Graduate Students Teaching College Classes
 

Has anyone else had to deal with this? I'm finishing up college this year and am suffering through a sociology class being taught by a graduate student. I have little motivation to come to class (I go anyway) because she rarely does anything but read from the power point slides, which are posted online. She also seems like one of those students out to prove something by making the classes needlessly over-structured and time consuming. I'm a little frustrated that I'm devoting just as much time with this 100 level class as my 600 level class, thanks to all the busy work. She is a failed real estate agent/developer going through grad school, teaching 50 students at a pay of $1100 for the course.

Looking back on my transcript, I've had 10 grad students as instructors through my college career, and with the exception of 3 or 4 bright bulbs, I've had to suffer through folks that have little idea how to conduct class. One Spanish teacher comes to mind that still had not fully grasped English Grammar or pronunciation, not only making learning difficult, but was cruel to us during the pronunciation portion of the final. Another could not set aside the personal issues she was going through which would boil over in class, regularly stepping out in the hallway to have heated discussions with someone over the phone. She would also without notice not show up to class. When someone complained, the behavior was corrected, but she conducted class very coldly for the remainder of the semester.

While its annoying, I can deal with being a guinea pig while these instructors find their teaching style, but what I don't understand is why I pay the same for a grad student loser as a tenured PHD professor. If I'm getting half the quality or less of an education, I would expect to pay less. I'm paying more to attend a major University, is it so much to expect qualified instructors?

It also makes me question how my University is having so much budgeting issues when a quarter of my college career is being taught by instructors at such a low wage the 4 of an average 30 students per class cover their wage.

Rant over... Time for wiser folks to tell me I'm being a whiny brat and need to work harder. ;)

I had several in college. Most were not very good. A few were. The same was true of the professors. Most of them had the attitude of, "I'm here to do research, and these undergraduates are a waste of my time." Not all were like that, but a lot were. And then there was the math department. Most were from China and couldn't speak English for crap.

I don't give a damn anymore because I'm done. But I have a human resources class which I hate and its BS. She gives out a lot of busy work which at this point I simply refuse to do. I have been in school a long time don't insult me with BS. I'm only doing some of it because my foot is broke and I have nothing better to do. If I was working I wouldn't. Why should I its only worth 10%, getting a c insted of a b or a hardly matters at this point.


I have been very lucky, all of my professors have been pretty good. Other than not being able to understand some of them because they don't speak English well.

My professors in the business and political science programs were mostly great with a few exceptions. With grad students, most were poor, with a few exceptions.

Consider the fact that more than 50% of college courses are taught by part-time instructors and the extent of the problem becomes obvious. $1100 is piss poor pay for a 3 credit college class at a university, graduate student or not. We pay more at a CC.
There's actually no guarantee that a tenured professor will be a better teacher. There are pretty good incentives at a lot of universities not to be a good teacher because it is not rewarded as well as being a good researcher.
For 100 and 200 level courses, I think the odds are you'll get a better instructor at a CC.

Yup, that part of the economics of a University. The professors are under quite a bit of pressure to publish and bring in grant money, and teaching 100 level under-grad classes is not a priority for many of them. Allowing grad students to obtain teaching and research fellowships not only reduces their salary costs but helps them attract grad students. The down side is that the undergrads get to suffer through someone learning to teach. Maybe it's helping to control the cost of tuition, but it's still a PITA. You should get a teaching fellowship when you're in grad school and take revenge on some unsuspecting undergrads.

Now that I think of it I only had one business professor who wasn't that great. He was fresh out of school and had zero real world experiance. So all his lectures were based on the book without anything helpfull thrown in. Most of my other professors were very experianced and brought that to the class.

I taught a 3 credit course at a local college (not university) for less money than that (for resume enhancement prior to quitting my job and becoming a consultant). The fact is that no-one is very interested in low level undergrad classes.

Which college? I used to teach at Columbia College which is out in your direction.

That has been my trend in the last few years. I went from a very nice GPA to mediocre in the last few years. I know what I want to do, I don't care much about school anymore, but I want to finish what I started, and since its a pre-requisite to not looking like a fool nowadays I don't have much of a choice.

Metro State College in Denver. I taught a 400 level engineering technology elective for a couple of evening semesters in about 1996. Mostly older students working on degrees at night. Lots of fun, no money, looked pretty good on my resume. I didn't like the politics so I didn't want to be any more involved than a part-time instructor at the time. Now I travel too much to do any teaching. I keep thinking about getting a full-time teaching gig when I get tired of traveling and "retire."

I used to teach there in the late 80's and early 90's.

Small world, what do you teach?

Philosophy

Just like there can be graduate students with poor teaching skills, there are also plenty of professors that have poor teaching skills. Some are professors to solely do research, others love the education process. Some of the best courses I've had, have been taught by neither graduate student, nor professor, but by staff members.


Putting it into perspective, how much training do you think the foreign (or domestic) graduate students get on teaching?

I've been a TA, RA, GTA and GRA...I like research, and I like teaching. That's not the case for every graduate student that has had a position offered to them. For many, it's simply a financial means.

PS. If you are lucky enough to have the names of the course lecturer / teacher / professor announced while you are selecting courses, ratemyprofessors.com (or like websites) is/are a valuable tool(s).