Note to TAs doesn’t make the gradeJericho:Your (Jan. 8) essay on teaching assistants (TAs) at U of T is well-written and makes some provocative arguments, but it suffers from a number of problems that I discuss below. I’m not sure how TAs can be considered a “strange breed of animal” or how TAs are “one of the most abnormal aspects of education at U of T.” TAs are very much part of the normal working of all medium and large universities in Canada and the United States. Indeed, universities work because TAs do. Your characterization of TAs as “hungry, vicious, unrelenting” puzzles me. Some TAs could very well be hungry (do you know what we earn?) but I think you’re on shaky ground in suggesting that we are student-eaters. Honestly, Jericho, cannibal TAs? I think that claim is unfounded.You claim that “most TAs make their careers and reputations by being ridiculously difficult markers.” First of all, TAing is not a career. Most TAs (at U of T and elsewhere) are graduate students who are trying to finance their way through their studies. We may or may not be aiming at becoming a professor, but either way, working as a TA is transitory.Second, TAs don’t make up “draconian” grading guidelines on their own, and they don’t mark with impunity. It is professors who are ultimately responsible for the marks in their classes. TAs’ marks are always subject to the professor’s oversight and (if necessary) revision—either up or down (I know of both happening). I think this casts serious doubt on your argument about TAs having too much power.I wasn’t aware that there was a toughest-marker competition in each academic department. Maybe no one told me because I wasn’t even in the running last term, or more likely, no such competition exists. All of these problems detract considerably from your essay grade.Grade: D+ N.B.: Please see me during office hours before your next written assignment is due. Timothy B. GravellePh.D. student in Political Scienceand Junior Fellow of Massey CollegeAnd furthermore…I found the article “Note to TAs” (8 Jan.) unfair, ill-informed, and unnecessarily superlative. As a U of T graduate and current graduate student/TA myself at UBC, I feel the comments made in this article are not wholly representative or accurate. That a TA would be “out to get” a particular student seems ludicrous. As we often do not know the student whose paper we are grading, holding a vendetta or personal grudge is impossible. In addition, I fail to see how TAs have “too much to prove” by being overly difficult.Contrary to Kingston’s argument, TAs do not make their teaching careers by being harsh markers, but rather by helping and consulting with students that come and see them. The positive comments we receive from students carry more weight than being a ruthless grader. I would like to know where Kingston learned of an alleged “toughest marker” prize. We have no such prize at UBC and I strongly doubt one exists at U of T. I may also safely say that a regulatory marking system exists at UBC, with established means and variances suggested for many courses. The simple fact is that most TAs are TAs so they may earn money while in graduate school. Professors are busier than many students might otherwise believe and so graduate students, who benefit in skills and finances acquired, do these otherwise “professorial” jobs. That some TAs are better than others goes without saying, but to condemn the whole lot is uncalled for. Craig NathansonUC 0T1
