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That's really sad. My father entered into academia in 1960, got tenure in a reasonable amount of time and, by the time he retired, was making a really good salary, able to afford things like taking us on a two-week vacation to Italy. I have a friend whose husband is in academia and suffering similar problems from you. What the hell changed and why?
Generally speaking - There was a huge change a while back in how schools were getting money. Originally the government was paying 75% and the institute only needed to make the last 25%. Then things started to change and it flipped, so now most schools get 25% or less in funding and have to make up the rest of the 75%. (I'm generalizing numbers but they aren't too far off). This drastically changed how things were ran and just like a business that's gone private to public they are now trying to make money however they can.
They also got rid of/are limiting most full time jobs and have just increased adjuncts & grad students workload significantly. There is a block on all fulltime hires unless someone retires at at least 3 universities near me. Additionally most adjuncts make a pittance and have little/no say in their schedule or classes. Even when the department does try to accommodate, they generally have their hands tied by higher ups. Oh and schools will cancel required classes before the first day because of "low enrollment" (more than 12 people was the lastest requirement at one near me). Mind you that most students don't get notified of their financial aide until the first week of school and can't enroll until they have financial aide secured.
Again generally speaking - nowadays working a minimum wage job has better benefits, stability, and pay than being an adjunct. Even the poster you responded to said they have to work at multiple universities to get by - all without insurance. It wouldn't be bad if it was only for a short while, before moving to a fulltime position. Yet I know of many qualified adjuncts (with goals of fulltime) that are hitting double digits in their adjunct positions waiting for an opening to go fulltime. Academia is unfortunately very different than it used to be.
That's really sad. I'm really sorry to hear it. I know my dad was always disappointed that neither my brother nor I went into academia, but it sounds like we made the right choice.
If one were to ignore the getting a position part, other changes include but are not limited to:
-an increase in people killing teachers/students/staff at nearly all levels of learning institutions. It's not limited to the US and guns either (although they do make up a large portion).
-an increase in students showing outright disrespect or violence in a classroom to anyone but especially authority figures.
-due to the pandemic many teachers/staff died or retired, so there was a loss of guidance/mentors/knowledge as well as changes in policy/how things function.
-the abysmal shift in school work accessability during the pandemic created a general lack of knowledge/routine that would have formerly taken place during that time period. This means instead of being able to teach roughly the same curriculum for each class/each semester as one may have done for years, one must instead rework the course for a few grade(s) lower to accommodate the difference or fail a lot of kids that don't have home support. (Additionally some teachers were already having to incrementally adjust curriculum each year since the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted).
-teachers/professor have been villainized in recent years by politicians and general pay/funding/grants have decreased (or rather never increased as the years changed).
-tenure tracks are going away in some places.
-the school or university could simply shutdown for numerous reasons in the middle of the semester with little to no notice given staff/teachers/students.
Sounds like it's more than beyond time for non-tenured professors to unionize.