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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It really depends.

I am a tenure track professor (I should get tenure next year, it's not difficult at my university). I love my work. Genuinely love what I do, my students, my colleagues, the way my work is conducted, the creativity and research, and the flexibility of my schedule (not a straight 9-5, I've generally always been able to avoid aftercare for my kids especially now with a spouse who WFH, slower summers and breaks, etc...). My school is not a top school by any means but I feel proud and accomplished and purposeful and mostly appreciated.

The things that get me down are:
- how little I'm paid (I couldn't afford to do this without a high earning spouse)
- the trend toward professors providing a service rather than being educators and the nasty students and sometimes parents that you rarely encounter
- the drudgery and slowness and inability to get things done in academia (administration mostly)
- the weird butt kissing in academia
- I hate to say this but the quality of students I teach has gone way downhill and each year the number of students I have who do not seem cut out for college increases, which feels icky and is challenging in a way that is not fun or motivating

I'm not old, but I would say my retirement-age colleagues are over it, mostly. Their morale has declined, sometimes precipitously, since I began teaching about 10 years ago.

If you are not on a tenure track (and trying to be) I would imagine your morale is very low.

[/quote]

I'm a tenured professor and this is exactly right.[/quote]

I am also a tenured professor, in a STEM field. I also co-sign this post, though I am fortunate in that I do make 6 figures.

What may be more relevant to the OP- who is likely thinking about their child’s experience- is that even though morale may be low, I always turn it up for the students. My students are so impressive and inspirational (I’m at an HBCU). even if I’m feeling run down, I try to always be positive and come to class with high energy and be as supportive as I can in advising. What I’m trying to say, is that an undergrad may be protected from some of the bigger issues. However, I think faculty compensation is an important factor. If I were a poorly paid adjunct, I would likely find it much harder to always stay positive. [/quote]

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