I work at UIC- though not for long. They’re letting me go in a few weeks. I very mildly spoke up against ramping up AI use in course building and pushed back against the head dept minion who creates a hostile work environment. The commodification of universities has been well underway, as you surely know. It’s just so disappointing that capitalism is robbing us of the joys of learning and teaching.
in a million ways we return to "the institutions cant save us from the institutions, but we can even if the path is long and difficult."
you dont have to have faith and hope or optimism in the capitilist systems to have optimism in the everyday ppl only taking so much and building meaningful resistance and support for eachother outside of it ❤️
really appreciated you sharing your experience and insights on the future of higher education and extreme labor exploitation.
-from a dropout who refuses to stop loving learning.
✊️
✨️keep your heads up yall especially when it feels like it might kill you✨️
Hi Devon! This post comes as I begin my finals for the quarter. I'm back in school in a certificate program for some computer science skills. I grapple with the grief of paying the institution just for my professors/TAs to tell me to use GPT whenever I ask questions, but I can't imagine my profs/TAs have any kind of manageable workload either. I worry my coworkers think I use AI to write my emails, just because I'm a good writer - I do laugh at myself and ask what all this work masking my neurodivergence in written word was for. Thanks for being here, thanks for writing this.
“The Electric Monk was a labor-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video recorder. Dishwashers washed tedious dishes for you, thus saving you the bother of washing them yourself, video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving you the bother of looking at it yourself; Electric Monks believed things for you, thus saving you what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of believing all the things the world expected you to believe.”
― Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
This resonates in different ways. I work for a research institute at a university now, and I have a love/hate relationship for it all.
I’m also a first-gen college grad who eventually earned a masters degree as a single parent. My mom was a teen parent and pushed out of traditional high school back in the 70s because of it. I understand the value of education and know what it’s done for me, my children, and hopefully future generations, but who really knows in this political climate?
At the same time, universities are part of a capitalist system, and they lead us to outcomes like the horror you describe. In this current climate, it’s even more clear institutions will never protect us. We are disposable. I’m having a hard time with two of my children now in college and two more on the way shortly. I don’t know what the future of education will be, and I don’t have any clear answers right now.
I sent your post to a friend at non-profit (technically) and good to very good universities in UK and Italy (non-contract work, permanent jobs as senior lecturer level, ie just one level below tenured professor) and asked him if your post resonated with him. He said this: ‘Sounds about right. US version, but sthg very similar increasingly everywhere else. The underlying logic is the same and the effect on professions, careers, mental health and financial autonomy of education workers is the same.’
It feels like a game which is rigged from the start because one side thinks they are playing a game and the other side doesn't realize, takes it seriously, but can never win because nobody told them the rules.
2 observations:
- I think at that level what you describe in academia is true also in many workplaces.
- Most kids with social capital/rich/ well-educated parents would have been told the rules before stepping up to the court. This is not their fault. But it really irritates me because to me education should level the playing field at least in terms of giving everybody a fair chance.
wow, this resonated so much! I've done a little adjunct teaching in a related field and had similar (less bad) experiences with the low pay and unreasonable expectations. the big difference was the focus - master's in counseling programs where people will be leaving in order to begin the process towards becoming licensed therapists. that's a place where gatekeeping is important in terms of protecting the public from people who are not competent/ ready to work as therapists. one of the schools I worked for took this seriously (good!) but the other... was totally fine with allowing a student to practice therapy in a way that doesn't follow legal and ethical mandates, as long as the student waited until they graduated (!) and that student is still practicing as a therapist. unfortunately my hands are tied bc of the timing and setting (can't report to the regulatory body). very tough.
The whole thing about the degree mill getting fined etc just makes me think of whackamole - companies take it too far but we just have to keep chasing our tail if the basis of life remains the same (profit at all costs). Sorry for mixing my metaphors. I am writing this with my own brain which isn’t running on all cylinders 😉😅
as a current undergraduate in a foreign language program who hopes to go to graduate school, the last part really resonated. currently watching my field be forcibly disappeared in real time. thank you for pointing out how universities are eager to jump on tech fads, but are reluctant to sustain humanities programs that have been around for decades -- terrifying to witness
Dropping out of college before finishing my bachelor's degree might have been one of the smartest things I ever did. I've had a great career and am a semi-retired home owner in Los Angeles at 42.
One thing we lefties fail to talk enough about is that our own Democrats vastly accelerated the problem under the Clinton presidency. That dude gave away so much free money to college kids that schools just kept jacking up tuitions waaaay beyond anything that made any sense in terms of ROI.
The timing of this was impeccable as I am amidst a window of final decision making regarding entering a new graduate space. This essay has created as shape for what my intuition was sensing. Though I do not want this to be true (as I adore learning and structure and my ego is a big fan of achievement-based methods), I appreciate the consciousness that tough-love brings to the surface.
I work at UIC- though not for long. They’re letting me go in a few weeks. I very mildly spoke up against ramping up AI use in course building and pushed back against the head dept minion who creates a hostile work environment. The commodification of universities has been well underway, as you surely know. It’s just so disappointing that capitalism is robbing us of the joys of learning and teaching.
Fucking horrifying. I'm so sorry you were retaliated against for pushing the school to do right by its students and faculty.
in a million ways we return to "the institutions cant save us from the institutions, but we can even if the path is long and difficult."
you dont have to have faith and hope or optimism in the capitilist systems to have optimism in the everyday ppl only taking so much and building meaningful resistance and support for eachother outside of it ❤️
really appreciated you sharing your experience and insights on the future of higher education and extreme labor exploitation.
-from a dropout who refuses to stop loving learning.
✊️
✨️keep your heads up yall especially when it feels like it might kill you✨️
🫂❤️
Hi Devon! This post comes as I begin my finals for the quarter. I'm back in school in a certificate program for some computer science skills. I grapple with the grief of paying the institution just for my professors/TAs to tell me to use GPT whenever I ask questions, but I can't imagine my profs/TAs have any kind of manageable workload either. I worry my coworkers think I use AI to write my emails, just because I'm a good writer - I do laugh at myself and ask what all this work masking my neurodivergence in written word was for. Thanks for being here, thanks for writing this.
“The Electric Monk was a labor-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video recorder. Dishwashers washed tedious dishes for you, thus saving you the bother of washing them yourself, video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving you the bother of looking at it yourself; Electric Monks believed things for you, thus saving you what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of believing all the things the world expected you to believe.”
― Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
This resonates in different ways. I work for a research institute at a university now, and I have a love/hate relationship for it all.
I’m also a first-gen college grad who eventually earned a masters degree as a single parent. My mom was a teen parent and pushed out of traditional high school back in the 70s because of it. I understand the value of education and know what it’s done for me, my children, and hopefully future generations, but who really knows in this political climate?
At the same time, universities are part of a capitalist system, and they lead us to outcomes like the horror you describe. In this current climate, it’s even more clear institutions will never protect us. We are disposable. I’m having a hard time with two of my children now in college and two more on the way shortly. I don’t know what the future of education will be, and I don’t have any clear answers right now.
I sent your post to a friend at non-profit (technically) and good to very good universities in UK and Italy (non-contract work, permanent jobs as senior lecturer level, ie just one level below tenured professor) and asked him if your post resonated with him. He said this: ‘Sounds about right. US version, but sthg very similar increasingly everywhere else. The underlying logic is the same and the effect on professions, careers, mental health and financial autonomy of education workers is the same.’
I have taught at many institutions and sadly what I have written about here is just the most egregious example, but not an aberrant one.
It feels like a game which is rigged from the start because one side thinks they are playing a game and the other side doesn't realize, takes it seriously, but can never win because nobody told them the rules.
2 observations:
- I think at that level what you describe in academia is true also in many workplaces.
- Most kids with social capital/rich/ well-educated parents would have been told the rules before stepping up to the court. This is not their fault. But it really irritates me because to me education should level the playing field at least in terms of giving everybody a fair chance.
wow, this resonated so much! I've done a little adjunct teaching in a related field and had similar (less bad) experiences with the low pay and unreasonable expectations. the big difference was the focus - master's in counseling programs where people will be leaving in order to begin the process towards becoming licensed therapists. that's a place where gatekeeping is important in terms of protecting the public from people who are not competent/ ready to work as therapists. one of the schools I worked for took this seriously (good!) but the other... was totally fine with allowing a student to practice therapy in a way that doesn't follow legal and ethical mandates, as long as the student waited until they graduated (!) and that student is still practicing as a therapist. unfortunately my hands are tied bc of the timing and setting (can't report to the regulatory body). very tough.
I guess should clarify that the student was not open to accepting any feedback and gave me the heebie-jeebies (clinical term lol)
this article was particularly enrapturing for me.
your writing always shows me new ways to perceive, think.
thank you for what you do, when I have the time to indulge in reading, i gain so much from your work in particular. i become a better humxn for it
This was a compelling and depressing read.
The whole thing about the degree mill getting fined etc just makes me think of whackamole - companies take it too far but we just have to keep chasing our tail if the basis of life remains the same (profit at all costs). Sorry for mixing my metaphors. I am writing this with my own brain which isn’t running on all cylinders 😉😅
your writing is very precious.
Speechless, I should not be, but still am
Heartbreaking and fucking bleak.
as a current undergraduate in a foreign language program who hopes to go to graduate school, the last part really resonated. currently watching my field be forcibly disappeared in real time. thank you for pointing out how universities are eager to jump on tech fads, but are reluctant to sustain humanities programs that have been around for decades -- terrifying to witness
Dropping out of college before finishing my bachelor's degree might have been one of the smartest things I ever did. I've had a great career and am a semi-retired home owner in Los Angeles at 42.
One thing we lefties fail to talk enough about is that our own Democrats vastly accelerated the problem under the Clinton presidency. That dude gave away so much free money to college kids that schools just kept jacking up tuitions waaaay beyond anything that made any sense in terms of ROI.
The timing of this was impeccable as I am amidst a window of final decision making regarding entering a new graduate space. This essay has created as shape for what my intuition was sensing. Though I do not want this to be true (as I adore learning and structure and my ego is a big fan of achievement-based methods), I appreciate the consciousness that tough-love brings to the surface.
Really enlightening! also incredibly depressing!!