by Shaik Osman Majid

I recently received an offer to teach, on a part-time basis, at an established private college. The first course was “News Management,” designed for final year undergraduates. The second, “Basic Journalism” was framed for a combined group of first- and sec ond-year students. All were enrolled in a mass communications course leading to a degree (which will be awarded by a public university through a twinning [transfer] program). As a journalist with 23 years of experience and a former teacher, I would have had little difficultly handling the two courses. I like to believe my strength, besides writing, is teaching, a role I often also executed when I was an editor. I, however, politely declined the invitation. The reason I gave was, while I was flattered by the headhunting procedure through which I was traced to my home, the proffered rate of RM100 ($26.31) an hour was unflattering.

But there were other reasons why I refused to take the job. From the short conversation, it was clear that the private institution was desperate to secure part-time help for a full-time job. The teaching load required four hours of teaching and two hours of tutorials a week over a three-month-long semester. Moreover, I was told that classes would commence on June 10th while the job offer came on June 5th. It was disturbing to learn that a reputable college, allied with an established public university, would attempt to rope in a teacher on five days’ notice to teach final-year undergraduates.

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