September 13 brings a new semester, new students, and the beginning of another year at the University of Toronto. However, as a third-year human geography specialist, this new year also continues the academic disparities I face compared to my fellow students.
The Geography department is one of the oldest at U of T, having just celebrated its 75th year of existence. However, the realities of being a student in this faculty are not always positive. With over 3000 students in Geography, it is hard for me to understand why I face issues with teaching assistant communication and little to no tutorial time.
When I took a first-year course on ancient civilizations with tutorials bi-weekly, I thought nothing of it and continued my adventure in geography for a second year; this time taking five courses within the field. In each of these five courses I received either no tutorials, tutorials once a month, tutorials every third week, TAs whose purpose was only to mark, or TAs students were not able to contact.
Compare this to a fellow student specializing in political science. In his five full year courses he received on average one tutorial per week. Over the course of one 12 week semester, this student had received more than triple the tutorial time I had. Furthermore, a student studying history claimed that even in a course where TAs were set up strictly for the purpose of marking, a class request led the professor to schedule hour long tutorials each week.
Overall, this unevenness has led to specific occasions where my academics were compromised. For example, while taking an urbanization course offered through Innis College the class was given a difficult assignment. Typically, students could speak about the assignment in a tutorial setting, e-mail the professor (or in this case sessional lecturer) or teaching assistants. However in this particular case, with no tutorials and specific instruction not to contact the teaching assistants, fellow students and I received unfair grades on a vague assignment without a platform to ask questions and seek answers. This outcome seemed inevitable.
These disparities have led me to investigate just why my overall university experience is poorer than the experience of some others. It is certainly not the case that I am paying less for my courses; I paid the same $494.30 course fee in the 2009/2010 semester as my political science and history counterparts.
It is also not the case that the geography faculty is smaller or receives less funding than other arts and science departments. For example, the political science department contains approximately 2000 undergraduate students, nearly a thousand less than the geography department. Perhaps then, it is the case that human geography is a smaller stream within the greater geography umbrella? Under closer inspection, this is also not the case. U of T divides them equally.
I am not alone in facing academic disparity. Equity studies students within New College have also faced inequalities. Recent funding cuts to the department created problems with course availability and shortages of professors. With fewer courses offered the demand was higher and so were the waitlists. Furthermore, the university almost decided not to renew the contract of Equity Studies Professor Rod Michalko, which would have severely weakened the department. However, student outcry led to the extension of his contract.
It should not be the case that some students have their academics compromised by such arbitrary decisions. It comes down to students to push for the equity and fairness they deserve. After all, the 2010 financial review states that salaries related to teaching and research are paid for predominantly by student fees and government grants. We all pay the same price for the education we get: shouldn’t we all be getting the same?
