Why counsel students to avoid becoming educators
01/02/11 19:32 Filed in: Education
Students often tell me that they would like to earn a PhD and become a theological or biblical educator, as I am. My counsel to them, if they are really asking for counsel, is not to do it unless they know absolutely that they are called by God. They then ask, Why?
1. It is unlikely that the church or any institution will assist you in gaining your Ph.D. It will be money out of your pocket that you are unlikely to earn back for reasons that will appear below.
2. In every denomination I have been able to check educators are paid less than pastors with equivalent experience. Pastors, of course, are often paid less than what the pastor could have earned had they stopped at the BA. So each degree is a financial loss.
3. Once one is armed with a Ph.D. there is the problem of getting a job. Many institutions now are hiring fewer professors of any rank and instead filling in with adjuncts. An adjunct is very much at the bottom of the pond, so to speak, for they have no security (next term there may be no classes or fewer classes for them) and no benefits and receive the least desirable classes. In many institutions an adjunct would have to teach 10 classes per year to make $25000 or $35000, compared to a full load of 6 to 8 classes for the full-time faculty member. And often institutions do not pay the full amount to the adjunct should class size be below a certain level, but rather drop the compensation depending on the number of students (although they do not increase the amount should the class be larger than a certain size). As a result the adjunct often needs to have a second job, often as a pastor, but still needs to publish and keep up with their field. And there is no certainty that they will ever be more than an adjunct, although like the ill people around the Pool of Bethesda in the Fourth Gospel, they rush for the water every time a full-time position is advertised (which position may well go to someone who is from outside of the area). Another result of this is that the full-time faculty carry heavier burdens of administration and advising that would be the case if all teaching were done by full-time faculty.
4. As an educator one will have to keep writing and researching, but must realize that this will generally not be recognized by the church, and simply assumed by the educational institution. This work will rarely be remunerated above minimum wage. Scholarly writing may not make money at all, but is necessary if one is to be accepted in the guild. Even a work that is less scholarly, in my case, that is aimed at pastors and educated laypersons, is not likely to earn a lot. Perhaps one makes minimum wage for the work, perhaps a bit more, perhaps a bit less. There are those who earn lots of money from writing, but it is usually writing with little scholarly merit.
5. Sometimes institutions will treat one poorly. First, there are politics in any institution involving people. Second, institutions may downsize in harder economic times. Third, sometimes they push out older, more expensive scholars and replace them with younger, less expensive scholars (or with adjuncts). Fourth, sometimes institutions either cut pay or suspend paying their instructors. For instance, one distance education institution that I have written courses for has not paid the appropriate royalties for some six years now, although I know that at least one of the courses has been used regularly. The instructor, especially the course author, is often last in line for remuneration.
6. Your church may not respect you. In one denomination I worked with, a multi-decade pastor shifted to teaching at the pastoral training institution of the denomination so as to share his experience with the rising generation (and he did that well and did that devotedly). When retirement time came, he did receive a pension, although not as large as it would have been had he stayed in church ministry, but unlike the pastors retiring that year, he was not honored by his denomination. This slight may be a bit more extreme, but it is not that unusual in its nature.
This list is not sour grapes, but how I actively work to discourage those headed into the profession. If they are called, then they will take a clear, cold look at the negatives (and the list could be longer) and say, Yes, but I am called; I can do no other. Those are the students to whom I say, God bless you. And as you go on, keep in touch. I am ready to advise and assist you in any way I can. You may not wish or need it, but know that it is always available. I want to walk with them on their journey.
And as for me, I could do no other. Nor can I do anything else. I am called. And I hope that I will continue in theological education until I am ready for the casket. It is a calling, a profession, like a monastic profession, and I would only want to retire if I could use retirement income to pursue my calling for free in a situation where the institution could not pay (not where they were being cheapskate). I do not regret the hardships, for I have found God faithful. But at the same time I recognize the hardships and realize that if one does not know that one is called, does not know it absolutely, does not realize that they can do nothing else, they are likely to end up sourly doing something else and, often as not, angry at the church and its educational institutions, perhaps worse. It is better to avoid that fate if one can. So I continue to ask my students whether they know that they know that they are called, and if they are not, I advise them to find some other type of work.
1. It is unlikely that the church or any institution will assist you in gaining your Ph.D. It will be money out of your pocket that you are unlikely to earn back for reasons that will appear below.
2. In every denomination I have been able to check educators are paid less than pastors with equivalent experience. Pastors, of course, are often paid less than what the pastor could have earned had they stopped at the BA. So each degree is a financial loss.
3. Once one is armed with a Ph.D. there is the problem of getting a job. Many institutions now are hiring fewer professors of any rank and instead filling in with adjuncts. An adjunct is very much at the bottom of the pond, so to speak, for they have no security (next term there may be no classes or fewer classes for them) and no benefits and receive the least desirable classes. In many institutions an adjunct would have to teach 10 classes per year to make $25000 or $35000, compared to a full load of 6 to 8 classes for the full-time faculty member. And often institutions do not pay the full amount to the adjunct should class size be below a certain level, but rather drop the compensation depending on the number of students (although they do not increase the amount should the class be larger than a certain size). As a result the adjunct often needs to have a second job, often as a pastor, but still needs to publish and keep up with their field. And there is no certainty that they will ever be more than an adjunct, although like the ill people around the Pool of Bethesda in the Fourth Gospel, they rush for the water every time a full-time position is advertised (which position may well go to someone who is from outside of the area). Another result of this is that the full-time faculty carry heavier burdens of administration and advising that would be the case if all teaching were done by full-time faculty.
4. As an educator one will have to keep writing and researching, but must realize that this will generally not be recognized by the church, and simply assumed by the educational institution. This work will rarely be remunerated above minimum wage. Scholarly writing may not make money at all, but is necessary if one is to be accepted in the guild. Even a work that is less scholarly, in my case, that is aimed at pastors and educated laypersons, is not likely to earn a lot. Perhaps one makes minimum wage for the work, perhaps a bit more, perhaps a bit less. There are those who earn lots of money from writing, but it is usually writing with little scholarly merit.
5. Sometimes institutions will treat one poorly. First, there are politics in any institution involving people. Second, institutions may downsize in harder economic times. Third, sometimes they push out older, more expensive scholars and replace them with younger, less expensive scholars (or with adjuncts). Fourth, sometimes institutions either cut pay or suspend paying their instructors. For instance, one distance education institution that I have written courses for has not paid the appropriate royalties for some six years now, although I know that at least one of the courses has been used regularly. The instructor, especially the course author, is often last in line for remuneration.
6. Your church may not respect you. In one denomination I worked with, a multi-decade pastor shifted to teaching at the pastoral training institution of the denomination so as to share his experience with the rising generation (and he did that well and did that devotedly). When retirement time came, he did receive a pension, although not as large as it would have been had he stayed in church ministry, but unlike the pastors retiring that year, he was not honored by his denomination. This slight may be a bit more extreme, but it is not that unusual in its nature.
This list is not sour grapes, but how I actively work to discourage those headed into the profession. If they are called, then they will take a clear, cold look at the negatives (and the list could be longer) and say, Yes, but I am called; I can do no other. Those are the students to whom I say, God bless you. And as you go on, keep in touch. I am ready to advise and assist you in any way I can. You may not wish or need it, but know that it is always available. I want to walk with them on their journey.
And as for me, I could do no other. Nor can I do anything else. I am called. And I hope that I will continue in theological education until I am ready for the casket. It is a calling, a profession, like a monastic profession, and I would only want to retire if I could use retirement income to pursue my calling for free in a situation where the institution could not pay (not where they were being cheapskate). I do not regret the hardships, for I have found God faithful. But at the same time I recognize the hardships and realize that if one does not know that one is called, does not know it absolutely, does not realize that they can do nothing else, they are likely to end up sourly doing something else and, often as not, angry at the church and its educational institutions, perhaps worse. It is better to avoid that fate if one can. So I continue to ask my students whether they know that they know that they are called, and if they are not, I advise them to find some other type of work.