I Quit Academia

Ever since I can remember, I have been obsessed with learning. My parents instilled a love of reading in me, allowed me to read what I wanted, and that was all it took. Because of my bookworm nature, teaching seemed like a natural career path for me. There is nothing like the warm fuzzy feeling of seeing that spark of understanding in a student's eyes when they get that concept they were struggling with.

Academia should be a place of discovery, learning, and growth. Being a professor is joyful for those of us who are in this because it's our calling. They keep us up to date, teach us, and show us how they progress with our guidance. They make us feel like our sacrifice is worth it. The question is, is it worth it? Academia is losing great elements due to its harmful bureaucracy, inconsistencies, and irregularities. University professors without tenure are destined to a life of job insecurity, unfair -potentially illegal- treatment, inequalities, and backstabbing.

Job Insecurity Breeds Instability

Professors without tenure cannot make long-term plans. They live quarter to quarter or semester to semester. They never know if they will be assigned classes the following period. On many occasions, Department Heads would rather bring a professor from the outside to teach a class instead of assigning it to a professor who is already a part of the faculty and wasn't assigned enough courses for full-time. This forces those professors who are assigned part-time or less to find other ways to make ends meet.

Making ends meet is complicated when a professor has a part-time assignment. The two courses you teach tend to block two days in which you cannot work on something else. Department Heads do not even consider that at the very least, they could assign two courses on the same day so professors can organize their working schedules elsewhere through the rest of the week. This instability translates to all areas of the professors' lives. They cannot make long-term plans related to finances because they may be unemployed the following term. And yet, Department Heads expect loyalty and absolute commitment from highly skilled workers who they do not care about at all.

Unfair -potentially illegal- Treatment

Universities even assume that workers WILL work for them for free. How? Well, if your official contract starts on the first day of class... When are you supposed to plan classes and prepare material for them? Sometimes the contracted period does not include the grading of the final exams. Most professors end up working for free out of a sense of duty to their students, their craft, and their personal work ethic. And not only is that sacrifice underappreciated but also it is potentially illegal. Yet, universities are always implying and even outright saying that many other professionals would be, not only willing but also honored, to take your place and teach in such a prestigious institution.

Inequalities

While tenured professors have permanent job security and great salaries, even in the face of repeated sexual harassment accusations. professors who have no tenure are not even compensated according to their degrees and experience until they get tenure. This can take anywhere from a few years to decades, and in the worst-case scenario, many people have reached their retirement age without ever being given tenure. In many universities, only professors with tenure get to attend staff meetings. Those who are not tenured have no voice, no vote, and they cannot even know what is discussed in those meetings. This is done, I believe, on purpose because as all professors know, information is power.

One professor in a leading administrative position once said a comment along the lines of "young people today collect graduate degrees." I am sure it was meant as a good-natured joke, but it was said to three professors without tenure and with two graduate degrees. Young professors "collect" graduate degrees because they are told that the better prepared they are, the sooner they will get tenure. Yet, having more than one pertinent graduate degree guarantees nothing. Many of the older professors got tenure with a Master's and now things are so competitive that a Doctorate is seen as the desired standard.

Backstabbing

Academia has turned into a dystopian political nightmare. Backstabbing is the order of the day. While professors can be fortunate to have colleagues who are also dear friends, this is rarely the case. Many professors cannot help but react with envy and even hatred when they see colleagues are doing well. Any accomplishments of their colleagues such as getting published, receiving an award, or graduating from an additional degree are treated as threats and met with contempt and green-eyed monsters galore. Stealing someone else's credit is also common and professors who love to get credit tend to be the ones who hate doing the hard work that begets such credit.

This is why the teaching profession is bleeding out talent. Professors are leaving the profession because they are overworked, under-compensated, taken for granted, and mistreated by their bosses and, often, by their own co-workers. While kind, supportive students are a soothing balm that does help the burns of the abrasive environment, professors need more than that. I remember an older (clearly tenured) professor once told me that professors today are too focused on the money. This professor stated smugly that, in the old days, they would do things for prestige and out of love for the profession. This older professor was not in a position of neverending instability and mistreatment. Back then, professors got tenure much quicker and with fewer requirements. This same person was shocked, and even a bit offended, when I replied that I do not eat prestige and it does not pay the bills.

Moving On

I worked for three years at the last university where I taught. I have never aspired to become a martyr. That would have been my end result if I had chosen to stay. I am now working in the private sector where I actually have a schedule, my time off is respected, my contributions and experience are valued, and the people around me are supportive and truly want to see others succeed. My mental health is better, my financial situation has vastly improved, and I am significantly less tired.

My love for teaching will always be there. My appreciation and gratitude to the many wonderful students I've had will remain no matter where I go. My admiration and respect for my wonderful colleagues will always be there. I will miss the excellent questions I got. I will miss the heartfelt compliments and the gratitude received. They are gifts I will treasure for life. I may or may not return one day, but only as an additional source of work and income.

At this point in my life, all I crave is peace and I choose not to sacrifice my well-being and mental health for a place that frankly could not care less if they tried. I wish those who stay in academia the best and I hope that the system will one day be a true meritocracy instead of what it is now: a mere competition to see who can put up with the worst for the longest and then maybe, and that is a BIG maybe, they will be rewarded one day with tenure so that they can live in that toxic wasteland for years to come.