Reply to If you think it matters that your kid's classes be taught by a professor: Why?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Faculty brat here. I’m definitely concerned about the exploitation of adjuncts. It’s appalling.

It’s true that some TAs make great teachers but I like professors because they are experts and they are dedicated to teaching, not doing it in the side while they earn a degree.  Some TAs enjoy teaching and are good. Some do it because they have to.  No one chooses to become a professor unless they truly love teaching. Competition is fierce, you can’t control where you live, and you don’t make much money. [/quote]

I'd argue plenty of professors are NOT "dedicated to teaching".  Many are at the university to do research.  They hate teaching entry level/lower level undergrad courses and as such, suck at it and don't really care.  IN that case, I'd rather have a TA would is working their ass off to teach.  Or a "lecturer"---they are there to teach and typically are much better at it.

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At LACs they are indeed dedicated to teaching.[/quote]

That is very true.  Also the case at many mid size universities as well---teaching is valued along with the research.

I attended a T10 university, where the math and physics dept was know for having crappy "teaching professors"---as in extremely bad.  Picking Calculus courses often meant picking the "lesser of multiple evils".  For physics there was one professor where literally, if you could only get into their course, you skipped physics that semester and prayed you got into the "better course next semester".  The good prof was a lecturer---not "professor" 35+ years later, she is still a Lecturer at the university and now (thankfully) teaches 95% of the first year Physics courses--she was good then, and they obviously figured out much better to have your Eng students actually learn physics.  
When I took it her class would have 90-100 students (max size of lecture hall), and the other might have 10-15, poor suckers who had to take the course to stay on track to graduate in 4 years and had no choices left.

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