Sometimes when I tell people I teach three classes, they will then assume that I work part-time. Or they’ll ask me what I do all day.

For me, three classes means 11-12 hours a week in the classroom. Assuming that is part-time is like assuming Aaron Rodgers works four hours a week.

Teaching itself is only one of a professor’s three main duties: teaching, research and service. That’s pretty standard across the country, not just in Wisconsin.

Here are some numbers.

Let’s say I spend two hours for each hour in the classroom preparing (that number is much higher) which includes: researching the topic, reading the textbook assignment, preparing the lecture, creating the assignments, grading the assignments, writing and grading the exams, preparing handouts, updating information, and more. That brings us to 33 hours per week.

How much time is spent interacting with students? How different that is today than 30 years ago. At that time, there was the telephone – and students would rarely call me at home during off hours (midnight to 8 a.m. weekdays and all day weekends). Now there is email – 24/7.

Then there is meeting with students about job and internship opportunities, writing letters of recommendation, responding to calls about references (for students from last year, 5 years ago, 10 years ago), advising a student group, advising students individually, discussing classroom and personal problems. Let’s call that five hours a week (again, very low ball estimate). Now we’re to 38 hours per week. And my guess is most parents would feel this should be a significant part of my time.

Professors are also supposed to provide service to four levels: the department, the university, the community and the profession. All faculty serve on committees, many of which are extremely time-consuming, such as searches for new hires, examining curriculum to keep it relevant and affordable, and so on to infinity. I recently spent a weekend creating a teaching module for a national organization. So let’s call this 3 hours a week (again, way low). We’ve passed 40 hours.

But much of what tenure, promotion, and raises are based on involves creating new knowledge, or research. This could be creating a national survey, assembling results, analyzing and writing, then finding a publisher or a conference at which to present. Or it could be a book chapter. Or a whole book, textbook or other. Or new media. Or writing a play or piece of music or finding a new species, depending on the department. All this activity comes after the 41-hour week.

Then there are duties difficult to categorize. I get about 200 emails a day, some of which are requests from students, some of which are list servs that help keep me up to date. I can’t read a newspaper or magazine without clipping out something I will use in class. The past several years, I’ve spent countless hours getting our program certified, and petitioning to have the public relations emphasis made into a major.

And then there is summer. People often envy professors for having summers “off”. The only thing we have off during the summer is a paycheck. Faculty members are expected to continue all of their duties during the summer – why else would meetings be scheduled?

In reality, most surveys show faculty work between 50-60 hours per week. The discrepancy between perception and reality is based on the fact that we get to choose which 60 hours. Just drive by your local campus at any time or day. I’ve been in my office working on Christmas Day, Easter, at 4 in the morning – and I’ve never been in the building alone.

We’ve had many adjunct professors in our department, that is, professional people who teach one class on the side. Without exception, each one has said the same thing at the end of the semester – “I didn’t think it would take so much time.”

Nobody does.