Despite some controversy about the supply of teaching assistants for undergraduate courses, a recent Herald poll found that the majority of undergraduate students are satisfied with the number of TAs in their classes.
Of students polled, 76.6 percent reported being either "very" or "somewhat satisfied" with the number of TAs in their courses, with 34.1 percent saying they were "very satisfied." Only 17.9 percent reported being "somewhat" or "very dissatisfied."
Students, in general, weren't surprised by these results.
Benjamin Friedman '09 said respondents "are going to answer that they're satisfied because most students don't talk to their TAs." He speculated that the results would have been different if students wanted one-on-one interaction with their TAs.
Elizabeth Schaja '11, who said she was "pretty satisfied" with the number of TAs in her courses, also speculated that poll respondents would say they were satisfied because they don't go to discussion sections. She said she has classes for which section is optional, and "usually people don't go."
Friedman, who has worked as a TA in the Department of Geology, said that when he offered to give help or review sessions, "barely anyone reached out."
"I think the big problem is that students don't seek out TAs enough," he said.
The poll also showed that first-years and sophomores were more likely to be satisfied with the number of TAs in the courses than juniors and seniors.
Friedman, a senior, said he is "quite satisfied" with the number of TAs in his classes.
But Rachel Katz '10 said she thinks her macroeconomics class, ECON 1210: "Intermediate Macroeconomics" has too few TAs. They don't respond to e-mails or hold review sessions, she said. In another of her courses, SOC 1620: "Globalization and Social Conflict," the professor had to cut down on the number of exams he offered because he doesn't have enough TAs for the class, she said. Katz added that before these two courses she "never had a problem" with TAs.
Despite the undergraduate satisfaction rate, The Herald reported in October that the faculty was dissatisfied with the number of graduate TAs since there is not a large enough graduate student population to support the growing faculty.
For example, Patrick Heller, associate professor of sociology, who teaches the "Globalization and Social Conflict" class Katz is in, said that he had to reduce the number of exams in his course because he does not have enough graders. He said he "suspects that there is a shortfall" in TAs.
Kay Warren, professor of anthropology, said she is "concerned as a faculty member who teaches a very large class that there will be sufficient TAs to cover the class." She added that the success of the course, ANTH 1251: "Violence and the Media," which she taught last spring, relied on a dedicated and available group of TAs to help students work through complex material and issues. Warren is not teaching the course this spring because she can not call for a large number of TAs every spring.
"We all have to adjust" to the realities of current TA availability, she said, adding that professors need to consider capping courses or changing the organization of the course according to the number of TAs they have.
"There just aren't enough graduate students available to TA," he said. In the sociology department, they haven't been able to meet the one TA per 50 students ratio, he said.
Yet Dean of the Graduate School Sheila Bonde called the ratio a "rule of thumb," not official policy. She added that the Graduate School has been funding a stable number of TAs for several years.
Bonde said the poll results "gratified (her)" and that she's "happy when people are happy." The Graduate School "monitor(s) very closely" the satisfaction of academic departments with a variety of issues, including the supply of TAs, by meeting with the chairs and administrative assistants of each department to discuss issues, she said.
Heller said he suspects that TAs and faculty are "self-exploiting," pushing themselves to do more work in order to maintain the quality of the course. Many professors are using "patchwork solutions," so they're meeting the need, but have had to adjust, he said.
"This year seems to be especially bad" but it's "always been very tight," Heller said. He's "never seen a surplus."
James Doyle, a Ph.D. student and president of the Graduate Student Council, said some graduate students are taking on heavier teaching loads, he added. He knows other grad students who are having to teach larger sections than usual, which means more work grading and answering questions, he said. It can be a challenge for grad students to find the balance between their TA work and researching, Doyle added.
The Herald poll was conducted Oct. 27 and Oct. 28 and has a 3.6 percent margin of error with 95 percent confidence. A total of 649 Brown undergraduates completed the poll, which was administered as a written questionnaire to students in the University Post Office at J. Walter Wilson, outside the Blue Room in Faunce House and in the Sciences Library.
