Using Adjunct Instructors on Student Outcomes.” Review of Economics and Statistics. In press.
4 Census Questionnaire Content, 1990 CQC-13. United States Census Bureau, Sept. 1994.
5 Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2008. Section 4, Education. United States Census Bureau.
1. The Adjunct
1 “Ensuring the Quality of Undergraduate Programs in English and Foreign Languages: MLA Recommendations on Staffing.” Modern Language Association, 2002.
2 Michael Murphy. “Adjuncts Should Not Just Be Visitors in the Academic Promised Land.” Chronicle of Higher Education 48.29 (2002): B1415.
3 Jeffrey R. Young. “Seton Hall Adjunct Professor Lashes Out at Students in E–mail Message.” Chronicle of Higher Education 49.27 (2003): A12.
4 Jeffrey J. Selingo. “An Administrator Takes Up the Cause of Adjuncts.” Chronicle of Higher Education 55.9 (2008): A4.
5 American Federation of Teachers. American Academic: The State of the Higher Education Workforce 1997–2007, Feb. 2009.
6 Alexa Sasanow. “Some Departments Seeing Rise in Number of Adjunct Professors.” Tufts Daily, 27 Apr. 2010.
7 DI Editorial Board. “Sharp Rise in Adjunct Professors Has Obvious Downsides.” Daily Iowan, 29 Mar. 2010.
2. Writing Hell
1 Richard Peabody and Lucinda Ebersole, eds. Conversations with Gore Vidal. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2005.
2 E. B. White. Letters of E. B. White. Ed. Dorothy Lobrano Guth. New York: Harper & Row, 1976.
4. Compare and Contrast
1 Shirley Dickson. “Integrating Reading and Writing to Teach Compare-Contrast Text Structure: A Research-Based Methodology.” Reading & Writing Quarterly 14 (1999): 49–79.
2 Mark Richardson. “Writing Is Not Just a Basic Skill.” Chronicle of Higher Education 55.11 (2008): A47–8.
3 Jennifer I. Berne. “Teaching the Writing Process: Four Constructs to Consider.” New England Reading Association Journal 40.1 (2004): 42–6.
4 Alex Reid. “Atlantic Monthly Offers Clichés of Writing Pedagogy.” Digital Digs. Weblog. www.alex-reid.net/2008/05/atlantic-monthl.html. 17 May 2008.
5 Mike Rose. “Teaching Remedial Writing.” Mike Rose’s Blog. Weblog. mikerosebooks.blogspot.com/2008/07/teaching-remedial-writing.html. 8 July 2008.
6. Community College
1 American Association of Community Colleges, Commission on the Future of the Community Colleges. Building Communities: A Vision for a New Century. Washington, D.C.: American Association of Community Colleges, 1998. Quoted in Henry D. Shannon and Ronald C. Smith. “A Case for the Community College’s Open Access Mission.” New Directions for Community Colleges 136 (2006): 15–21.
2 Becky Orr. “Education Secretary Duncan Pitches Community Colleges.” WyomingNews.com. 19 Sept. 2009.
3 “Bill Cosby Back in Detroit to Help Schools.” Click On Detroit. 13 Sept. 2009.
4 Barack Obama. Remarks by the President on the American Graduation Initiative. Macomb Community College, Warren, Michigan, 14 July 2009. Transcribed on www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-the-American-Graduation-Initiative-in-Warren-MI/.
5 Susan K. Grimes and David C. Kelly. “Underprepared Community College Students: Implications of Attitudinal and Experiential Differences.” Community College Review 27.2 (1999): 73–92.
6 John Rouse. “The Politics of Composition.” College English 41.1 (1979): 1–12.
7 David Bartholomae. “The Study of Error.” College Composition and Communication 31.3 (1980): 253–68.
8 Barack Obama. Remarks by the President on Innovation and Sustainable Growth. Hudson Valley Community College, Troy, New York, 21 Sept. 2009. Transcribed on www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-Innovation-and-Sustainable-Growthat-Hudson-Valley-Community-College/.
7. Remediation
1 Thomas Bailey. “Challenge and Opportunity: Rethinking the Role and Function of Developmental Education in Community College.” New Directions for Community Colleges 145 (2009): 11–30.
2 Craig Hadden. “The Ironies of Mandatory Placement.” Community College Journal of Research and Practice 24 (2000): 823–38.
3 Dolores Perin. “Can Community Colleges Protect Both Access and Standards? The Problem of Remediation.” Teachers College Record 108.3 (2006): 339–73.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Bailey. “Challenge and Opportunity.”
8 Eric P. Betti
nger and Bridget Terry Long. “Remediation at the Community College: Student Participation and Outcomes.” New Directions for Community Colleges 129 (2005): 17–26.
9 David Mazella. “Blessings and Curses.” Long Eighteenth. Weblog. http://long18th.wordpress.com. 26 May 2008.
9. The Pain
1 Michael Holden. “Baseless Assumptions About Students’ Basic Knowledge—What Students Know (a Survey): What Can the Informationally Challenged Write Beyond Personal Narratives?” Contemporary Education 68 (1996): 64–66.
2 Thomas Bailey. “Challenge and Opportunity: Rethinking the Role and Function of Developmental Education in Community College.” New Directions for Community Colleges 145 (2009): 11–30.
10. College as Eden
1 Kim Barto. “Speaker Encourages Students: Carver Grad Stresses Education.” Martinsville Bulletin, 6 Nov. 2009.
2 Abby Luby. “Bronx Teens Get a Taste of Upstate Life for a Month in Ritzy Chappaqua.” Daily News [New York], 29 Aug. 2009.
3 Robert Delaney. “Detroit Tigers MVP Magglio Ordóñez Funds New Scholarship for Area’s Young People.” Catholic Online, 15 Feb. 2008.
4 Michael Scherer and Nancy Gibbs. “Interview with the First Lady.” Time, 21 May 2009.
5 “Estrella Mountain Community College Gives 50 Kindergartners College Experience.” US Fed News, 15 Oct. 2009.
6 “Parents Enroll Newborns in State Prepaid Tuition Plan at Record Rate.” US States News, 11 Feb. 2008.
7 Jennifer L. Berghom. “Texas State University President Talks About Importance of College to Memorial High Students.” TheMonitor. com. 13 Feb. 2008.
8 Linda Saslow. “Suffolk County College is Raising Tuition.” New York Times, 26 April 2009, Section LI: 2.
9 Beata Mostafavi. “MCC Eyes 11.7% Hike in Tuition.” Flint Journal, 17 June 2010: A3.
10 David Slade and Diane Knich. “Why Is College Tuition So High? In South Carolina, Costs Have Nearly Tripled in a Decade.” The Post and Courier [Charleston, SC], 8 Aug. 2010: A1.
11 Scott Carlson. “The $50K Club: 58 Private Colleges Pass a Pricing Milestone.” Chronicle of Higher Education, 1 Nov. 2009.
12 Abby Goodnough. “New Meaning for Night Class at 2-Year Colleges.” NYTimes.com. 28 Oct. 2009.
13 Sandra Block. “In a Recession, Is College Worth It? Fear of Debt Changes Plans.” USAToday.com. 31 Aug. 2009.
14 “College Education Is About More Than Money.” Letters to the Editor. USA Today, 3 Sept. 2009, final ed.: 10A.
15 Tamara Draut. “Debt-for-Diploma System: Student-loan Debt Saddles College Grads Long After They Earn Degrees.” New England Journal of Higher Education, Winter 2009: 31–32.
16 Mark C. Taylor. “Academic Bankruptcy.” NYTimes.com. 14 Aug. 2010.
17 Brunner v. N.Y. St. Higher Educ. Servs. Corp., 831 F.2d 395 (2d Cir. 1987).
18 Charles Booker. “The Undue Hardship of Education.” Journal of Law & Education 39.2, April 2010: 273–79.
19 Jon Gertner. “Forgive Us Our Student Debts.” New York Times Magazine, 11 June 2006.
20 Jeffrey Selingo and Eric Hoover. “U.S. Public’s Confidence in Colleges Remains High.” Chronicle of Higher Education 50.35 (2004): A1+.
21 “College Enrollment and Work Activity of 2008 High School Graduates.” News: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 28 April 2009.
22 “U.S. Census Bureau: College Enrollment Up 17 Percent Since 2000.” Education Business Weekly, 1 Oct. 2008: 19.
23 “Are Too Many Students Going to College?” Chronicle Review: The Chronicle of Higher Education, 8 Nov. 2009.
24 Stephen J. McNamee and Robert K. Miller Jr. The Meritocracy Myth. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004.
25 Timothy F. Geithner. Remarks at the White House Task Force on Middle-Class Families Meeting on College Access and Affordability. Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, 9 Sept. 2009.
26 “Excerpts of the President’s Remarks in Warren, Michigan, Today and a Fact Sheet on the American Graduation Initiative.” White House—Office of the Press Secretary, www.whitehouse.gov. 14 July 2009.
27 Community colleges have long contended that such statistics as graduation rate, which they are required by the federal Student Right-to-Know Act to report to the National Center for Education Statistics in order for their students to receive federal financial aid, are flawed. The schools claim that the numbers ignore the transfer mission of community colleges: students who transfer before graduation are counted as dropouts, and the transferring school is penalized in the rankings. However, Thomas Bailey, Peter M. Crosta, and Davis Jenkins, in their study of graduation rates at Florida’s community colleges, conclude that although the SRK rates do “yield a biased and potentially misleading picture of individual community college student outcomes,” when adjustments were made for varying student and institutional characteristics, “college rankings were still fairly stable.” Correcting for transfers using a database that tracks students across multiple institutions, the researchers found that the “SRK graduation rates do not present a significantly more negative picture of community college performance than rates that could follow individual students across transfers.” See “What Can Student Rightto-Know Graduation Rates Tell Us About Community College Performance?” CCRC Working Paper No. 6. Community College Resource Center. Teacher’s College, Columbia University, Aug. 2006.
28 James Vaznis. “Hub Grads Come Up Short in College: Most from Class of 2000 Have Failed to Earn Degrees.” Boston Globe, 17 Nov. 2008. Also, “Getting In Isn’t Enough.” Editorial. Boston Globe, 17 Nov. 2008.
11. Grade Inflation Temptation
1 Phil Primack. “Doesn’t Anybody Get a C Anymore?” Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, 5 Oct. 2008.
2 Jillian K. Kushner. “College Admits Record-Low 7 Percent.” Harvard Crimson, 31 March 2009.
3 Brenda S. Sonner. “A Is for Adjunct: Examining Grade Inflation in Higher Education.” Journal of Education for Business 76.1 (2000): 5–8.
4 Ronald C. McArthur. “A Comparison of Grading Patterns Between Full- and Part-Time Humanities Faculty: A Preliminary Study.” Community College Review 27.3 (1999): 65–76. I can’t help but get a little fed up at the constant demonizing of adjuncts. On the one hand, we’re letting the students skate through the system with vastly inflated grades. On the other, “community colleges with the largest proportion of part-time instructors have the worst student-graduation rates.” See the Jacoby study cited in “Study Sees Link Between Part-Time Instructors and Graduation Rates.” Chronicle of Higher Education 53. 10 (2006): A10. Jacoby thinks the problem is mainly due to adjuncts’ lack of office hours. “They [adjuncts] don’t have offices, and some schools don’t even list part-time faculty in their directory… . People don’t even know how to find them.” Either we adjuncts are goosing them through the system or we’re not; one can’t have it both ways.
5 These things are all over the Internet, if that’s your idea of Websurfing entertainment. I got this one at http://webpages.yosemite.cc.ca.us/keriotisd/Handouts/101_Rubric.pdf.
6 Ian Marshall. “’I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together’: Bakhtin and the Beatles.” In Reading the Beatles: Cultural Studies, Literary Criticism, and the Fab Four. Kenneth Womack and Todd F. Davis, eds. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006, 9–35. This work is the exact contemporary equivalent of The Beatles Book to which I referred earlier: I am a sucker for pointy-headed academics rocking out—if talking about the Beatles can still be considered rocking out.
7 Barbara H. Wooten. “Gender Differences in Occupational Employment.” Bureau of Labor Statistics—Monthly Labor Review, April 1997. Also “Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Table 11: Household Data—Annual Averages: Employed Persons by Detailed Industry, Sex, Race, and Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity.” Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jan. 2010.
12. The Textbooks
1 “PhD Program in English: Ira Shor.” Graduate Center, CUNY Web Page. City University of New York.
2 Ira Sh
or. “Why Teach About Social Class?” Teaching English in the Two-Year College 33.2 (2005): 161–71.
13. An Introduction to the Research Paper
1 Betsy Barefoot. “Bridging the Chasm: First-Year Students and the Library.” Chronicle of Higher Education 20 Jan. 2006 supp.: B16.
16. The Writing Workshop
1 Bruce E. R. Thompson. “Emissaries from the World Beyond: The Authenticity of Adjuncts.” Chronicle of Higher Education 47.46 (2001): B16.
2 Michael Holden. “Baseless Assumptions About Students’ Basic Knowledge—What Students Know (a Survey): What Can the Informationally Challenged Write Beyond Personal Narratives?” Contemporary Education 68 (1996): 64–66.
17. Do Your Job, Professor!
1 “I Spout Off …” Itinerant Oak—A Family Journey. Weblog. http://itinerant-oak.blogspot.com/2008/06/i-spout-off.html. 9 June 2008.
2 Steven D. Krause. “Yet Another Topic to Discuss: ‘In the Basement of the Ivory Tower.’ ” emutalk.org. Weblog. 24 May 2008.
3 Krause, Reply. 24 May 2008.
4 Doug Robinson. “Like Students, Like Professor.” Comspot: The First-Year Writing Program at the University of Mississippi. Weblog. http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/English/blog/2008/05/like-students-like-professor.html. 16 May 2008. This blog seems to have been taken down.
