Not getting your money's worth out of your Education?
I am having an ongoing problem with teaching assistants (TAs). I have a science-dominated major, and all of my labs and recitations have been instructed by TAs. I am aware that a person must be intelligent and experienced in his/her respective field in order to be accepted in to such a program and position; however, subject intelligence does not mean that the person can teach the subject or is a good person for that matter. Currently, one of my TAs, who will remain nameless, is a superb example. Her classroom and human ethics are tremendously lacking. She is rude and inconsiderate to all of the students, shows up late to a fifty-minute class, accuses the class of asking too many questions which run into the quiz time, and ultimately, does not teach the relevant subject matter until the quizzes and homework assignments have been taken. The professor relies on these TAs to teach the students how work out the problems because he does not have time in class to do so, and what little she does teach is not inclusive of all the subject material, so my tuition is paying for this person NOT to teach me. As a result, my grades are suffering tremendously. Complaints to the professor have been ignored because he thinks that her knowledge of the subject means that she can teach, and he is sorely mistaken. I also have one more element to consider. In no way am I a racist or prejudice person, but since communication is essential for teaching, people who cannot speak the native language of the country in which they teach should not be allowed to hold teaching or instructing positions. For example, Americans living in foreign countries should not attempt to teach students who cannot speak English. Even though this is not the case of my current TA, he/she is still an ineffective instructor.

5 Comments:
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I understand your frustration, as I am also a science major and have had problems with TA's. If this TA is so ineffective, then it may be worth your while to spek to a department head instead of just the instructor.
TA's as lab teachers are so ineffective. I have had several problems with that situation, and found going the the instructor to cause more of a problem. I believe it is best to talk to a head
It sounds like you are talking about my biochem ta from this semester(which I had to drop the class). It is so frustrating to have an incompetent TA who is resonsible for so much.
Yeah I have also encountered the same problems with T.A.'s. I have also had the same language barrier problem with profs. as well as T.A.'s. The only way to change this is to talk to the Dept. head.
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