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It seems criminal to me that Universities are allowed to have teaching assistants teach classes. Aren't they supposed to be the assistants, not the teachers? I
by ohyes 16y ago
It seems criminal to me that Universities are allowed to have teaching assistants teach classes. Aren't they supposed to be the assistants, not the teachers?
It seems OK to have them help with grading or tutoring, but teaching the entire class? Why do we allow Universities that do this to remain accredited? Why do students put up with it? In more expensive places, you are paying a TA's entire yearly pay for 4 classes.
- scott_s 16y agoI would agree with you if there was a connection between the quality of the teaching and whether or not the teacher is a professor or a TA, but I don't think there is. Professors are hired for their ability to do research, not teach. Many see it as a chore. And TAs are - in my experience - only allowed to be the instructor of record when they've been around for a while. Personally, one of my best math teachers in undergrad was a grad student. He was leagues better at teaching than all but two of the math professors I had. I also had two TAs who ran recitation sections (homework help and extra discussion) who were excellent. The TA who ran the recitations sections for one of my physics classes was a far better teacher than the professor for the course, and I would have preferred he teach the class. I taught a class when I was a grad student. It was a summer course on intro to programming for non-majors. My department historically asks some grad students to teach the summer classes. Several of my students told me they were thankful that they got a good teacher.