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From: rainbow@ihuxe.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: RE:foreign TA
Message-ID: <926@ihuxe.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 30-Oct-84 13:13:12 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxe.926
Posted: Tue Oct 30 13:13:12 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 31-Oct-84 00:48:01 EST
Sender: rainbow@ihuxe.UUCP
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
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> Are there any other college students out there that have had
> communication problems with a teaching assistant at their 
> respective college?  The University of Lowell where I am currently
> enrolled, is notorious for hiring graduate students to teach very
> difficult courses such as Calculus, Physics or Data structures.

>  
> The real problem is when the school hires a grad student that can
> hardly speak english.  I'm really not biggoted at all, but if they
> are going to hire teachers that hail from some country other than
> the U.S., can't they at least make sure they have a working
> knowledge of the english language?

The problem is that the above mentioned courses are trivial and good
TA's will not want to be bothered with teaching them. Professor's weed
out the students they want for their own purposes. Others with inside
influence and favorable support get the interesting upper level design 
and theory classes to teach. This leaves the bottom of the crop left 
over for low level courses. Hence at that level you tend to see TA's 
who are not at all suitable for the position. Its unfortunate, but there
are always less than adequate members in any group and there is not much
that can be done. And those are the classes they end up teaching because
the more important classes have more clout in obtaining the better TA's.

A former TA in the know,
Robert

PS. Mee kin talka English no bad. Sa vats yo pwobem.