Reply to The Human Cost of Higher Education

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's also a fairly parasitical arrangement.  A majority of adjuncts are married women who are told that they're trading flexibility for low wages.  They can afford to take these jobs because they are married to someone whose job includes health insurance for the family.  So essentially the other employer is subsidizing the university by providing health insurance for the university's underpaid employees who are not provided benefits.  
Unpaid internships allow companies to get free labor,  subsidized by mom and dad.
Abysmal walmart wages allow companies to get close to free labor, subsidized by yours and my tax dollars, which pay for the employee's medicaid, EBT, etc.
Corporations are getting wealthy off of American taxpayer's backs, and the only reason this is sustainable is because someone else is paying the bill.
The real cost of an adjunct is actually significantly higher than what the university pays this individual, particularly in high cost of living areas where the adjunct could not afford rent or a mortgage without the spouse's wages, and spouse's company's contribution to those living costs.
It's "funny money," and an illusion, but one which universities are very invested in maintaining.[/quote]

This is true, but it's true for basically every part time job, especially in "passion" fields like the arts and museums. It's a real problem in terms of the kind of inequality that gets entrenched in these fields.

I am a fed who left academia because my Ivy League PhD holding husband and I couldn't both stay on the visiting/adjunct/postdoc wheel after we had a baby. I really miss the flexibility and autonomy but someone needed a consistent, increasing salary and health insurance. What people will sacrifice in terms of relationships, stability, and choice of location for the sake of the dream career truly amazes me.[/quote]

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