Amazing.

I totally saved that. :p

Yeah now let's all just ****ing go on strike after York U TA's, the sanitation services in toronto, Driver's license testing places, the auto workers, etc.

Must be a hot trend this year... -_-

Originally Posted by michelle

Go to your professor. Complain to the department. Go to anyone that will listen. Bad TAs keep getting hired because no one says anything. Simply filling out the evaluation at the end of the term isn't enough.

I find this is very difficult, especially in upper years, as the profs have chosen these people to do grad work with them... likely because they're smart (get 12s)

They can't do anything if NONE of their students speak coherent english.

Originally Posted by micadjems

I find this is very difficult, especially in upper years, as the profs have chosen these people to do grad work with them... likely because they're smart (get 12s)

They can't do anything if NONE of their students speak coherent english.

The funny thing is, its these TAs that become profs..The hiring process sucks, plain and simple..there has to be a way to improve it

research over actual teaching..this is the problem with Math 2Z03..its a shame really..

Originally Posted by michelle

Really? Come on, now.

Okay, that is absolutely ridiculous. You do realize who pays you - the school. You also realize who pays the school - the students. The students pay the school and you to receive education, not for you to ruin our education for a year and still not teach you anything. For some of us who have bigger goals than a bachelor's diploma, which is a lot of us, the time frame is absolutely important. Grad schools/professional schools don't like you as much if you're older and spent a longer time in university than you've had to. And a lot of us also need the summer to pay for tuition.

You're losing out on this too - you've still paid the tuition to Mac. Earning $10/hour for picketing is nothing compared to how much you paid for your tuition. If you don't believe in the cause, you shouldn't be supporting it.

Originally Posted by kenvin100

The funny thing is, its these TAs that become profs..The hiring process sucks, plain and simple..there has to be a way to improve it

research over actual teaching..this is the problem with Math 2Z03..its a shame really..

There is definitely a way to improve it, CUPE 3906 has proposed a qualifications and seniority based hiring process where TA jobs would be posted well in advance and undergraduates and graduates would apply for them and be chosen based on qualifications. We're in total agreement that students should have qualified TAs in the classroom. The University Administration has resisted these sorts of practices for their own reasons. I won't try to explain them, but its certainly something students should be asking to the Administration. Why can't we have better trained and the best qualified TAs?

There is only one day of training dedicated for TAs in a year (TA day) and this year the Administration chose to rename TA day to Graduate student day. Due the name change, a lot of undergraduate TAs didn't attend their one chance for training because they thought they were not welcome. CUPE 3906 would also like to see more widespread access to TA training, not less as happened this year. However, the University Administration is unwilling to commit to offering more training for TAs, or even commit to making it clear that all TAs are invited to the training by keeping the name "TA Day."

Its a significant frustration for all students, undergraduate and graduate, that the University Administration won't take the quality of education seriously. If you feel your departments aren't listening, then you can take your concerns to your Dean's. You can also write to the senior administration (the Provost, AVP Academic, etc) and voice your concerns and explain why you expect and deserve a quality education.

Originally Posted by dsahota

There is definitely a way to improve it, CUPE 3906 has proposed a qualifications and seniority based hiring process where TA jobs would be posted well in advance and undergraduates and graduates would apply for them and be chosen based on qualifications. We're in total agreement that students should have qualified TAs in the classroom. The University Administration has resisted these sorts of practices for their own reasons. I won't try to explain them, but its certainly something students should be asking to the Administration. Why can't we have better trained and the best qualified TAs?

There is only one day of training dedicated for TAs in a year (TA day) and this year the Administration chose to rename TA day to Graduate student day. Due the name change, a lot of undergraduate TAs didn't attend their one chance for training because they thought they were not welcome. CUPE 3906 would also like to see more widespread access to TA training, not less as happened this year. However, the University Administration is unwilling to commit to offering more training for TAs, or even commit to making it clear that all TAs are invited to the training by keeping the name "TA Day."

Its a significant frustration for all students, undergraduate and graduate, that the University Administration won't take the quality of education seriously. If you feel your departments aren't listening, then you can take your concerns to your Dean's. You can also write to the senior administration (the Provost, AVP Academic, etc) and voice your concerns and explain why you expect and deserve a quality education.

Do you know what though? I don't care at ALL about what TA I get. They don't even do anything anyways. The only TA that actually helps is my psychobio one, and while it would be nice to have all TAs like him, I also couldn't care less if I had a good or bad TA for my other classes. I'd rather be paying more for profs to be extending their office hours. I definitely measure that "quality of education" by looking at my profs, not my TAs.

Originally Posted by smiles

Do you know what though? I don't care at ALL about what TA I get. They don't even do anything anyways. The only TA that actually helps is my psychobio one, and while it would be nice to have all TAs like him, I also couldn't care less if I had a good or bad TA for my other classes. I'd rather be paying more for profs to be extending their office hours. I definitely measure that "quality of education" by looking at my profs, not my TAs.

One of the reasons why you don't have as much access to your professors is because McMaster has one of the highest teaching loads for professors in Ontario. More courses to teach means less office hours per course, its as simple as that. This again is something that can and should be brought up to the senior administration as there is a solution: hire more professors.

I couldn't find a fantastic reference for comparison of teaching loads off the top of my head, but here's one reference:
http://wiki.math.yorku.ca/images/0/0...LoadF W05.pdf

Originally Posted by michelle

Go to your professor. Complain to the department. Go to anyone that will listen. Bad TAs keep getting hired because no one says anything. Simply filling out the evaluation at the end of the term isn't enough.

As for not picketing, I don't believe I get paid if I don't picket and/or facilitate the picketing. As much as I may not support the strike, I have bills to pay. Eating might be nice every once in awhile too.

I have bills to pay too. Bills that won't get paid if you go on strike because
a. I don't get "strike pay" like you do
b. If you cut into my year, I'll miss out on applying for summer jobs and I won't be able to graduate

So basically, TAs get paid either way. Students get screwed.

Originally Posted by smiles

Okay, that is absolutely ridiculous. You do realize who pays you - the school. You also realize who pays the school - the students. The students pay the school and you to receive education, not for you to ruin our education for a year and still not teach you anything. For some of us who have bigger goals than a bachelor's diploma, which is a lot of us, the time frame is absolutely important. Grad schools/professional schools don't like you as much if you're older and spent a longer time in university than you've had to. And a lot of us also need the summer to pay for tuition.

You're losing out on this too - you've still paid the tuition to Mac. Earning $10/hour for picketing is nothing compared to how much you paid for your tuition. If you don't believe in the cause, you shouldn't be supporting it.

You're missing the point here. I'm an undergrad student paying for my tuition, my books, a mortgage, food, insurance, etc. I cannot afford to lose money. What is so difficult to understand about that? I do not have any choice but to picket. I need the money. Simple as that.

I'm not advocating a strike. I don't want my school year to be disrupted either. I'm just as annoyed as you are that this is going on. That doesn't mean that I can simply afford to stop paying my bills if a strike happens.

Get it now?

Also, stop referring to me as "you" negatively. Like I said, it's really irritating that I'm being targeted as a bad guy. Not all of us are in support of this.

if you strike, i will boycott. Let's see you get paid by the university when no students show up to your tutorials all year long.
EDIT: oh wait, nothing useful is done in tutorials anyway.

At this point, I'm throwing up my hands. Clearly no one is actually reading anything that's going on. Yup, York went on strike and it sucked. That doesn't mean it's going to happen here.

And for one last time - not all of us want this. Hopefully one day you will realize that.

Originally Posted by michelle

At this point, I'm throwing up my hands. Clearly no one is actually reading anything that's going on. Yup, York went on strike and it sucked. That doesn't mean it's going to happen here.

And for one last time - not all of us want this. Hopefully one day you will realize that.

centre of universe much -- my comments were aimed at dsahota. Anyway, I am sick and tired of people threatening to strike for stuff while my rights as consumer are neglected. I paid for a year's worth of education and ID BETTER GET IT. AND NOT LATE, NOW. If I pay my tuition late, I get charged an interest. WHAT ABOUT MY SERVICE...If you people cause me to get my education late, you BETTER PAY ME INTEREST.

It's only fair.