Many classes at The University of Memphis, especially generaleducation courses, are not taught by tenured professors, but bygraduate assistants. So is a class any less important if taught bya graduate assistant and not a tenured professor?
According to a recent article featured in the Seattle Times,college courses are being compromised by the use of graduateassistants. The article lists several reasons, including thelanguage barrier between international, or foreign, instructors andAmerican students.
U of M junior Stephanie Suell disagrees.
"I had a foreign graduate assistant for oral comm., and she gave100 percent, especially when it came to speaking in a way that wecould understand her," Suell, 19, said. "Even with her own classes,she went out of her way to help us and if we e-mailed her, shewould e-mail us right back."
The U of M has 343 teaching graduate assistants of the total1,206 assistants, said an Office of Institutional Researchofficial. Within certain general education courses at The U of M,graduate assistants reign supreme. The U of M English Departmenthas 37 graduate assistants, said Susan Fitzgerald, academicservices coordinator of the English department.
"A large number of the English general education courses aretaught by graduate assistants," said Stephen Tabachnick, chair ofthe English department.
The history department has 16 graduate assistants, said chair F.Jack Hurley.
To some students, having a graduate assistant as an instructorhas been better than having a professor.
"My psychology instructor James Gillies is the best teacher Ihave," said Loretha Wright, 19-year-old junior. "He is more lenientthat other professors, and he realizes we have other classesbesides his, which is very important to me with my full load."
Other students may not have had positive experiences with theirgraduate assistants. Freshman Ashley Dwire said she has had a lessthan joyous time in her graduate assistant's class.
"He is arrogant," Dwire, 19, said. "If you tell him stuff, heignores it and gives a reason why he knows more than you do."
The U of M requires that students who teach undergraduatecourses meet certain guidelines. Most importantly, they mustreceive a master's in teaching or have accumulated at least 18graduate semester hours in teaching or a discipline related totheir teaching field, said Jan Brownlee, coordinator for the U of Mgraduate education.
"The graduate assistantship is valuable to their studies,"Brownlee said.
One graduate assistant, who wished to remain nameless, said hehas enjoyed his time as an assistant instructor, but that it hasbeen stressful.
"We are not as qualified for our positions as professors arebecause we don't have the experience they do, but we do knowsomething about our areas of study, and we work hard to pass thaton to our students," he said.
