I’ve got to run out the door, but before I leave, I thought I would throw a little meat into the bear pit.

In yesterday’s Atlantic, Jordon Weissman wrote about a new study that “finds that faculty who aren’t on the tenure-track appear to do a better job than their tenured/tenure-track peers when it comes to teaching freshmen undergraduates.” The Times also had an article on the study.

I should have linked to this hoopla yesterday. It’s now going crazy on Twitter and Facebook. The study is flawed, but it does give some insight to a reality at most (though not all) colleges. Here’s the take-away:

The vast majority of undergraduate classes are taught by adjunct professors. These professors are paid less than minimum wage and have no job protections. For many, those Intro to Sociology classes and remedial writing classes are their bread and butter. They are not teaching those classes to get a little teaching experience before getting a full time job. They aren’t picking up a little side cash, while they have another full time position somewhere else. They are paying the rent with their adjunct salaries.

And they are doing a damn good job at it. Their classes are double the size of the advanced classes. They are teaching more kids.

Therefore, they should get proper wages for their services.