No substitute for grad student TAs

I write in haste to address the misperception that may have been created by the article in The Chronicle describing the experiment in Dean Gerald Wilson’s History course, “American Dreams/American Realities.” In that courses, undergraduates who have taken the course before and performed particularly well are being used as discussion leaders. Grading will continue to be done by graduate student teaching assistants.

The History Department does not view this experiment as a move to replace graduate student teaching assistants with undergraduate discussants. It is rather an experiment designed to give selected undergraduates an opportunity to assist in a large and popular course and to stretch the limited funding available to support graduate students as teaching assistants and graders.

The History Department faculty cherish the special and irreplaceable skills and experience that its graduate students bring to the classroom. Were the resources available, we would all have more, not fewer, roles for our graduate students in our undergraduate courses.

The Chronicle article left the unfortunate and erroneous impression that the very real contributions that we expect undergraduate discussion leaders to make in Dean Wilson’s course could somehow be seen as a substitute for our graduate student teaching assistants. That is not an interpretation of this experiment that the History Department faculty supports.

Sarah Deutsch

Chair, Department of History