Word: tfs
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When students choose to attend Harvard, their decision is often based in part on the world-class reputation of the faculty. Yet enormous power over the Harvard classroom experience is normally wielded to the graduate students and other community members who lead discussion sections as teaching fellows. With TFs ranging from the lively and dedicated to the sullen and non-English-speaking, some students feel that the choice of a TF can have even more influence over their overall satisfaction—and grade—than the professor...
Distressingly, however, the flexibility that Harvard offers in choosing classes can leave professors with little information as to the size of their courses and how many graduate students they should hire to be TFs. When professors have to scramble to find course staff for larger-than-expected classes, their ability to screen for qualified teachers decreases. Even when TFs are chosen well in advance, some of them may be unprepared to teach undergraduates or may have inadequate English skills to communicate effectively...
...address these perennial shortcomings, the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) of the Undergraduate Council is considering a recommendation that the College institute a non-binding system of pre-registration for courses. Supporters of the plan have argued that such a system could help professors plan the number of TFs to hire and train for their classes and could help prevent the last-minute hiring that results in poorly chosen TFs...
Helping professors plan for the size of their courses is a laudable goal. But having students pre-register for classes is unlikely to solve the most significant problems with TFs. Few students know which classes they will take before the semester starts. And the classes for which predictions are most needed—such as new Core courses—are unlikely to get an accurate count, because the news of the quality of a course spreads by word of mouth during shopping week. The courses on which accurate data would be available would be those that have been offered...
Instead, the best measures Harvard could take to ensure that TFs can teach is to evaluate them before they are hired and to provide them with better training before they have their first class. At a minimum, candidates who are not native English speakers should be required to posess sufficient proficiency in spoken English to communicate effectively with a room full of anxious undergraduates. At the best university in the world, it is simply unacceptable that some TFs are put into the classroom with only rudimentary English communication skills...