Telling adjuncts to quit won’t stop the devaluing of teaching: Warner

“Recommending that contingent faculty quit and move on is good advice at the individual level,” writes John Warner, but it will not solve the underlying forces that have given rise to precarious academic labour. Warner argues that even if the entire contingent academic labour force were to suddenly quit and disappear, universities would be unlikely to start hiring more full-time faculty again. Rather, Warner predicts that universities would simply lower the required credentials for teaching or would offload some of their for-credit teaching to “alternative” providers. “The devaluing of the labor of teaching is a fait accompli,” Warner concludes. “Telling adjuncts to ‘just quit’ is giving up on education, and only hastens the ultimate demise of security for any faculty.” Inside Higher Ed