LETTERS: VERY FEW TEACHING ASSISTANTS AT SOUTHEAST

To the editor:

Last week, an individual claiming to be a retired faculty member accused Southeast Missouri State University of over-using graduate students for freshman instruction. The call (to Speak Out) apparently was stimulated by a "60 Minutes" expose which featured international teaching assistants with abysmal language skills and slovenly dressed native graduate assistants teaching freshmen at a major research university. The anonymous caller, without benefit of accurate data, implies that the conditions at Southeast are similalr. I wish to provide the data. At Southeast, less than three percent of all instruction is offered by teaching assistants.

In contrast to the majority of university faculty in the U.S. who have no training in the art of teaching, all teaching assistants at Southeast are required to complete at least one semester of training. These young teachers are evaluated each semester by both their students and mentors. Almost all are rated as highly as professors with years of experience. Moreover, in the state of Missouri, international students are not allowed to teach during their first semester in residence and are never allowed to teach until their language skills have been validated by a standardized test.

Southeast Missouri State University is committed to excellence in undergraduate education. The odds of a freshman student's being taught by all full professors are much greater than the chance of encountering a teaching assistant.

SHEILA R. CASKEY, Dean

School of Graduate Studies

Southeast Missouri State University