<p>How would you like it if your kid was in a class and one of the TAs was a sophomore?</p>
<p>I ask this from the point of view of the parent of the prospective TA. </p>
<p>My daughter was invited today by one of her professors to be one of the TAs for his course next semester. She is taking the course now and has a very high grade, which is why she was asked. It's a compliment to her, and I think it will be a valuable experience for her. She'll probably do a decent job of it, too. She has tutored before and was good at it. Also, she speaks fluent English, which is more than can be said for a lot of TAs.</p>
<p>But she's a sophomore. Since when are we parents paying astronomical college tuitions to have 19-year-olds doing some of the teaching? </p>
<p>Admittedly, the TAs in this course do not run discussion sections because the course does not have them. They only run office hours and grade papers. But still, even though I'm proud of my daughter and glad that she has this opportunity, the paying-customer part of me is not pleased that the university allows it. If she were a senior, maybe. (My other kid TAed a course as a senior.) But a sophomore?</p>
<p>I don't think I'd be thrilled, Marian. My S will start TA'ing next year. But he will be a third year grad student in a Ph.D. program by that point!</p>
<p>I was floored when my D applied for a similar positon at her HYPS school. Good Heavens, we are paying $50 grand plus and they will be taught by undergrads! Sophomores?!
I think that any class with that situation should be tuition free. Or maybe even tuition negative...
Maybe a big warning to all prospective parents - don't just ask about grad student TA's, ask if any undergrads TA and have input on grades.</p>
<p>I would rather have an English speaking sophomore than a PhD candidate that does not speak English well. Honestly, I am a parent who runs from schools with TAs.</p>
<p>Both of my kids started TA-ing as sophomores at elite schools. It depends what their responsibilities are, I guess. I thought that at one of the schools (a top LAC) the responsibilities were much more appropriate than in the other (a top U).</p>
<p>My daughter is attending a university that has NO TA's at all. We are paying a premium for that, but we feel it is well worth the money. I would not be happy if my kid was being taught by a 20 year old TA who had just taken the course the previous year.</p>
<p>Fluent in English is good, I say it is not the year in school, it is how good a teacher they are. If my freshman DD goes to your DD and gets help and your DD helps her, more power to ya!</p>
<p>There are many, esp ESL, PhD candidates as TAs who should not be!!</p>
<p>It depends what you mean by "TAing." My daughter, a CS major, started grading assignments and tutoring kids who needed help either her sophomore or junior year. She's now a senior. She does not construct or grade tests, give lectures, grade major exams, etc. I think these kids are best called "graders." SHe's applying to grad school now, and one of the best things on her application will be her extensive experience in helping as a teacher's assistant. But she hardly teaches the course.</p>
<p>At other institutions -- most PhD granting institutions -- "TAs" can grade papers, and sometimes lead discussion sections, etc. They are available sometimes for consultations on papers, helping students with work, and so on. This is typical at most of the top 20 universities on CCs list.</p>
<p>If a PhD student is actually teaching the course, they are typically called not a TA but an instructor. Most major research universities use grad students as instructors at some point. I had a teaching fellowship at one of CC's top 20 universities, as did some of my colleagues. We taught undergrad courses. Some of us, I suspect, did better than the professors and others, probably not as well.</p>
<p>I know CCers are typically against having "TAs" teach courses, but it's also true that many of these TAs go on to get teaching positions at top colleges -- including CCs top 20 list -- so the difference between having a TA in their last year of their graduate program and their first year in a college position can be negligible. </p>
<p>Maybe it's how TAs are used, to what extent, the size of the classes, and their skills that really matter, and not whether they are a PhD in progress or a suddenly newly minted PhD with a teaching job.</p>
<p>My D was a TA for two courses last year at Brown. She was a senior. At first, I was surprised but I happen to think she was real good at this. For one class, it was a lecture style course which she had taken in freshman or soph year and then there were sections. The sections were run by TAs, some grad students, some seniors. The TAs had weekly meetings with the professor and certain TAs (they rotated) had to plan out what would be done in sections and they discussed the plans as as group with the professor. My D had to lead her section and also have office hours and grade things. So, she was teaching but it was more discussion leading with a planned agenda. She planned some and other TAs planned some. It was in the field of History of Architecture. While my D was "teaching", it is not like she was the teacher of a class. She was a section leader who followed the professor's plans or ones that the team of TAs thought up. It allowed for small group discussion which cannot be had in the lecture. </p>
<p>The other course she TA'd was in French, several levels lower than her level and I'd say she is fluent. This didn't involve grading papers or a formal agenda. It was leading a section and an opportunity for the students to use French. I don't think you need a professor for these extra foreign language speaking practice discussions. </p>
<p>But hey, my kid was not on the receiving end. She was the TA, LOL. But from what I could tell, the other students liked it.</p>
<p>I'd have no problem with it on either end. Son as a sophomore tutors a bunch of different subjects. I don't think that he'd have any problems lecturing in some subjects.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
I would not be happy if my kid was being taught by a 20 year old TA who had just taken the course the previous year.
[/quote]
a lot of peer-tutoring programs are extremely successful. In part because the tutors are carefully chosen and well trained. In part because some students feel less intimidated, and are able to benefit more when tutored by peers. At well-run programs peer tutoring and TA-ing by undergrads does not come as a replacement for the teaching by the professors, but as an addition to it.</p>
<p>DS, a freshman at an ivy, has been asked to TA beginning foreign language. He's fully fluent and has as deep a background studying the language and it's literature as most college grads. If it's a subject like a language or math or something equally straight forward or quantitative, I'd have no problem.</p>
<p>If she's in a non-instruction position, receives adequate guidance/supervision from the prof (unlikely), and speaks English well, and were capable of doing the job, I wouldn't be that concerned. It'd be superior to the endless numbers of TAs who can't speak intelligible English that my Ds have experienced in math/science/engineering. I think TAs that can't speak intelligible English should have never been hired in the first place whether they're grad students or not. Ditto with the profs. (rant)</p>
<p>My d's going to be a TA for organic chemistry next semester at an elite school and she is a junior. I found this disturbing as I thought all TA's were graduate students.</p>
<p>
[quote]
At well-run programs peer tutoring and TA-ing by undergrads does not come as a replacement for the teaching by the professors, but as an addition to it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I agree. </p>
<p>
[quote]
My d's going to be a TA for organic chemistry next semester at an elite school and she is a junior. I found this disturbing as I thought all TA's were graduate students.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Last year, at first I was surprised my D was a TA as a senior, but then I could see that she wasn't any different than the other grad student TAs for the course. They all knew the material and were capable of leading the sections and met together with the professor. The professor trusted her with this and wrote a rec for her for grad school. I think my D's section students got a lot out of her section. She would frequently tell me how much they seemed to love her sections.</p>
<p>My older Ds school had TAs- but my impression was that it was like when she had TAs in high school.
The TAs were students who had taken the class before- who were very bright and responsible and were a help to the teacher. I think TAs are mostly used in labs?</p>
<p>They didn't lead seminar groups. ( not anymore than others in the class did anyway)</p>
<p>I don't consider an undergraduate student as having the same level of knowledge of the material as a graduate student. I'm not certain what my d's duties will be yet. Some course sections do have TA's teaching classes - I've always assumed they're graduate students.</p>
<p>It's been my experience that the TAs at the small LACs are really course specific tutors. Having a graduate student TA at a university is another story - their responsibilitites can run the gamut from teaching a course on their own, to conducting a breakout "section" for a lecture course to just grading papers. It depends on how responsible the u is regarding their training and supervision, but no matter how good a teacher a person becomes, the first time he or she teaches a course the students can be shortchanged.</p>