The Teaching Class by Rachel Riederer

The Teaching Class by Rachel Riederer Of course. “The Teaching Class” is an essay by Rachel Riederer, published in The New Yorker in 2022. It’s a nuanced and critical look at the culture and economics of creative writing Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programs in the United States. Here is a summary of its key points and themes.

Overview

The essay uses the 2022 strike by graduate student workers at Columbia University—many of whom were MFA candidates—as a launching point to explore a central paradox: the romanticized ideal of the writer often clashes with the financial and practical realities of making a living, especially within the very system (academia) that promises to support that life.

Key Themes and Arguments

The “Teaching Class” and the Precarity of the MFA

Riederer argues that many MFA students have become a “teaching class”—a source of cheap, highly educated labor for universities. They teach introductory composition and creative writing courses to fund their degrees.
This labor is often poorly paid, without benefits, and comes with little job security, despite being essential to the university’s undergraduate teaching mission.
The essay highlights the irony that students take on significant debt to enter a program where they must work demanding teaching jobs, leaving them with less time and energy for the writing they came to do.

The Economics of the “MFA Industry”

The piece critically examines the MFA as a business model for universities. It’s a cash cow: programs can be expensive to attend and are cheap to run, as they rely heavily on low-paid graduate students and adjunct faculty to do the teaching.
Riederer questions the return on investment for students. An MFA, particularly from a non-prestigious program, does not guarantee a teaching job, a book deal, or financial stability. It often leads to a cycle of precarious adjunct positions.

The Myth of the Romantic Writer vs. The Reality of the Worker-Writer

The essay contrasts the traditional, romantic image of the writer (solitary, free from worldly concerns, dedicated solely to their art) with the modern reality of the writer as an academic laborer.
Today’s aspiring writer often has to become a professional within the academic system, navigating committees, teaching loads, and departmental politics. Their art becomes intertwined with, and sometimes subordinate to, their role as a university employee.

The History and Critique of the MFA System

Riederer provides historical context, tracing the rise of the MFA program after World War II (partly fueled by the G.I. Bill) and its proliferation.
She touches on long-standing criticisms of MFA programs, such as the charge that they produce homogenized, “workshopped” writing that is technically proficient but lacks bold originality or a distinct voice (sometimes pejoratively called “program fiction”).

Solidarity and Labor Organizing

A significant portion of the essay is dedicated to the Columbia strike, framing it as a logical response to the exploitative conditions.
It portrays MFA students not just as artists, but as workers who are organizing to demand better pay, healthcare, and union recognition. This activism redefines the writer’s identity to include that of a collective labor force.

Notable Quotes and Concepts

While paraphrased, these ideas are central to the essay:

The idea of the MFA as a “patron” system that has failed to live up to its promise, instead creating a dependent underclass of teacher-writers.
The contrast between the romantic ideal of the writer and the bureaucratic reality of being a student-employee.
The observation that for many, the primary outcome of an MFA is not a bestselling novel but “a career of teaching other people how to get an MFA.”

Deeper Analysis: Structure and Argumentation

Riederer doesn’t just present an opinion; she builds a case. The essay’s structure is methodical:

The Teaching Class by Rachel Riederer The Hook – The Strike: It begins with the immediate, tangible reality of the Columbia University strike. This grounds the theoretical discussion in a real-world labor action, making the issues urgent and concrete.
The Historical Lens: It then zooms out to provide history. Riederer discusses the post-WWII boom in MFAs, fueled by the G.I. Bill and the establishment of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop as a model. This historical context is crucial because it shows that the current system wasn’t inevitable; it was constructed.
The Economic Exposé: This is the core of the essay. She breaks down the financial mechanics:
For the University: MFA students are a source of cheap, flexible labor to teach high-demand, low-level undergraduate courses.
For the Student: The “funding” they receive is often a modest stipend in exchange for demanding teaching work, which can impede their creative work and rarely covers the high cost of living in cities like New York.
The Myth-Busting: She directly confronts and dismantles the romantic myths of the writer, contrasting them with the bureaucratic reality of being a student-employee.
The Conclusion – A New Identity: The essay ends by suggesting that the solution and the future lie in collective action. The identity of the writer is expanding to include the identity of the worker.

Key Voices and Evidence Cited

Riederer doesn’t speak in a vacuum. She brings in a chorus of voices to support her argument:

The Strikers Themselves: She quotes MFA candidates like Sarah Stoller, who articulates the core labor issue: “We are workers, we are employees of the university, and we are demanding the things that employees demand.”

Historical and Critical Figures: She references:

Mark McGurl: His seminal book, The Program Era, is essential to understanding the MFA’s impact on American fiction. Riederer uses his framework to discuss how the university system has become the primary patron of literature.
Mark McGurl’s “Systematic Luxury”: She engages with his concept that the MFA program provides a “systematic luxury” of time—but questions who truly has access to that luxury and at what cost.
Anis Shivani and Elif Batuman: She references critics who have argued that MFA programs lead to standardized, “workshopped” fiction that is risk-averse.
The Data Point: The essay highlights a telling statistic from a 2020 survey: “fewer than half of fiction writers… made any money at all from their writing.” This single data point powerfully undermines the economic promise of the MFA.

The Central Paradoxes and Ironies

The essay’s power lies in exposing these contradictions:

The Teaching Class by Rachel Riederer The Patronage Paradox: The university is the modern Medici, but instead of supporting artists, it often puts them to work in its bureaucratic machinery. The “patron” exploits its beneficiaries.
The Time Paradox: Students enter an MFA to buy time to write, but the teaching workload required to fund that time leaves them with little energy or time to write.
The Outcome Paradox: The most reliable career path an MFA creates is not that of a “successful author,” but that of a teacher training the next generation of MFA students, creating a self-perpetuating cycle.

Connection to Broader Conversations

“The Teaching Class” is a key text in several ongoing cultural discussions:

The Adjunctification of Academia: This is not just an MFA problem; it’s a crisis across higher education. The essay shows how creative writing is a microcosm of this larger trend where universities rely on a disposable, underpaid workforce.
The Precarity of the Artist: It speaks to the difficult economic reality for artists in America across all fields—how to sustain a life dedicated to art within a capitalist system.
Unionization and Collective Action: It’s a document of the recent wave of labor organizing in academia and beyond, showing how “unconventional” workers (like artists and graduate students) are claiming power.