The two of us fliptmoms have found work as adjunct online faculty to help us support the stay and work from home lifestyle with our kids. And we appreciate this opportunity.
However, there are many downsides to being adjunct faculty with any university, public, private, for-profit, on campus or online. Namely, no benefits and little job security.
One reason I decided to pursue my PhD after teaching for 10 years with a Master's degree was so I could find a tenure-track position and move beyond adjunct. I graduated with my PhD two years ago, and I have not found a tenure-track position yet. There are many discussions in higher education forums that point to a decline in tenure-track faculty and growing numbers of adjunct faculty. Universities are taking a WalMart approach to employment in keeping them part-time and temporary.
You can read an interesting collection of essays on this topic in Academic Apartheid: Waging the Adjunct War. This collection of essays addresses the question: What does it mean for higher education when an individual in the fast food industry makes more per hour than an adjunct who holds three degrees?
Part of shaping a fliptmoms lifestyle has included facing this struggle between flexibility and security. As the security of my husband's job starts to look shakier, I am now seeking out full time work with benefits. Whereas the flexibility of being home with the kids was our first priority when we had health care through his work, my mind is now shifting towards job security and benefits as first priority. If having affordable health care weren't inextricably tied to full time employment, my husband and I might be more steadily working on launching our own business and both working from home as our back-up plan instead of scrambling to find another employer. In some ways, it makes me feel like a coward, and in others I feel it is my duty as a mother to be sure the kids have economic security and access to health care.
This is a tough transition, but I am glad I feel prepared for it and that I've put so much time and energy into re-tooling myself for the job market over the last several years. I also feel lucky to have these choices that may not have been available to parents in past generations.
