My TA is, simply put, hostile. His behavior is similar to bullying in that I cannot prove what he is doing and his condescending tone is discouraging me from participating because he is making me feel as though my participation or thoughts do not matter in the tutorial and that reading the textbook and going to lecture is not enough for him. Tutorial is worth 10% of my mark, and my papers will be marked by this abysmal thing UofT has hired to be a TA. I know UofT loves them, but is there nothing I can do about this? My professor has said that tutorials we choose are permanent but I don’t know if UofT professors grant exceptions regarding this matter to consider speaking to my professor for this particular course. I also do not want to be singled out by the professor or the TA and spend the rest of the year wondering if I will be deducted 70 percentages if my TA were to get hold of my exam paper and recognize from my name that I was the person who switched out of his tutorial. I need to switch tutorials/TAs if I want to do well in this course, but I feel as though (like my TA), my professor/others might think I am simply exaggerating. Any help/advice would be much-appreciated.
Your TA could very well be a douche bag. However, what you are saying is very subjective. Unless he’s a robot or a being with gills I would suggest talking to him. That way, you’ll be able to find out what he’s really looking for from you as a student. If you’re enrolled in a course that’s at a more demanding level – i.e. higher than 100, then I think that it’s fair for him to expect more you reciting text book or lecture material within the tutorial. Everyone knows that stuff already and you’re just wasting time saying it. At University one learns to think. If you wanted to learn how to ‘do’ you would have gone to College. You’ve decided to enrol at the most prestigious post-secondary school in Canada and in order to do well, you have to go up and beyond what would normally be expected, which is probably what your TA had to do in order to get to where he is today. Maybe try to think up questions of your own that are relevant to the course material that can heighten your knowledge on the subject and give the class something interesting to discuss. Just don’t bring up how your Uncle’s parrot can speak words in English (unless that is the topic?) because you’re trying to be quirky and different. I hate those kids. And the overly eager mature students. Not that I hate mature students, I’d just love to shut up the ones who feel like they’re old with something to prove.
The reason why Profs don’t want to do anything about changing your tutorial section is because they have to go into ROSI and all of these other applications just to appease your ego. If you can’t talk to your TA about it, then talk to your Prof. If you feel in the end you’ve been graded unfairly, you can fill out a petition form with your registrar. Feelings are feelings and everyone is entitled to their own, but in this situation, I think that maybe you’re over reacting a bit. Yep. Life sucks.
4 Comments
Don
I have never had a good experience with a T.A. Most profs love them. I have had them make errors in marking but have never gone to the Prof for the same fears that you have. The TA’s at U of T are suspect to say the least. They are glorified students whose only claim toward legitimacy is that they have been in an institution for the longest amount of time. Most of them have no training as teachers and most of them can?t mark a paper to save their lives. Sorry. But there is not much you can do. If it gets really bad, go to the prof and tell him the extreme nature of your problem and tell him your fears of being marked down for speaking up and not acting like you are from the cast of Orwell’s 1984. You may get a bad mark from this winner of a T.A. anyway. Stand up for your rights and don?t let some glorified student with an extra piece of paper on his wall dictate your experience at U of T. Shame on him. And to the student who said ?Whoops. Too bad. Life sucks.? You are part of the pacifism that has allowed U of T to become the over touted blow heart that it is today where students have no control over their own University experience and in essence? are abused. Life may suck for you but it doesn?t??. shouldn?t suck for the rest of us. Especially when we all go to U of T. The greatest bestest better then your school my marks mean more because they are U of T marks ever if they suck elite institution. NOT!!!!!!!
Terrence
Aska clearly hasn’t bothered doing much work in answering this question regarding tutorial changes; for the record – not all profs use ROSI. I switched out of a tutorial w/ a TA who could neither speak English, nor teach as anything we didn’t already know into another one w/ a more qualified TA. All I had to do was go to the tutorial of my choice, inform the TA I was making the switch (and why) and sign the attendance list. For the following year, I wrote down that tutorial section in exams/quizzes/assignments. So you still have hope! Don’t listen to this sh*t advice! It’s probably someone who’s going to be a TA at UofT later anyway! Cheers and best of luck!
Terrence
This post should be tagged “inaccurately answered, useless advice characteristic of UofT”.
jo
Interesting how the default impression of TAs was a hardworking student . . . I’ve had TAs who went to crap universities . . . sorry aska, I worked my a** off to get here – not to be failed by former ry-high/queens & co. students.