Caine: Students and teachers suffer when money is scarce

By Eric Caine

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There was a time when education in California was immune to economic ups and downs. That time began to end with the passage of Proposition 13 more than 30 years ago. Since then, the destruction of what was once the greatest educational system in the world has proceeded in sporadic but relentless fashion. The current budget mess has only emphasized how bad things really are.

At Merced College, the only thing people know for certain is that classes will be cut. How many and which classes are yet to be determined. The cuts will arrive during a time of rising enrollment and increased demand for classes.

Students will have fewer choices, longer lines and less manageable schedules. For those who must juggle work, family and school, school may be out of the question if class times aren't available. But the plight of the students is less severe than that of many part-time faculty.

Especially since the effects of Proposition 13 began to kick in with a vengeance, community colleges have become ever more dependent on cheap labor provided by part-time faculty, who are often known as "freeway flyers" because they must drive from campus to campus to make a living.

Rules permit part-timers to carry only half a full schedule at any one campus; they make up the difference flying the freeway to distant colleges.

Half a schedule does not mean half pay, however. Part-time faculty receive an hourly wage with no benefits and usually do not have offices. In order to teach, they must have at least the minimum educational credentials full-timers have, in most cases a master's degree, but they are the last to choose classes and the first to be laid off when classes are cut. They can be bumped any time a full-time faculty member decides to take one of their classes. Many will be out of work during the economic crisis.

When people think of "the government," they rarely put a face on the abstraction they invariably conceive of as wasteful and inefficient, but part-time community college faculty make up a big part of "the government," as do out-of-work art and music teachers whose classes at the K-12 level have been eliminated by slashed government budgets.

At the schools that still have art and music classes, there is a never-ending struggle for supplies. Art teachers in particular must improvise materials; they frequently lack paint, brushes, colored pencils and the other materials necessary for their students.

The conventional wisdom says government is a bloated, overfunded beast, relentlessly gobbling tax dollars. A close look at the educational system in California suggests too many California citizens have succumbed to group-thinking and are in denial about the real costs of social services.

Private enterprise is frequently touted as the supreme model for efficiency, especially when compared with government. People tend to forget that private enterprise has its own body of wisdom and laws. One adage all businessmen learn at an early age tells them, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Another, all too easily forgotten, reminds them, "You get what you pay for."

Caine, a Modesto resident, teaches in the humanities department at Merced College. E-mail him at columns@modbee.com.