Grad Student as Instructor (Rant Warning)

This year I am enrolled in a pass/fail course that is now required of all TA's.  It's a two semester course titled Graduate Student as Instructor (GRAD 800) and is a new thing that USC is doing.  I believe this is the first year that they have done the TA training so extensively.  As with a lot of things in academia, it is little more than a waste of time.

The first requirement for this course was attending a half-day workshop before the fall semester began.  There was little that was said that was helpful or relevant to what I am or will be doing, and nothing that is not readily available online.  The panel that we were required to go to as part of that workshop had absolutely no relevance to those of us in the math department.  We've decided that the whole course was implemented to put butts in the seats at the workshops and forums that we are now required to attend.

This course has required attendance at 4 events, independently schedule by us busy grad students, with a 1000 word essay for each.  The problem with this is that it is counter productive.  I have had to miss class to attend forums and sacrifice study time to write essays.  I submitted several "assignments" at the end of last week, and they were graded by Monday.  It frustrates me to spend time on this course when I'm quite certain that the assignments are not read with any attention to quality.  With 150 students enrolled in my section alone, I expect my documents were, at most, quickly opened and checked for length of content.  This would be fine with me, expect that I'm not one who can blow off an assignment, whether it is being taken seriously or not.

All that being said, I'm happy to report that last night I uploaded my last pointless, time-consuming assignment.  All that remains are a could of exit surveys, which should take no time at all, and my teaching philosophy, which will take quite a bit of time, but it the one worthwhile thing that we are required to do.

The red tape of academia...but it could be worse...my university could be facing a forced merger with a lesser institution that would guarantee the inevitable and rapid deterioration into oblivion of an establishment that I love and respect.  Fortunately, us folks in academia and our trusted politicians have too much common sense and insight to ever let anything like that happen.  Oh, wait... Damn.