Would you teach for free?

Discussion in 'Online & DL Teaching' started by thomas_jefferson, Sep 19, 2010.

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Would you teach a class or two for free to break into online teaching?

  1. Yes.

    22 vote(s)
    59.5%
  2. Maybe.

    2 vote(s)
    5.4%
  3. No.

    12 vote(s)
    32.4%
  4. I am already established/not a teacher/abstain/etc.

    1 vote(s)
    2.7%
  1. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Not everybody. :mad:
     
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    If you mean trying to get faculty to work for free while still expecting quality, then no, I don't agree either. You need your faculty's professional attention for that to work, and nothing holds people's attention better than writing them a check.

    -=Steve=-
     
  3. okydd

    okydd New Member

     
  4. European liberal nonsense. There should be no minimum wage, let alone a ban against free labor. The internship system, in one form or another, has been working for thousands of years, at the least. Making it illegal would be a horrible intrusion of the government into business.

    I understand your ethical position but using the government to force your beliefs on others is the same as using violence against innocent people. It is unconscionable.
     
  5. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

     
  6. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    What about volunteers? I have worked in healthcare for a long time and hospitals are full of volunteers. Are they taking jobs away from people? If no one volunteered, would those services still be offered?

    How about if you make enough money and want to do a little for free or for $1 because you are in a position to do so? Is it wrong to give back to the community? I swear by the Wall Street speech "Greed is Good" but I also believe in doing something nice with no expection of something in return.

    I volunteered to fix computers and VCRs at a local Humane Society Thrift store a few years ago. I "worked" about 8 hours a month for free. Is that wrong? Did I take something from someone?
     
  7. okydd

    okydd New Member

    I am a volunteer, because there are services that the free market cannot delivery profitable. However, working as adjunct for free to outbid other professionals is just wrong. This is not giving back to society, it's the opposite, it hurts other people.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 24, 2010
  8. okydd

    okydd New Member

    The last time I check the congress, the senate, the judicial system were government institutions. These people have opinions.
     
  9. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    What about working for next to nothing ($100) and donating the money back to the school to help in areas of need? Is that "wrong"?
     
  10. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I think that concerns about quality are well founded but I'd also be happy to let the market solve that problem. A low quality system won't last. Even if there were no teaching salaries to pay, the cost of running even a small operation would quickly outpace the small amount you'd be able to charge for enrollment in an unaccredited no-name school. That is, if it was being run in a legitimate fashion. Virtually the entire staff would have to be volunteers at first as just the cost of advertising could outweigh the money coming in. All startups lose money at first, don't they? You'd need to have a substantial amount of money in the bank just to get started.
     
  11. Dave Wagner

    Dave Wagner Active Member

    I think co-teaching one online class for free would make sense, such as shadowing the regular instructor as part of a mentorship. The next step in the process would be to be paid to teach your first course. Because of labor laws, it is problematic for institutions to have unpaid teachers doing the same work that paid teachers are doing.
     
  12. cravenco

    cravenco New Member

    How about volunteering as a tutor for your local city? That will help not only the kids/adults, but will allow you to place tis on your resume'.

    I am not sure if they have online tutoring that one can volunteer for, but this may help as well.

    I thought I seen on this forum about prison teaching as well, was that free?

    -------

    Ok. To the members who hire teachers, online or not. Does this free teaching thing help or hurt the applicant's chances?
    -------
     
  13. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Hell, why don't we all just pay our respective schools for permission to teach?
     
  14. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    __________
    lol!
     
  15. CornCod

    CornCod Member

    I really had no trouble breaking into adjuncting in both Criminal Justice and History. There is a big demand for CJ right now. However, I managed to adjunct in History, a field where thousands and thousands of unemployed Ph.D's are sitting in gutters starving due to the glut of History degrees. All I did was wave my crummy MA in Social Sciences (with 20 credits in History) in the face of a community college department chair and after waiting three months, got the gig. The only circumstance where I might adjunct for free would be at a religious institution as a kind of "offering."
     

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