[semi-nontechncl]

I was an adjunct for a year at a well-known arts college in the US. Some programs were made up almost completely of adjuncts with only one or two full-time professors. Since this was an arts program those adjuncts were working in the field. While it was good for students to have professors who were working professionals, it does mean that those professors are less invested in the program as a whole and since they aren't full-time/ tenured they don't have a lot of sway to influence the program since they can easily be fired.

On the other hand, the program I taught in was made up almost exclusively of full-time professors who were basically tenured. Many of the full-time professors were really great, but a lot of them hadn't created any real professional work in their field in a very long time. The tenured professors had been teaching at the school for decades, some for forty years. I quickly left the school the school when I realized I would have to wait for someone to die in my program before I would find a full-time teaching position.

My conclusion after teaching for a year as an adjunct was that: 1) Adjunct teaching is basically a side gig that you do outside of your full-time job 2) All the money the school was bringing in is going to administration or facilities/buildings, which are constantly growing 3) Full-time professors who finally retire will be replaced with adjuncts, which consolidates the administration's power. 4) College feels outdated to me. Teaching a bunch of students to use photoshop in a classroom is really inefficient compared to video tutorials where everyone can learn at their own pace and rewind the video as needed. 5) College is way too expensive, especially for students pursuing the arts who may struggle after they graduate.