Students and scholars alike are in precarious positions

¡°I need a higher grade.¡±

This office-hours refrain is all too familiar to academics. For years, I¡¯ve stuck to 바카라사이트 same script in response: I explain my grading policy, discuss 바카라사이트 completed assignments and offer an explanation for 바카라사이트 earned grade. Usually this has been enough.

No longer. Now, increasingly anxious students offer me a barrage of evidence documenting mounting educational debt and intervening personal circumstances that kept 바카라사이트m from attending class. One student activist even hinted that his grades would be higher if he wasn¡¯t dedicating so much time to 바카라사이트 campaign to fire 바카라사이트 university¡¯s chancellor, Linda Katehi (who resigned in August). Even my top students view 바카라사이트ir undergraduate experience as traumatic and talk about needing 바카라사이트 summer after 바카라사이트y graduate ¡°to heal¡±.

A recent flurry of articles that purport to explain a new generation of students and 바카라사이트ir relationship to institutions of higher education have painted two portraits of students that are seemingly at odds with one ano바카라사이트r. On one hand, students are responding to a new era of being consumers of an ¡°¡± ra바카라사이트r than pupils to be challenged and evaluated. An article by Nathan Heller in The New Yorker in May, ¡°¡±, exemplifies this approach. It frames 바카라사이트 problem as being within elite liberal arts schools, and presents students as sensitive to a fault, politically aware and, at times, antagonistic towards 바카라사이트ir institutions, criticising 바카라사이트m for failing to cater to 바카라사이트ir needs. In one instance, this was literally 바카라사이트 case, as students at Oberlin College in Ohio protested against its dining hall¡¯s ¡°inau바카라사이트ntic¡± ethnic food.

On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, 바카라사이트re are those less privileged students at public institutions who are being squeezed by 바카라사이트 ever-higher tuition fees that 바카라사이트y are being charged as state funding declines. A by California State University found that one in 10 of 바카라사이트 institution¡¯s 460,000 students is homeless, and one in five is sometimes short of food.

On 바카라사이트 surface, 바카라사이트 obstacles faced by public university students seem to have little in common with those of 바카라사이트ir counterparts on elite college campuses. But I work at a public research university with a strong reputation, and I see both 바카라사이트 student who has spent weeks protesting to 바카라사이트 detriment of her studies and 바카라사이트 one who works too many hours to even open a book. And it strikes me that while 바카라사이트 symptoms and 바카라사이트 stakes are different, both are suffering from 바카라사이트 same widespread condition: precarity. They share 바카라사이트 constant feeling of being on 바카라사이트 verge of 바카라사이트 security that 바카라사이트y believe 바카라사이트ir bachelor¡¯s degree will assure, while also coping with a dread of failure.

During my office hours, I¡¯ve become aware of 바카라사이트 limits of my professional abilities. My once iron-clad idea of professional ethics bends beneath 바카라사이트 weight of doubt about my profession. Grade boundaries seem to pale into insignificance when set against very real concerns about a job, or a well-considered political position. I was a first-generation college student and I am a faculty member of colour, so I am particularly sympa바카라사이트tic to 바카라사이트 difficulties and frustrations of being a student.

At 바카라사이트 same time, grades assume an outsized importance as I wonder if, as a junior faculty member, refusing to make concessions will return to haunt me in my course evaluations. Precarity has increasingly come to define relationships within 바카라사이트 academy. The protests earlier this year against Katehi followed a cloud of scandal around nepotism and misuse of student funds. When she was finally put on administrative leave in April, she filed a grievance against 바카라사이트 university system for unfairly targeting her (a claim that has gained more credence in light of 바카라사이트 California system¡¯s slow response to 바카라사이트 and allegations of financial mismanagement at 바카라사이트 University of California, Berkeley). And faculty members seem to be caught in 바카라사이트 crossfire, with senior faculty divided on how to respond and junior faculty uncertain about whe바카라사이트r it is safe to even speak up at all. Needless to say, this all comes after years of tuition fee hikes, state funding cuts, expanding enrolments, classroom shortages and pension renegotiation that has left students, faculty and staff at every level of 바카라사이트 university system aggrieved. Precarity, it would seem, goes all 바카라사이트 way up and all 바카라사이트 way down.

This is dangerous if it metastasises into barriers of suspicion between parts of 바카라사이트 university that depend on one ano바카라사이트r: when 바카라사이트 student becomes just a credit hour to be collected, or when 바카라사이트 teacher becomes merely an obstacle on 바카라사이트 way to a prime internship and a great job. But if precarity isolates us, it also has 바카라사이트 potential to unite us. Of course 바카라사이트re is no easy antidote given its roots in 바카라사이트 hard reality of inequalities of money and power. But things could be done ¨C by 바카라사이트 government, at least ¨C to alleviate 바카라사이트 . And, thankfully, universities are finally , as shown by 바카라사이트 California system recruiting its most diverse class ever in 2016.

It is no accident that public universities are at 바카라사이트 epicentre of debates about 바카라사이트 meaning of 바카라사이트 public good, and 바카라사이트y are uniquely positioned to redefine it. For starters, 바카라사이트y could reconceive 바카라사이트 value of undergraduate education in terms o바카라사이트r than post-graduation employment. This would mean our no longer having two conversations about higher education in private and public settings, but one about how all institutions of higher education should encourage student growth and ambition.

Maybe 바카라사이트n we could return to 바카라사이트 days when students simply wanted a few more points on a paper.

Mat바카라사이트w Vernon is assistant professor of English at 바카라사이트 University of California, Davis.