SR V: To boldly go where no room has gone before

when it comes to education, cheap mostly does equal bad, since a long-term teacher on staff will build up their curriculum and their own method of teaching it consistently - teachers write lessons as well as teach them. a TA is a stopgap

also, hiring a cheaper, less prepared outside worker makes the existing staff worry that the college will start to favour temps over the seasoned, competent people they have, and it's not unfounded - i ended up at a demonstration last weekend about the coming staff cuts all over Yorkshire and everyone was worried.

that was boring. i'd like to end this post by saying that Joe Morello is the best drummer eber

Henry Plainview wrote: King By-Tor wrote: I AM A MUFFIN! Man, staying up an hour for no reason even though I have work so early was totally worth it for this post.   I need got get off the damn internet.   RAGH STEVE JOBS!

I second Harry's feelings. Mike's post was totally worth it, dude.

Steve Jobs can go play in his large pile of money for all I care.

I AM A MUFFIN!

birdwithteeth11 wrote: Colleges really do need to find some way to cut costs though.

Unfortunately there's a strong market psychology where "cheap==bad".  Otherwise people would just stop going to certain schools.  Killing government loan programs might help too.

My alma mater's tuition is almost double what it was when I was there 10-14 years ago.  Is the education there today twice as good?  Seriously doubt that.

Henry Plainview wrote: But some people are not prepared. For example, myself. But I went to a nice school with no TAs so it's all my fault. :(

It is. You should totally be ashamed of yourself. 30 self-flagellations might be in order.

Henry Plainview wrote: birdwithteeth11 wrote: Henry Plainview wrote: birdwithteeth11 wrote: Henry Plainview wrote: Maybe failing wasn't such a bad idea after all? Simple yet politically impossible answer: Make college professors teach more classes. That way colleges don't have to hire as many and many costs for students, most notably tuition, would go down. And school's wouldn't have to dish out as much in salaries. It is my impression that most professors are overworked as it is, barring the few that are only hanging around Ivy League schools so they can get funding for their research. Banging out a couple more Intro to Psych classes isn't such a big deal when the tests are scantron, but asking someone to grade 40 more 5 page papers every 2 weeks is. That's what TA's are for. Honestly, sometimes I wish they would just get TA's to teach more intro level classes. I've gone through 2 years of college now and only ever had 1 TA. Personally I'd rather not have some random TA doing everything just to save a few dollars per class. And I think that the intro level classes are in a way the most important because if you don't get the fundamental concepts you'll never get anywhere.

I guess the reason I have difficulty with this issue is because I both agree and disagree with what you're saying. I agree that TA's can mess things up if they don't know what they're doing. But at the same time there's your fair share of idiotic professors as well.

Colleges really do need to find some way to cut costs though. Or else costs will only keep going up. Intro level classes were never an issue for me because my high school prepared me for college pretty well.

So in summary, Education system sucks and I'm being selfish. :P

Henry Plainview wrote: birdwithteeth11 wrote: Henry Plainview wrote: Maybe failing wasn't such a bad idea after all? Simple yet politically impossible answer: Make college professors teach more classes. That way colleges don't have to hire as many and many costs for students, most notably tuition, would go down. And school's wouldn't have to dish out as much in salaries. It is my impression that most professors are overworked as it is, barring the few that are only hanging around Ivy League schools so they can get funding for their research. Banging out a couple more Intro to Psych classes isn't such a big deal when the tests are scantron, but asking someone to grade 40 more 5 page papers every 2 weeks is.

That's what TA's are for. Honestly, sometimes I wish they would just get TA's to teach more intro level classes. I've gone through 2 years of college now and only ever had 1 TA.

Padraic wrote: Henry Plainview wrote: Maybe failing wasn't such a bad idea after all? No, it was still a bad idea. C'mon man.  Just try a little bit.

But trying usually leads to failure and unhappiness. And it's too much work, bro.

Henry Plainview wrote: Maybe failing wasn't such a bad idea after all?

Simple yet politically impossible answer: Make college professors teach more classes. That way colleges don't have to hire as many and many costs for students, most notably tuition, would go down. And school's wouldn't have to dish out as much in salaries.

Yeah, I'll just say two of my wrong answers were massive f**kups.  The other two I honestly had no clue.