Tony--I was on the faculty of the local community college--the motto around
then was "stack 'em deep and teach 'em cheap." The state legislature was
beaming proud of the college--(Salt Lake Community College--or 'SLIC' as
some of us took to calling it)--as a model of efficiency: over 75% of the
composition classes were taught by adjunct faculty, which meant low pay and
no benefits for the state. Literacy is cheaply had in Utah! It was my job
to schedule and staff all those classes (even on Friday evenings and
Saturday mornings--the "People's College" was always open, just like some
eggs and burger joint on Hollywood Blvd.)
The pool of adjunts was ever-changing.
It was inevitable that at the last second someone would decide they didn't
want to teach and they would back out of the assignment. Desperately, I
would try to scrounge up someone to fill that slot--it was always one of
those desireable slots like a Friday afternoon or a Saturday morning. It was
inevitable that I would have to plunge into a pile of old resume's that were
kept in the back of the department secretary's files, hunting for a warm
body with a master's degree--or the "equivalent", whatever that meant, to
teach English 101 or 102.
I was convinced, given the popularity of the people's college and the
legislature's commitment to efficiency, that by the year 2010 every adult in
the Salt Lake Valley with a master's degree or "equivalent" would have
taught composition at the community college or at least one quarter. A
truly democratic enterprise, if you ask me.
(And by the way, there is a sort of homology with the teaching practices of
the LDS Church: The Latter-Day Saints, nicknamed "The Mormons"--is a
lay-teaching church. All members take turns, at one time or another, being
a teacher.)
Scott Oates
Scott Oates
3700 LNCO
University Writing Program
University of Utah 84112
801-581-7090