Low pay, high motivation

The disparity in the compensation of adjuncts (akin to temporary-visiting faculty here) and “tenured” faculty (akin to full-time professors) in American universities as discussed by Ajit Balakrishnan in his article “Hard times on campus” (May 19) evokes comparison vis-à-vis India. Looking at the high standing American universities continue to enjoy, it goes to the credit of the one million adjuncts that their discontent has not come in the way of their work, though they get about 50 per cent of pay given to the permanent ones. In India, the compensation for full-time university faculty is on a par but the quality of teaching is going down.

Besides, in government colleges, fulltime faculty forms the bulk of the teaching staff and yet many of them are rated lower than the private institutions.

The moot point is that in India too much stress is given to “inadequate” pay for the fall in education standards. The American example shows that it has more to do with commitment towards the profession and the motivation to teach.

However, college professors joining workers trade unions in America is a new phenomenon. In India, teachers fight their battle through their own associations. Also, in America, high fees and low faculty pay seem to be the reality, while in India, high fees are coterminous with high faculty remuneration.