By: Hailey Miller, Peak Associate
I’ve often wondered how teaching assistants find the time to actually manage being a TA. As if university isn’t tough enough, somehow you squeeze enough time into your schedule to assist in one more course — not to mention undertaking such a feat while still furthering your own studies. Clearly, you must have some kind of scholarly superpower, as it takes a special kind of person to relive such materials all over again. Granted, you’re probably assisting in a course you once excelled in, or a topic you found interesting, but regardless, props to you.
Student or TA, we’re all in the same boat — the only difference is that you’re getting paid to talk to a fraction of the class about the course content you’ve already learned. We’re all just trying to make it through the semester without the tuition draining our bank accounts and the stress diminishing our degrees. It makes sense that you’ve secured yourself a TA side hustle in hopes of avoiding the ever-dreaded nightmare that is student debt.
Being on the student side and not knowing what on earth goes on your end, there are a couple of things I want you to know. It’s not your fault that the material is brutally dry, or the criteria is preposterously vague. You’re doing your best to just make an extra buck on the side and cover those graduate costs. But between you and I, are the tutorials really that mandatory?
Sometimes I wonder when we’ll ever get our grades back. Is there an unspoken rule between yourself and the professor regarding the lack of a reasonable turnaround? Sometimes it’s two weeks, sometimes it’s four. Sometimes we don’t even get to see what we got wrong on an exam, or what marks were docked on an assignment. On that note, some constructive feedback would be nice too — anything better than just a plain, old “well done” or “needs work.” But don’t worry, as much as I hate the anticipation of waiting for a grade, I get it. You’re busy and you’ve got a lot of papers to go through.
Do you ever feel as exhausted and confused as we do? Do you get tired of being a teaching assistant for the same course, or are you just teaching the material as if you know it like the back of your hand at this point? Maybe you should consider being a professor next. Then again, maybe that’s why you’re a TA, and this kind of thing is in your wheelhouse.
On another note, I don’t want to waste your time, but do I really need to wait to attend your office hours? Speaking of, do you ever bother with your office hours, or do you dread them as much as the students do? Being the squeaky wheel that I am, though, I’m just going to stick around to bug you after class and beg for clarification on the brutally vague criteria that the professor didn’t even bother to explain. I’m sorry to be that student, but I want to succeed this semester as much as we both want it to be over.
Not to change the subject, but ever since I walked into your tutorial on the first day, I figured we’re probably the same age. The only difference is that you somewhat have your ducks in a row, and I, most certainly, do not. And by that I mean that you’re doing your graduate studies, while I’m over here still barely putting a dent in my undergrad. Did you start university a year early? Did you overload your full-time schedule? Burn through summer semesters? Study while doing co-op semesters at the same time? I wonder how you’re so far in advance.
All jokes aside, you really are doing a great job. I couldn’t do what you do if I were in your shoes. If it weren’t for your tutorials, the class probably wouldn’t have bothered keeping up with the course materials. You’re actually putting in the effort to make the material less dry — something that the professor could really take a note of. But don’t worry, I’m sure the class will put in a good word on your evaluation. After all, you deserve it.
So, cheers to all the TAs, and best of luck with the rest of your studies.
