THE University Daily KANSAN
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
Tuesday, November 10, 1981 Vol. 92, No.57 USPS 650-640
TA's inexperience, language cause problems
Assistants outnumber professors assume classroom responsibilities
By LISA MASSOTH Staff Reporter
Gael Martin, St. Louis junior, had a bad experience with a biology teaching assistant.
"I hated him," she said. "We never did lab experiments. The professor came in (to the lab) and was so surprised he'd given us such a hard test. Practically everyone flunked it."
"Biology had been my favorite subject.
After that, I Taked It."
It's a story familiar to anyone who has attended a large university: 'TAs can make those first years at college even more difficult.
"Undergraduates are not experimental animals," said Dennis Quinn, professor of English. "Let teaching assistants learn on them." "They make lots of mistakes and the student suffer."
Teaching assistants affect almost every undergraduate's life at some point, usually in a major.
TEACHING ASSISTANTS greatly out-
number professors at the University of
Kansas City.
Lindy Eakin, assistant to the dean of liberal arts and sciences, estimated there were about 706 to 750 TAs in liberal arts and a total of about 850 TAs at the University.
But is this as it should be?
Quinn and others do not think so.
"Freshmen here encounter a high percentage of faculty without a Ph.D.," he said. "Most of the classes they take are taught by students. This does not seem to me to be right."
Quinn said he thought freshmen and sophomores were entitled to the benefit of a
John Senior, professor of classics, agreed and said he did not think Tas should have full control.
"A TA ought to be an assistant of a professor," he said. "I think it's very dangerous for the University to turn over books or more classes to be a lab for graduate students."
However, Quinn didn't want to imply that all TAs were bad.
"I think some of these graduate students are very conscientious, are keenly interested in teaching and some of them do a very good job. I think they're not fully qualified," he said.
Quinna also sympathized with TAs because of their salaries.
"they're grossly underpaid," he said.
But there is no doubt the University saves money.
"The whole reason we use TAs is because
the are cheaper than professors," Eakin
said.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Comparison of Teaching Assistants
Gerhard Zuther, chairman of the English department, thought the University was the best institution for a good bachelor's degree.
"As a teacher students, generate credit hours and get more money for the University," he
The office of academic affairs allocates $10,100 to each department for the equivalent of a full-time TA. Because most TAs are half time or less, their salary should be about $5,050. It is up to each department to dole out the money as it sees fit.
a half-time, one who teaches two-three
course classes, is the base figure in academic
learning.
Many teaching assistants do not think they are paid enough for the work they do.
Barry Hughes, a psychology TA, said, "We teach a lot of people, and I don't sure we have enough."
Departments No. of TAs No. of profs TA salaries Salary based on Spanish 27 13 $4,900-5,100 experience, degree, number of classes TA teaches English 39 53 $4,900-5,300 experience, progress toward degree Math 44 33 $4,900-5,600 whether they are math grad students Computer Science 30-35 14 $3,600-5,100 degree or responsibility
But while most TAs may not be happy with the money, they did not go into the job blindly.
And although money may be the principal reason for using TAS, there are other reasons.
"If professors taught introductory courses, who would teach upper level courses? Not TAS; they're taking the courses. That's the TA/professor trade-off," Ekaain said.
Clark Bricker, professor of chemistry, said KU hired TAs for three reasons. First, they teach at a lower rate; second, paying TAs is a way of financing graduate student education; and third, TAs are a way of economizing in lower-level classes.
"It's a very important part of their training." he said.
And there is no doubt that the University needs TAs to teach introductory classes.
Jon Vincent, chairman of the department of
teaching and TAS also gains valuable teaching experience.
But should undergraduates be used for TA training?
When TAs take on the responsibility of
teaching their own classes without being
missed. Many times the lack of
experience is obvious.
"Most of them seem inexperienced and like that — know what they're doing," said Cohen. "They're just working."
Methods of preparing TAs to teach vary among departments, but the preparation usually consists of a workshop or orientation the week before classes start.
"It focuses on the objectives of the courses," said Victor Wallace, chairman of the opportunity at the university. "It's an opportunity for the experienced to pass on information to the unexperienced."
TAs for Computer Science 100 and 200 have a one-day workshop before classes start.
"Their training is an ongoing thing, not just a one-day shot."
The Spanish and math departments also have workshops during enrollment and online instruction.
Charles Himmelberg, chairman of the department of mathematics, said a shortage
Speech traits accent dispute
By LISA MASSOTH Staff Reporter
Judy Caldwell, Wichita senior, and Liz McMahon, Overland Park senior, said they had a foreign economics teachers they could not understand.
Trying to understand COBOL and quadratic equations is hard enough, but if students can't even understand their teachers' English, life as a student can be miserable.
"I used to get up and leave," Caldwell said. "He couldn't understand us and we couldn't understand him."
The language barrier has been a problem for years, and there doesn't seem to be an easy solution. Teacher shortages and foreign students have led the hiring of foreign teaching assistants.
But are TAs being screened well enough for their ability to speak English clearly before they graduate?
EACH DEPARTMENT has a different policy regarding foreign TAs, but the departments most affected by this problem are math and computer science.
The math department has a screening committee for its foreign TAs.
"If English is not his native language, we have him present a sample lecture," said Charles Himmelberg, chairman of the math department at professors listen and determine how he does."
Himmelberg said more tolerance among students might help the problem.
"The average Middle Western student don't have as high a tolerance for accents as they do in the traditional school."
Elizabeth Soppela, Applied English Center director, said yesterday she knew of no research that showed Midwestern students didn't have as high a tolerance, but she said it
See FOREIGN page 5
Historian says John Brown was savior, not bloody killer
Staff Reporter
By MARK ZIEMAN Staff Represent
Nelson was in Lawrence for the premiere of his film, "John Brown in Kansas," which was presented last night in the Council Room of the Kansas Union
"John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave," but his soul, and the fight for civil equality and civil rights, goes marching on, Truman Nelson, author and historian, said
Before the showing Nelson said that Brown was called the savior of Kansas by members of Congress.
Nelson said, "I was through what he did, his sacrifice, that Kansas began an existence unstained by the foul state of slavery. It was a free state. It went into the Union as a free state."
Brown was not the "bloody murderer" that historians tend to paint him, Nelson said.
"He was a true transcendentalist, Emerson, Thoreau—they claim John Brown as their own," he
"I don't see why there isn't a statue of John Born in every town in Kansas, in every courtyard."
o even in every town in the country, he added. "Until that time comes, there will be no end to American racism," Nelson said. "When he was born, the gallows were the gallows became a glorious cross."
NELSON, who lives in Newburyport, Mass., and has known such civil rights leaders as W.E.B. DuBois, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X, will give a reading of his works at 8 tonight in the Forum Room of the Union and will give an address on the history and future of the civil rights movements at 8 p.m. tomorrow in the Council Room.
After the film, parts of which were filmed at KU (the whistle is heard once in the background), Nelson received a certificate signed by Gov. John Carlin praising him for his work as an actor and for most important and 'grand' books ever written about John Brown and the history of the state.
Last night's film was directed by Steve Schmidt, a 1978 KU graduate, and was produced by Fred Whitehead, assistant director of the project. The film was created by Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.
CONFLICTS over civil rights are going to get worse. Nelson said earlier in the day.
"The books I write are about John Brown and not really important," Nelson said, "but they
"The worse things get economically, the more the civil rights of men are wiped out," he said.
"When the economic stress comes, the people at the lower edge of those that suffer, as well as the top," she added.
"They will fight, they will make a disturbance. They will make waves and it will be blamed on outside agitators. People approaching starvation are going to fight."
Nelson said it was up to all people to work together for the betterment of civil rights, and
Truman Nelson
"Do it any way."
He said, "Anybody can organize if he has the will," although society must not wait for a John Brown figure to lead it.
the betterment of society as a whole, despite economic setbacks such as cuts in education, law enforcement, and social services.
"They must not lean back on a soft cushion and say, 'Oh, we cann't do it anymore because Reagan has wiped out the programs,' '" he said.
"A John Brown comes when people don't organize," he said.
"History always casts up somebody. Get a man that represents the best of humanity or a woman who is not."
Weather
The forecast from the National Weather Service in Topeka is for a high today in the mid-30s under sunny skies. Tonight will be clear and cool, dipping close to 30. The winds will turn north at 10 mph until 4 pm. Wednesday's high will be near 60.
The extended forecast, Thursday to Saturday, is for sunshine and temperaturs ranging from the 30s at night to the low 60s during the day.
Reporter tries life of crime Shoplifting at bookstore a breeze
Bv MARK ZIEMAN
Staff Reporter
Yesterday, like hundreds of other students, I went shopping at the Kansas Union Bookstore. Unlike most of them, however, I saw a few cases of cheats. I simply brought an empty backpack.
I started my shopping spree in the textbook department. A very helpful clerk directed me to the history section, and, as he talked with me, he pointed out a few items on it, a copy of "Plutarch's Law" ($.85).
As the book lay l叙ed in my backpack (which I borrowed—everybody knows someone we owned a backpack). I decided to work with them and own their family. After all, it was nearing Christmas.
After a short trip to the Union lobby to stash Plutarch, I returned to the store and started his business.
Say, that's a neat shirt for my kid sister, I thought, and after a quick glance to see if anyone was looking—no one was—in the pack it went ($7.95).
A CALCULATOR would be a nice gift for my brother, I figured, but the glass display cases posed a problem I just couldn't solve. So I gave it to Ms. Thus. I resigned myself to a pen and pencil set.
Even though an office was directly in front of where I was standing, the person usually occupying it was gone. So, at $16.85, my computer was out. My phone was switched and sauntered off to make another stash.
With time running out and my Christmas list getting longer by the moment, I decided to
She laughed, and said yes, that was true, but she didn't know how much I wanted to spend. Nothing, I thought. As she walked away, I slipped two very sleek Jayhawk ornaments into the pack ($5.95 each).
finish the day by taking some ornaments for my future Christmas tree.
"Do you have any ornaments other than these?" I asked a clerk, motioning to a stack of ornaments on a counter. "Yes," she replied, and showed me many items that she had cleverly used to decorate last year's store tree.
"Of course," I said, laughing, "it's easier
I am not a practiced thief. Sure, I liked Cary Grant's "To Catch a Tale," but I'm not Cary Grant, and Grace Kelly was not helping me yesterday, although I wished she were.
NOTHING, I thought. As she walked away, slipped two very sleek Jayhawk ornaments on her head.
for you to get these things because you get them free."
As an afterthought I loved five rings into the pack ($3.75 x 5) and, as the plastic covers clattered together, I thought for the first time that the jig was up. But no, the clerk at the desk got yurtds away and the lady sitting at a desk 10 feet away did not even look at the noise.
One more stash, another quick trip back to obtain a new mug for my professor ($9.50), and then a new phone (no charge).
She laughed, and said yes, that was true, but she didn't know how much I wanted to spend.
She had been very helpful, very pleasant,
and as trusting as my mother, by the
way she was.
IN FACT, I'm more or less your average Joe College with average Joe College skills. Unfortunately, that's all that is required to be a Bookstore owner. A Bookstore in a period of less than 30 minutes.
Perhaps that will soon change.
Sticky fingers have sticky effect as customers pay for shoplifting
Staff Reporter
By TERESA RIORDAN Staff Reporter
Shioplifting might seem an easy task at the Kansas Union Bookstore, but anyone attempting it in the future should expect to be prosecuted if caught.
For the first time in the history of the bookstore, shoplifters are being prosecuted, Steve Word, bookstore manager, said yesterday.
However, in a Kansas experiment sanctioned by Word, reporter Mark Zieman walked by bookstore cashiers and out the door without paying for $1.45 worth of merchandise yesterday. He later returned the items.
Although the store's annual losses are well below the 3.2 percent national average, Word concedes that shoplifting is still a problem at the bookstore.
"Shoplifting is a big problem in all college bookstores."
"I knew there was a problem; that's why I said go ahead with this (the experiment)," he explained.
Because the bookstore shares its profits with customers, shopplining cuts into the size of the business.
BECAUSE OF the experiment, Word said that his employees, who had attended a shoilifting-prevention seminar last spring, were alert for shopfitters than they were yesterday.
Because of the store's present accounting system, it is impossible to know the exact amount lost to shoplifters each year; how much are estimated it to be from $100,000 to $150,000.
That figure is for shopfitting at the Kansas Union, the Oread and the Satellite Union businesses.
THE BIGGEST LOSER in shopfitting,
according to Word, is not the bookstore, but
the library.
In spite of Word's commitment to cracking down on the shoplifting prosecutions, the store has caught only one shoplifter, who is being prosecuted.
"I prosecuted the wife of a prominent juvenile court judge and arrested the son of the university president at Memphis State University to pay the rent for the bookstore manager for Memphis State.
through increased prices and lowered dividends.
The return, currently six percent, could be the percentage point higher if shopfinder orders are higher.
Besides warning employees to be more alert for shoplifters, Word said that customers should also watch fellow customers for shoplifting.
"Too many customers have the attitude, 'Well, I don't want to get involved, it's the bookstore's problem. Well, it's the bookstore's problem that they'll end up for it,' he said.
Word said that if the shoplifter problem were bad enough, he had no qualms about hiring a security guard to patrol the bookstores.
"I'd rather pay someone a nice salary in order to save $20,000 to $100,000 a year in the job."
"And I don't think students would mind spending that money either."
Word said that hiring a security guard at Memphis State had decreased shoplifting. The company is suing the university.