A York TA is catching trouble for calling her students “stupid” on Facebook. Do you think people in teaching positions should publicly voice opinions about their students?
Eden Chiang
Second Year, Biology
“[They] affect our grades a lot. They can tell the students to improve, but they have no right to call them stupid.”
Zaid Majeed
Second Year, Political Science
“I might be offended, but it would just make me work harder on what I am doing. I don’t think it should be a personal offense to anyone.”
Diana Bozinovic
Second Year, Kinesiology
“Probably. I might as well, because a lot of other people won’t, so some people should. I have the time.”
I don’t understand how you can say that people have a right to their opinion… Teaching has NOTHING to do with your opinion. How can you mark papers fairly when you go into it with a negative attitude? TA’s should mark papers, keep their comments to themselves, and update their status regarding PERSONAL matters. I understand they have their own facebook account, but leave OTHER students out of it. This TA should become a drill sergeant, not a TA.
It’s a social networking site. People often to use it to vent. I’m a TA and I vent to other TAs about teaching all the time.
Also, I didn’t like how the article implied that she wasn’t a good or caring TA. It is very stressful marking papers, especially when you try to do everything you can to help students, but they don’t listen. Just because you are venting about your students (or marking), doesn’t mean they can’t approach you for help or that you don’t care about helping them. And maybe she should set her Facebook to private next time??