Abstract
Higher education, particularly in the U.S., is in crisis. The crisis stems from a contradiction that requires educators and universities to prioritize two conflicting missives: care and efficiency. This work draws on social theory and empirical social science research, and the case-study experiences of a first-generation, nontraditional college student turned pandemic-era professor to interrogate the political, economic, and historical roots of the contradiction. At the micro-level lies the experience of teaching and learning through difficult times, produced ultimately as byproducts of modernity. At the macro-level, the neoliberal political-economic regime structures higher education's responses to said crises, serving to deepen rather than address the contradiction. At the meso-level, public schools have long faced contradictory missives and public pressures to accomplish what could not be accomplished elsewhere. Drawing on these elements, paths forward are sketched for higher education, supplementing theory with public opinion research on higher education.
TopHigher Education And Care Work In Difficult Times
By care work I mean activities broadly associated with face-to-face care, particularly of vulnerable populations (Wade & Ferree, 2019, p. 339). This term has historically referred to caring for and educating children, but also is used to describe those who care for older persons, persons with long-term or chronic illness, and persons with disabilities. At first glance, arguing that universities are engaged in care work may seem controversial. University students are typically legal adults, and even for those who fall into one or more of the above categories, care work would seem to fall outside the purview of educating adults. The average age of college students has in fact trended upward as an increasingly segmented and precarious labor market has sent growing numbers of adult learners back to school for reskilling and credentialing (Sweet & Meiksins, 2021, pp. 73-82). However, these nontraditional adult learners, alongside low-income students and students of color, more often attend universities and colleges that are underresourced, accentuating other disparities that these groups, on average, already face when entering college (Weissman, 2021). On average, students who struggle more are served by college faculty and staff who have fewer resources to assist them. This inevitably means finding ways to do more with less—caring more efficiently. A person asked to do so is likely to, and perhaps must, care in the first place to make a vocation out of perpetually confronting such a dilemma, drawing those who care into a neoliberal nexus of efficiency, which in turn undercuts their ability to do so.