Bret Devereaux

...and at the same time, one that the reckless, ruinous system could *never* take. At the same time, even without Pestilence, the system is still broken. Demanding that universities 'run like businesses' to save the public money just doesn't work. 30/41

Now don't get me wrong, I am an ardent capitalist. Like, really very much so. Like - it irritates my colleagues. But just because markets work in *some* things doesn't mean markets work in *everything*...31/41

Almost no one suggests, for instance, we should have for-profit fire departments (M. Licinius Crassus not withstanding). Or for-profit churches. And here's the thing: there is a large for-profit college sector in the United States. And it is *terrible* 32/41

Default rates on student loans at for-profits are 3-4 times higher than traditional colleges; the quality of the education there is well known to be garbage - and despite basically being sham-schools, many of them still run out of money and fail. 33/41

*That* is why US colleges were so fragile going into COVID that they really had no good options. So what about solutions? We should start with the big public universities. Step 1: After COVID has passed, states need to reverse the endless budget cuts...35/41

...BUT most of that money needs to be flagged to go for instructional budgets. Legislatures: condition funding on tenure-track hires! Make sure your money pays for *teachers* and *teaching* not amenities or more empty-chair administrators. 36/41

Step 2: Shift administration and leadership back to the faculty, where it used to be. If it were me, I'd argue that every university ought to be led by *teaching track* faculty elevated into leadership positions for a period of years. 37/41

(Teaching track faculty are typically non-tenure-track faculty with heavier teaching loads and less research expectations. It's mostly a form of permanent academic serfdom, but in my experience, teaching-track faculty tend to value education and students the most). 38/41

Step 3: Using the first two steps as conditions, *cap*tuition.* And I mean *all*in* tuition - fees, everything. Index the cap to the average of inflation and teacher pay (counted as an average per-credit-hour so it reflects adjunct pay, not just TT pay). 39/41

That way, if universities want to raise tuition, they need to be reinvesting that money into smaller classes, more instructors and more instructional resources. And honestly, legislatures should demand the superior teaching that comes from TT-faculty...40/41

...who have the time to truly perfect the craft of teaching. That way the next time we have to go online for a pandemic (it will happen again!) students will know they are still getting the thing they paid for: an education. end/41

Addendum 2: Some folks are pointing out that adjunctification here is a little lopsided and incomplete. And they're right! There just wasn't space in an already overlong thread. Being an adjunct myself, you can bet I have thoughts! But that will have to wait for another thread.