Reflection from Class, 29 Mar

Andrew Ross’ The Mental Labor Problem covers a number of topics about labor. One such topic was that more and more, educators are being forced into the same role as the “starving artist”; that is, they are being pushed more and more into an ideology that claims that the work they do is not accomplished for the monetary gain, but rather for love of the subject. As artists (not pop artists, who are little more than cash cows, but the true artiste) are expected to create their art for the sole reason that to do anything else would be against their very nature, so have teachers been forced into the scholarly mold wherein money is a secondary concern to imparting knowledge on the world.

It doesn’t help that for teachers – especially now, with the economy as shaky as it is – the job market is  very narrow, and there is always some new young face who will be willing to work as adjunct or part-time faculty for the “prestige of being a college teacher” (2591). These fresh new faces in essence allow schools and universities to edge out older, full-time employees who receive such luxuries as health benefits and a salaried income, and replace them with a “volunteer low-wage army” (2589) who will work for both less benefits and pay, and who will give more than their share of time to do so.

Not that Ross is suggesting that any of these part-time or adjunct employees bring such things upon themselves, or are in any way responsible for the way that they are being treated. What he is saying, rather, is that they are being trained “in the habit of embracing nonmonetary rewards-mental or creative gratification-as compensation for work” (2590). This training, Ross explains, is partially the result of the “amateur ideal of the scholar”, in which said scholar had the “privilege” of ignoring monetary concerns as “too vulgar and trivial” for them to deal with (2590).

The real problem here is that the system perpetuates this cycle of accepting less money for more work. With Education being the third largest major category for a Bachelor’s Degree, the largest in the Master’s Degree, and the second for a Doctorate in the US as of 2007, (http://degreedirectory.org), teachers are being churned out for jobs that simply aren’t available. Even without the ideology of the new/old scholar pushing them to accept less pay for more labor, these teaching hopefuls are going to be hard pressed to turn down any job they are offered in a market which doesn’t have room to accommodate them all.

Works Cited

Ross, Andrew. "The Mental Labor Problem." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2010. 2575-597. Print.

"What Are the Most Common College Majors in the U.S.?" Premier Online Directory of Degree Programs & Career Planning Articles and Videos from Top Colleges and Universities. Web. 30 Mar. 2011. <http://degreedirectory.org/articles/What_are_the_Most_Common_College_Majors_in_the_US.html>.