Comments by "Harry Mills" (@harrymills2770) on "Most Full-Time Professors Don't Even Qualify as Part-Time Workers | Thomas Sowell" video.

  1. University professors typically have 9 contact hours per week one semester, and 6 contact hours per week the second semester. They're expected to be active in the profession, which includes, but is not limited to publishing research. I think 12 hours per week is pretty standard for colleges, and maybe, maybe not release time for research or other professional activities. 15 contact hours per week is pretty standard for a community college, with release time negotiable, depending on other activities deemed valuable to the institution. That seems like part-time work, but it doesn't include the hours spent preparing for lecture or grading student homework. English and especially Mathematics teachers have a heavy grading load, compared to most other professors. The more dedicated you are, the more time you spend giving feedback on the work, because that's how students grow. Older, more experienced teacher don't have as much work to do preparing for lecture. After 10 or 20 years, about all I needed to know was what topic I was covering, and I'd already know all the theorems, examples, talking points, and even the jokes that go with the particular topic. From 8 pages of potential lecture, spilling over into the next lecture, to one page (or less) of the "talking points" for a more experienced lecturer. If you've ever watched a Jordan Peterson college lecture, you might be amazed at what he can do without (m)any notes, but when you consider he's in his 60s and has been giving those talks for over 30 years, the miracle would be still needing a lot of notes to give the talk. It'd be akin to the Rolling Stones coming to a gig with sheet music for "Satisfaction." The rule for students is 2 hours out of class for every hour in lecture. For a professor doing their work thoroughly and efficiently, the figure is about the same. So, a community college professor, who's taught less than 10 years, 15 contact hours per week is 45 hours per week. You can shave that down by experience. Some professors use the same notes every semester, which reduces their prep times. I had a chemistry professor who did that. But when you consider he was running all the labs for his courses, he rarely got that number even close to 40 hours. More like 60 hours. Teachers in the humanities can really cut down the hours devoted to teaching, especially if they're not assigning a ton of written work. I think that's why they are typically the most active (and activist) professors on campus. I think the majority of professors are hard workers, who do their best. But the fact is that a professor who's a slacker can get away with it, if they want. The only thing that decides is the character and work ethic of the professor, and I've seen quite a few older slackers just marking time to their retirement.
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