Being an adjunct is by definition insecure, because I never know from one semester to the next whether or where I will be employed. It makes it impossible to plan for the future. If I had children I don’t know how I would cope since I would need to be committed to paying for childcare or school for long term periods. As it is, the stress is very high in the months before I hear if I have been offered a position for the following semester. It’s also much harder to find teaching gigs in the summer, and I last summer I used up all my savings and increased my debt load because my other part time work did not suffice. Because there is so little notice on job opening or offers, my ability to prepare for a class is severely limited. In addition, I have to take whatever class I can remotely believe I can teach, rather than build up a repertoire of classes that I learn to teach better over time, or than teaching within my own expertise. I don’t have the energy to devote to building relationships with colleagues or the chair because I don’t know if I will be working with them in the future. I care a lot about teaching, but I cannot form longer term mentoring relationships with my students, even the ones I really see potential in, because I cannot guarantee that I will be around in six months.
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