Situation
International graduate students are routinely recruited into Professor Louise Kenso’s department in large numbers. She notices that many of the international students are struggling to find a “niche” with their graduate cohort and have more problems being successful in the program. In most cases, these students are assigned to work as research assistants (RAs) with individual faculty members. When Professor Kenso comments on this to the director of graduate studies, she is told that international students are never appointed as Teaching Assistants because the department has had complaints from undergraduates in the past about their accents and language difficulties. A few are allowed to teach in their final semester.
Questions
- Is the pattern of appointing international students to RA positions detrimental to their professional development in any way? Is it discriminatory?
- What are the consequences of identifying all international students as having “language problems”? Does the department have an obligation to provide resources for bringing international TAs into the classroom? How might this be accomplished?
- Are there university regulations about the hiring of international TAs? How are U.S. students with language deficiencies treated?
Discussion
International students who have been accepted into graduate degree programs should be afforded all opportunities for professional development, including the opportunity to teach. Some state legislatures require that international students be certified at state university campuses as “classroom ready” prior to appointment for a teaching assignment. It might be possible to create an “admission to teaching” screening activity for all potential graduate classroom instructors that will equitably distinguish graduate TAs who are not yet ready for classroom assignments on the basis of their competence, teaching skills or successful completion of a teacher training program of some sort. No broad classification such as “international student” should be used as a “suspect” category.
It is the responsibility of a graduate director or a department chair to ensure that graduate instructor assignments are equitably distributed, especially when access to department funding is heavily dependent upon teaching duties. A corresponding responsibility is owed to undergraduate students whose classrooms should be staffed by people with adequate skills.
