Why does a college professor get paid big bucks to teach, and yet they have helpers grade everything?

Question

And they show up late?

Answer 1

Yeah, it's a mixture of tenure and class size. Some professors, as part of their tenure, demand X amount of TA's to help them out, and they end up getting them based on the class size that the professors teach. This is great because of course that means less work for the Professor while getting paid the same amount of money. I've only seen a few professors arrive late for class, but it's very unprofessional for them to do so and most hardly ever do it because they'll get reported.

Also to a previous comment about professors having to do great planning for their coursework and what not, I'm not sure what professors she's referring to because nearly all of my professors simply go by the guidelines that their textbooks come with. In other words all of that work is already done for them. Just this semester I had a professor simply use the Adobe presentations that the textbook came with, reading chapter by chapter what they said on the board, and that was his preparation. Nice. And as far as exams, most of my professors also never create their own, they just simply use the ones supplied with their teachers edition textbook. Kind of nice how these professors can get away with these lazy practices, don't you think? I can't think of any other profession that pays someone to essentially read someone else's notes and use someone else's exams and get away with it, all while averaging about $85,000 per year on top of that.

Answer 2

Do you have any idea the planning that goes into teaching a lesson? It isn't like the information appears magically in their heads in a coherent manner. That takes serious planning. The Helpers grade everything because there is more to teaching than meets the eye.

They not only have to format a lesson plan that fits with the guidelines set up by the education system, but once those papers are graded, they need to enter them into a recording program, so they can keep track of students progress. Either by computer (new way) or some use written records (old fashioned). This is not including the fact that they may teach 6 full classrooms of students per day! That is a LOT to keep track of.

There is also either dealing with the parents because of a bad grade their kid is getting in class, ( yes- when the parents pay... they get involved... even in college) or having to deal with a student who has issues.

Grading papers is the most easily transferable of the tasks a teacher does and it is also the most mundane. A teacher has to catch a break someplace.

As for being late. I can not answer for that because I do not know the teachers situation. Sometimes my professors were late because they were teaching another class all the way across campus right before ours.

Answer 3

You haven't heard the old joke about how "academic salary" is an oxymoron? Big bucks--those go to the football and basketball coaches. Professors are among the lowest-paid professions.

I'm in my 20th year as a full-time professor and I've never had a grader--and never was a grader back when I was a graduate student--and I only had one course in my entire life where graders were used (it was a Pascal programming course--some subjects can use graders more effectively than others.

And why does anyone show up late? I can attest that I have had semesters when I could not walk down a hallway EVER without someone stopping me about something important (to them, anyway). Distressed students often phone the office just as you're stepping out the door to start class on time. In the adult world, people are sometimes late--the only time I make a big issue of it would be (1) chronic lateness (2) the person is inflexible about others' lateness when it happens.

Now, here are some counter-questions: Why do students pay big bucks for an education, yet they don't study and copy-and-paste big sections of their term papers from Wikipedia and Encarta?

And they show up late?

Did I getcha there? :-)

Answer 4

If someone else was being paid to do your job and it didn't come out of your paycheck wouldn't you take it? Believe me, most college professors don't get paid big bucks. The ones who do do research and may not teach at all other than their research students.

Answer 5

Does a helper teach ? If they're only grading then they've been taught the answers and the teacher can keep on giving the lesson and cashing those checks.

Answer 6

Teaching is far from the only thing professors get paid for. They have to do their own research projects and write papers to keep up their reputation, make sure they keep up with advancements in their field, and advise students.

Besides, teaching assistants who plan to go on and become professors themselves have to start somewhere.

Answer 7

Actually, the faculty who get teaching assistants generally teach at schools where they are hired to do research, not teach (and few of them are paid big bucks, unless you are in medical or law school). Their assistants tend to be doctoral students whom they can trust with grading. The rest of us get undergraduates to help us, and the only grading we can let them do is to run the Scantron forms through the machine. We have to grade our own essays.

Answer 8

T E N U R E

Answer 9

They are smart...