Decent Econ TAs Are in Short Supply and High Demand
Economics. The mere word conjures up feelings of misery and despair for many students who have taken, or have been forced to take, a class in the econ department. The subject itself is traditionally one of the most challenging at Georgetown, and it is an often-cited truism that for most students, econ classes serve as a speed bump on the way to a high GPA. Since the economics department stands out as one of the most rigorous and challenging disciplines for students, especially for those in the School of Foreign Service who are required to take four courses, one would think that the teaching assistants chosen would be extremely well-qualified. Unfortunately, based on the experience of the Editorial Board and a wide variety of Georgetown students we spoke with, the TAs in the econ department are notoriously unhelpful.
The complaints against TAs are diverse, ranging from broken English to faltering teaching skills to perceived unfairness when grading work. The frequent problems with TAs shouldn’t be a big surprise given the manner in which TAs are chosen.
Undergraduate economics TAs are frequently chosen by individual professors based on who received the best grade in the class the semester before. Some might cite this alone as a problematic recruiting criterion.
The complaints against undergraduate TAs are different and less severe than those that face graduate TAs. Because undergraduate students have taken the class for which they are the TA, they know what material can be problematic and how best to explain the more difficult concepts. Many graduate students have a poor understanding of how to explain the subject to undergraduate students, who are learning the subject at a more basic level. Further, because undergraduates have been a student in the given professor’s class, they understand the benefits and failings of his teaching style.
As most students who have taken an economics class can tell you, the greatest problem with economics TAs, undergraduate or graduate, seems to be that they are chosen not by their ability to communicate information but merely by their ability to understand it.
Teaching is not an easy job and not a common skill. Neither is the comprehension of economics. Economics is a challenging and rigorous subject with which many students need assistance outside of cut-and-dry lectures. Allowing students with poor communication skills to be in charge of a class is misguided. Picking students based solely on high grades is a poor mechanism because, in economics, good communications skills are not required to receive a high grade in the class. TAs should be rigorously chosen, well-trained and frequently examined for quality control. Right now it appears as though very little of this is happening. Though there is a six-hour training session at the beginning of the year for new economics TAs, this clearly is insufficient.
This problem with TAs isn’t exclusive to the economics department, and the responsibility for ensuring higher-quality TAs across all departments is a burden shared by students and administrators. Students have the opportunity to critique their TAs and fail to do so in a way that communicates the obvious shortcomings of their TA. Without this information, it is not surprising that there continue to be a number of poor TAs. Of course, administrators need to seriously reexamine the manner in which they hire TAs. You wouldn’t hire someone to tutor your kids for their SATs who, though brilliant, doesn’t know how to communicate that knowledge. Likewise, you shouldn’t hire TAs who only know economics, not how to teach it.
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Oct 12 2008 at 3:47 p.m.
Interesting article. This is not a new problem, to be sure. I think the real reason for the problem with Econ TAs is a more fundamental one: why do economics classes at Georgetown need TAs in the first place? Because they're too big. When you think that the entirety of the SFS, MSB, and those interested/dabbling students in the College (and, at least theoretically, the NHS) is forced to take two (or four) courses that are taught by just a small handful of professors, it's pretty much inevitable that class sizes will be massive.
While it is true that some subjects--arguably including Econ--lend themselves to (or are not affected by) large classes, this is entirely dependant upon context. At some schools (like large state schools), it makes sense for Econ to be taught in an enormous class, because English and History and just about every other introductory or survey class is taught to such numbers. At Georgetown, this is so completely different from the rest of the academic experience, which emphasizes small class sizes and interaction with professors, that I think it negatively impacts students' (mine included) ability to take advantage of such an important series of classes. Accordingly, I think Georgetown should adjust the size of its classes in order to eliminate the need for TAs, rather than hopelessly search for better ones.
Oct 15 2008 at 5:43 p.m.
I remember those four required econ classes for SFS...
McNelis was great for I-Finance
Carol Rogers was just awful for I-Trade. Constantly cancelled her office hours and wasn't the slightest bit apologetic about it.
Not to mention the numerous TAs who had obviously cheated on their TOEFLs!
Now there is free market in action! :-)
Oct 16 2008 at 4:51 a.m.
While I understand that there are concerns about TAs from the Economics Department, this just sounds like a rant. There must be two sides to the issue. Did the author actually talked to any TAs or professors from the Econ Department? If so, why aren't they quoted? I'd be interested to hear more about how TAs are chosen and what TAs and professors think about this issue.
On a personal note, I took 4 semesters of Economics. It was a struggle for me, but I would never say that the TAs were unhelpful. That is an unjust accusation. Yes, of course there can be misunderstandings, but every one of my TAs tried to be as helpful as possible, even when we, their students, were at times hopeless.
Oct 16 2008 at 7:13 p.m.
The trick is to take econ over the summer--the classes are much smaller. My one good grade in econ was I-finance with Diba, taken over the summer. It was a relatively small class, and the professor was very good about giving extra help.