It’s that time of month again.
–  The once every eight-ish weeks when one college term ends, there’s a two second breath of air, and the next term begins.   The past two weeks, I’ve type so much that the gel on my fingertips have chipped off.

Last week, it was the rough draft.   Last night, the final was due.
This is where the disappointment sets in.

Okay, in the opening week, the students confess that they returned to college to better their community, make more money, to start and finish a dream of holding a degree.  I think all of them are noble reasons.   I cannot find fault in wanting to better themselves or their neighborhood.

The first week or two is the honeymoon.  Most students are trying their best.  They’re active.   They’re asking questions.   Life is great.

A month later, people start to drop.  Students just vanish or send emails explaining/begging to allow assignments to be turned in late.   The reasons can be children are ill, kidney stones, or the ex-fiancé’s cat had a five legged kitten.

Personally, I really don’t care.  I’m not paid enough to be their psychiatrist.  They can confide, cry, whine, and complain all they want too.   It always boils down to accepting late assignments.   Not because I particularly want to, but because I have too.  Ongoing students are a constant income for colleges.  Denying students the ability to turn in late assignments, no matter how late they are, is cutting off a revenue stream.

As an adjunct, if I want work next term, you bet your whiteboard I’ll accept them, no matter how I personally feel about it.

Anyways….  um…  I forgot where I was going with this.

Hang on.  Let me think…

What it boils down to, I guess, is how people (students) start with the best intentions or pretend to start with good intentions and, in little less than 3 months, a lot of them become broken.  They’re needy, insecure, and feel like their customers more than students.   It’s like they’re here to buy a degree.    Classwork is just window dressing.  And, when they go up against an adjuct who isn’t a customer service rep, they become upset, irritated, and depressed.

I know… believe me… I know how difficult it can be to complete a class when family and work is involved.   Children, bless them, can just complicate matters.  There’ so much more going on besides reading a text and wondering if the commas are in the right places.

Still, beating a dead horse, these are adults.   They knew the job was dangerous when they took it. (Super Chicken)    And yet, they act like they’re the victims.    They ask, threaten, or plead for adjuncts to bend the rules, compromise the college’s standards, and grade blind-folded.    Very rarely is there full accountability.

Despite it all, I have yet to meet an adjunct who wasn’t willing to put her or his head behind the ankles for students.

It’s just aggravating.    The colleges are degraded.  Adjuncts feel pressured to pass, least they fail to bring in a paycheck.

Ironically, we’re supposed to help feed into the dream that a degree could change a student’s life.   A bought degree that’s not truly earned.  An associates that the students will be paying off for years to come.  A degree that will lead to a job… not a job.. a career that has a bright future…  while entirely ignoring just how many other students are being churned out for the same degree and, most of the time, they live in the same area.

Perfect.  Steller.  Awesome.
If only the “American Dream” was that simple.

Guess I’m just a bit tired of it.

Being an adjunct means that personal standards are ritually sacrificed with each assignment.  Our misery is feasted upon by the Ivory Tower and, sometimes, students while we spend hours and personal resources that equate to us getting the same pay as some people in a third-world country.

Yeah, I know.
I fuss.

One day, I’ll do something about it.   Get a new job somewhere, but not right now.

I’m just disappointed at the students, the college, and the general situation.

blah blah blah.

Crazy.