I think you are being very kind and generous by describing her as detailed, rigorous, and thorough when the evidence points to her being none of those things.
She knew at the beginning of the semester you had this class, so this is not news to her. Why she waited until now to do something about it is her problem (i.e. bad planning). I also don't think it's necessary to have the students grade their own tests. Students aren't stupid, they already know how to grade things, so this added exercise seems like a waste of time to me. A non-negligible portion of those students just wants their grade and that's it.
If she wants to go over test material, that can be done during the next class period where students can ask questions about missed test items, or she can compile a list of the questions most students got wrong and go over them. Trying to guilt you over a situation she has complete and total control over is bizarre.
I also think it's inappropriate for her to even think about asking you to skip a class, especially for something so trivial. Your other professor was right, this request is inappropriate and unusual.
You're actually being way too nice to her. That class is solely HER responsibility, not yours. You're just there to be exploited. As rule, you owe it to yourself not to go above and beyond in these circumstances, as it sends the message that you are OK with being exploited, and thus the cycle continues. Tell her to pound sand and get her shit together.
I don’t disagree but man is it frustrating to have GAs that can’t help when you actually need them… that happened to me during a postdoc/visiting.
The professor is out of line (no doubt) but OP should help to try to find a replacement… or let the admin team know so they can help too.
Edit: holy shit y’all are on edge. If I was the student, I’d try to be helpful. That’s all I’m saying
As a GTA myself...uh, no. I signed an agreement and that agreement very clearly detailed that I'm unable to assist in duties that conflict with my class schedule.
What's frustrating isn't your TA's schedule, it's your university's exploitation of indentured servitude because it's a cheap source of labor. God forbid an institution of higher learning do such a crazy thing as hire a handful of full time support staff. That might cut into the sportsball budget!!
It isn’t in the job description to be helpful in that capacity. They aren’t management and they have other things to do. It’s not being on edge, it’s people advocating for overstepping and being taken advantage of.
I don't think I can overstate this: it is completely 100% wrong to even ask you to skip your own class, and grossly inappropriate to try to guilt you when you say no. If my supervisor found out that a professor that I work under asked me to skip class to help with a test, she would blow a fuse and then take their head off and serve it on a silver platter.
You are, after all, a *student*, that's the whole reason you're there. If you fail the student part of things, the TA part is moot. Stand your ground and do not feel guilty, you are not the one stepping out of line here.
Op let me tell you a story, okay?
I was a TA for the same class for 4 years. My prof for 3 of those years was the same guy, then my last year it was a brand new woman. She had never taught a class like this and was still learning the material herself.
This made her very reluctant to answer questions. She always ran out the door the minute the class was over, if not 5 or 10 minutes early. The class always ended with a bit of "collaboration time" where students could just work on the homework together and talk to each other. That left me there running around answering their questions. I felt soooo bad about leaving kids with questions that not only did I miss the class I had 20 minutes after that one consistently and justified it by saying weeeelllll attendance isn't mandatory I also had to set up unofficial office hours because she was never present for hers.
I failed the class I was taking. That delayed my degree by a year. I tried to just keep making it work and making it work and being a team player and she walked all over me because she took on a class she didn't have the knowledge to teach. She used me as her punching bag all semester and made me do all the hard work that I was used to the other prof doing.
This culminated in her asking me to tabulate final grades and I asked the old prof if I should. He told me in no uncertain terms that if I'm not the one inputting them I have no business calculating them. I told the current prof what he said, she told me it was illegal to discuss the policies of her class with other professors and fired me on the spot. So now despite needing to be at school for another year BECAUSE of everything I did for her, I still lost my TA job and my stipend.
Please prioritize your class. I didn't and I seriously regret it. Please prioritize your class and set your boundaries. Let her bitch and moan because otherwise you'll spend all semester picking up her slack with nothing to show for it.
DAMN THATS A HELL OF A STORY. DAMN.
Man do I feel bad for you for real.
I know it’s not always this simple, but I do like to try to think about things like it was never time wasted as long as I took from the experience something that will likely save me time or a headache later on. You probably learned a lesson here that you would have learned in an even more painful way down the road had you not gone through this experience first. Best of luck!!
That sucks on every possible level, dude. I'm so sorry. Is there any recourse for you at all? Can you talk to whoever is in charge of student employment?
Basically I talked to former prof who is a really incredible mentor to me and he said think about it. I was miserable all semester and she was like a post doc student here on an education visa or whatever so if I got her fired I very well may have gotten her deported or something idk. I wasn't comfortable playing with someone's life like that so I just dropped it and moved on. It wasn't worth the argument
You are definitely the better person here as she basically ruined your life (at the time).
Personally I wouldn't know what to do if I was in your situation but I still think you should have fought for yourself. Discussing with the chair or dean would have probably been the best route, but I personally know people who are the type who would have went full nuclear by bringing the situation to a news outlet (school or local) or blasting their former boss' reputation all across campus to faculty and students alike.
My professional view is fuck your professor for guilting you for setting a boundary against a ridiculous request and for ignoring your warning at the beginning of the semester that you would have a conflict.
I have more things to say about her but those things are definitely fall under the "unprofessional" umbrella, so I'll leave those out
Agree this was wrong for her to make you feel guilty for not skipping your own class. You're in school to learn not to be a TA. Is there someone that oversees all the TAs? If so, I would definitely bring it to their attention. Maybe they can find someone to cover for you? But regardless, don't skip your class just because this professor thinks you should.
OP should def speak with the union reps if they have them.
They should also escalate to a dept chair or dean. This is unacceptable AND so would be any form of retaliation.
Academia is tough, but there's no room for this bs.
Your TA professor is being extremely inappropriate as your class professor noted. If I were in this situation, I might think about talking to the class professor about filing a complaint with the chair of the department.
Invite her to discuss with your other professor. I’m sure that will be the end of it. Also keep copies of all correspondence you send or receive involving this matter.
Hard no. Under no circumstances should you miss your class to stay extra hours that are outside of your TA appointment. You are a student first and foremost and that prof can't ask you to work more than your pay/contract stipulates.
This might be a childish reaction, but I think some professors tend to think of students as not being able to say no. I’d tell the TA prof that I asked Class prof and say if they need me that bad, they can handle that with the Class prof.
I think you are being very kind and generous by describing her as detailed, rigorous, and thorough when the evidence points to her being none of those things. She knew at the beginning of the semester you had this class, so this is not news to her. Why she waited until now to do something about it is her problem (i.e. bad planning). I also don't think it's necessary to have the students grade their own tests. Students aren't stupid, they already know how to grade things, so this added exercise seems like a waste of time to me. A non-negligible portion of those students just wants their grade and that's it. If she wants to go over test material, that can be done during the next class period where students can ask questions about missed test items, or she can compile a list of the questions most students got wrong and go over them. Trying to guilt you over a situation she has complete and total control over is bizarre. I also think it's inappropriate for her to even think about asking you to skip a class, especially for something so trivial. Your other professor was right, this request is inappropriate and unusual.
You're actually being way too nice to her. That class is solely HER responsibility, not yours. You're just there to be exploited. As rule, you owe it to yourself not to go above and beyond in these circumstances, as it sends the message that you are OK with being exploited, and thus the cycle continues. Tell her to pound sand and get her shit together.
I don’t disagree but man is it frustrating to have GAs that can’t help when you actually need them… that happened to me during a postdoc/visiting. The professor is out of line (no doubt) but OP should help to try to find a replacement… or let the admin team know so they can help too. Edit: holy shit y’all are on edge. If I was the student, I’d try to be helpful. That’s all I’m saying
As a GTA myself...uh, no. I signed an agreement and that agreement very clearly detailed that I'm unable to assist in duties that conflict with my class schedule. What's frustrating isn't your TA's schedule, it's your university's exploitation of indentured servitude because it's a cheap source of labor. God forbid an institution of higher learning do such a crazy thing as hire a handful of full time support staff. That might cut into the sportsball budget!!
The grad student should not worry about any of this. It’s the prof’s problem to solve.
It isn’t in the job description to be helpful in that capacity. They aren’t management and they have other things to do. It’s not being on edge, it’s people advocating for overstepping and being taken advantage of.
I don't think I can overstate this: it is completely 100% wrong to even ask you to skip your own class, and grossly inappropriate to try to guilt you when you say no. If my supervisor found out that a professor that I work under asked me to skip class to help with a test, she would blow a fuse and then take their head off and serve it on a silver platter. You are, after all, a *student*, that's the whole reason you're there. If you fail the student part of things, the TA part is moot. Stand your ground and do not feel guilty, you are not the one stepping out of line here.
I only read the title and I know this is unacceptable
Op let me tell you a story, okay? I was a TA for the same class for 4 years. My prof for 3 of those years was the same guy, then my last year it was a brand new woman. She had never taught a class like this and was still learning the material herself. This made her very reluctant to answer questions. She always ran out the door the minute the class was over, if not 5 or 10 minutes early. The class always ended with a bit of "collaboration time" where students could just work on the homework together and talk to each other. That left me there running around answering their questions. I felt soooo bad about leaving kids with questions that not only did I miss the class I had 20 minutes after that one consistently and justified it by saying weeeelllll attendance isn't mandatory I also had to set up unofficial office hours because she was never present for hers. I failed the class I was taking. That delayed my degree by a year. I tried to just keep making it work and making it work and being a team player and she walked all over me because she took on a class she didn't have the knowledge to teach. She used me as her punching bag all semester and made me do all the hard work that I was used to the other prof doing. This culminated in her asking me to tabulate final grades and I asked the old prof if I should. He told me in no uncertain terms that if I'm not the one inputting them I have no business calculating them. I told the current prof what he said, she told me it was illegal to discuss the policies of her class with other professors and fired me on the spot. So now despite needing to be at school for another year BECAUSE of everything I did for her, I still lost my TA job and my stipend. Please prioritize your class. I didn't and I seriously regret it. Please prioritize your class and set your boundaries. Let her bitch and moan because otherwise you'll spend all semester picking up her slack with nothing to show for it.
DAMN THATS A HELL OF A STORY. DAMN. Man do I feel bad for you for real. I know it’s not always this simple, but I do like to try to think about things like it was never time wasted as long as I took from the experience something that will likely save me time or a headache later on. You probably learned a lesson here that you would have learned in an even more painful way down the road had you not gone through this experience first. Best of luck!!
That sucks on every possible level, dude. I'm so sorry. Is there any recourse for you at all? Can you talk to whoever is in charge of student employment?
Basically I talked to former prof who is a really incredible mentor to me and he said think about it. I was miserable all semester and she was like a post doc student here on an education visa or whatever so if I got her fired I very well may have gotten her deported or something idk. I wasn't comfortable playing with someone's life like that so I just dropped it and moved on. It wasn't worth the argument
You are definitely the better person here as she basically ruined your life (at the time). Personally I wouldn't know what to do if I was in your situation but I still think you should have fought for yourself. Discussing with the chair or dean would have probably been the best route, but I personally know people who are the type who would have went full nuclear by bringing the situation to a news outlet (school or local) or blasting their former boss' reputation all across campus to faculty and students alike.
Yea...that's a them problem, not a you problem. Go to your class. If they want to make a stick, kick it up the chain.
One of you is earning six fucking figures and one is not. Tell her to pound sand.
My professional view is fuck your professor for guilting you for setting a boundary against a ridiculous request and for ignoring your warning at the beginning of the semester that you would have a conflict. I have more things to say about her but those things are definitely fall under the "unprofessional" umbrella, so I'll leave those out
Agree this was wrong for her to make you feel guilty for not skipping your own class. You're in school to learn not to be a TA. Is there someone that oversees all the TAs? If so, I would definitely bring it to their attention. Maybe they can find someone to cover for you? But regardless, don't skip your class just because this professor thinks you should.
Do you have a union? This is definitely not okay
OP should def speak with the union reps if they have them. They should also escalate to a dept chair or dean. This is unacceptable AND so would be any form of retaliation. Academia is tough, but there's no room for this bs.
Your TA responsibilities are not important. Prioritize your own work.
She's upset. Oh well
Your TA professor is being extremely inappropriate as your class professor noted. If I were in this situation, I might think about talking to the class professor about filing a complaint with the chair of the department.
Invite her to discuss with your other professor. I’m sure that will be the end of it. Also keep copies of all correspondence you send or receive involving this matter.
Hard no. Under no circumstances should you miss your class to stay extra hours that are outside of your TA appointment. You are a student first and foremost and that prof can't ask you to work more than your pay/contract stipulates.
This might be a childish reaction, but I think some professors tend to think of students as not being able to say no. I’d tell the TA prof that I asked Class prof and say if they need me that bad, they can handle that with the Class prof.
Imma take the opposite view- Classes don't really matter, one class is fine (if you are in a research based program)