The Ethics of Time in Graduate School

When I look around any given graduate class period, I see folks who brings many different experiences to the classroom. A diverse classroom isn't necessarily a new thing; it's been happening since the G.I Bill allowed access to college for the middle class and affirmative action helped those marginalized an opportunity to grow and learn. Though society is slow to react to these newfound human rights, the academy can feel, and indeed be, even slower to react to cultural shifts. Take new media and the digital, for instance. Cyberbullying, trolling, and fake news are only just now gathering the traction they rightfully deserve. My field in particular--rhetoric and composition--tends to be one of the first to attend to and produce literature on such issues and concerns. 

Time itself is abstract so let me break that down in the context of graduate school, particularly in English. Having experiences in two different disciplines, Creative Writing, and Rhet/Comp, there isn't much of a difference in the levels and expectations of production. Both involve heavy writing and reading, obviously. What the university fails to consider are the obligations nontraditional students must juggle between course work and assistantship obligations. There's plenty of research and studies that show that these kinds of students not only exist in every level secondary education (community, state, private, etc.) but there's not a lot understood about the needs of those who pursue postgraduate degrees. 

If it isn't apparent yet, this blog post wants to explore the commodity of time. What does time look like as a graduate student? What does time look like for the graduate student with dependents, like kids or a sick parent/partner? How does the university account for these varying experiences? Speaking from experience, there's a divide between the university's standards of time and that of individual instructors.   

Students with children, who might be older than their peers, and/or are first-generation are identified as nontraditional. With a projection of 14 million non-traditional students by 2024, I still think there's much work to do to meet the needs of the growing demographic of students. The university doesn't hold ethical understandings of work and production. This can be argued for traditional and nontraditional students. The model for production is capitalistic and oppressive, continuing systemic traditions that work as both a gatekeeper and gateway for those who fit the "ideal" candidate. Those who are "traditional" students can work in this oppressive system because they have more commodified time. This might all seem obvious but consider the conditions and requirements of graduate school. For the interest of time, I won't be speaking for students who are able to attend graduate without an assistantship. They are not my audience. 

The graduate assistant is often required to teach, take a full course load (usually 6 credit hours), and, often, sign a contract stipulating they cannot work OUTSIDE of these duties; so no second job. I've known graduate students who, savvy and brave, work a second job. I don't blame them. The stipend package--though the money is helpful--often doesn't align with the local cost of living, despite university studies of the area that claim otherwise, but that's for another post 😄  

I have no suggestions or solutions; this is only to help bring awareness to those who can make a change. To the administrators, deans, presidents, etc. TIME should be considered in both course load and teaching requirements for GA's. Many, many, many of us have dependents we share our time with. These sorts of obligations are not factored into the overall expectations for GA's. Doctor's appointments, rehearsals, plays, PTO meetings, conferences, sick days, general family time, cooking, cleaning...I could go on and on. 

This is directed at those who can make a change, as stated above. To my instructors who, with patience and support, have accommodated the needs of nontraditional students: you're doing the work that the overall university should be doing. It shouldn't be your responsibility entirely. Though these instructors have been paramount to my success and continuation of my degrees, I do understand that they must still work within the confines of a systemically oppressive system, one that's fully adopted a capitalistic model of individualism, ableism, and white supremacism. This effort should be placed on the shoulders of administrators. We must consider time ethically and uniquely for each individual student.