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Comment by Cheer2171 | Hacker News Reader

> I've taken Extension courses from UCSC and from Stanford, and was never under any illusion that the teachers were affiliated with the schools

What does this mean? Someone from those schools hired a teacher to teach a class sold under their schools brand. That's an affiliation. If the teacher dropped out and you didn't get a refund, you would sue those schools.

What this seems like are schools outsourcing their hiring to private companies. It's a problem precisely because the random teachers get affiliated with the school.

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Extension or no, university courses (especially undergraduate courses) are often taught by underpaid lecturers, adjuncts, and grad students, sometimes hired on a term-by-term basis.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing for students. At research universities, there is little reason to expect that a tenured faculty member would actually be a better teacher than some random lecturer; faculty are incentivized for fundraising and research rather than teaching. Moreover, experienced faculty may have little recollection of what it was like to actually learn the course material before it became second nature to them.

Courses typically cover the same material, and the syllabus is usually about the same, irrespective of instructor.

> That's an affiliation.

Wrong. The teachers aren't professors of any type, or student assistants, or even employees. Their classes don't give credit towards a degree.

They're contractors.

> It's a problem precisely because the random teachers get affiliated with the school.

Wrong again. I haven't taught a class at UC Berkeley Extension, but if I had, I would not be entitled to say I was "affiliated with Berkeley."

> Wrong. The teachers aren't professors of any type, or student assistants, or even employees. Their classes don't give credit towards a degree. They're contractors.

From Miriam Webster:

affiliated, adjective, af· fil· i· at· ed ə-ˈfi-lē-ˌā-təd: closely associated with another typically in a dependent or subordinate position

What you are saying is like saying "I've taken car rides from Uber and from Lyft, and was never under any illusion that the drivers were affiliated with the companies"

If your organization sells services that are fulfilled by contractors who are vetted by your organization and branded with your organization's logos, then those contractors are affiliates of your organization.

It's nice you can use a dictionary.

In the real world of universities, though, there's a clear distinction between professors, grad students, and Extension teachers. No matter what your dictionary says.

Classic game that universities love to play where they hire someone but that person isn’t “really” part of the university. Happens with extension but happens in degree granting programs too with adjuncts.

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