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Viewpoint ^ j L_ (IJ .1 Monday, April 14, 1986 Fair is fai English TAs sh same pay as o Teaching assistants in USC's English department are justified in their attempt to gain pay equal to that of instructors in other departments. English TAs receive about $2,500 less per year than other department assistants. Teaching a class requires a tremendous amount of work, and USC is overburdening English TAs. They are, after all, students first. And trying to achieve a master's degree should not have to be placed on the back burner to grade a pile of papers. If a teaching assistant with two classes of 25 students assigns eight five-page paDers. this means over 2,000 pages to grade, in addition to preparing lectures and assignments, teaching the courses and conducting student conferences. Willy Wonka invites five to graduation "Why, it's the most incredibly wonderfully marvelous gradua- j tion ceremony in the world, Charlie!" Grandpa Joe said. j In the evenings, after he finish- | ed his supper of watery cabbage soup, Charlie always went into ; his grandparents' room to listen to their stories and, afterward, to say good night. Often, the stories j concerned the ENORMOUS DIPLOMA FACTORY located actually within si^ht of the house in which Charlie lived. And it wasn't an ordinary enormous diploma factory, ( either. It was the largest and most C - lamous in tnc whole world! It I was owned by a man called Mr. | William Wonka, the greatest maker of diplomas that there has 5 ever been. That's what Grandpa t Joe was talking about. "I'll tell you something in- s teresting, Charlie," Grandpa Joe ( said. "Nobody . . . ever . . . co- t mes . . . out . ... And . . . nobody . . . ever . . . goes . . . in!C "In where?" Charlie cried. r ''Wonka's graduation n ceremonies, of course!" 11 Then Grandpa Joe explained. p Years before, when he was as h young as Charlie, Wonka's commencement exercises had been open to everybody, regardless of whether they were related to graduates or not. And the ceremonies were so glorious anM i. u dazzling that word got around, and soon thousands upon thousands of people were lining jc up for weeks beforehand just to _ get a good scat. And every year C( the ceremony was more lavish fj and more spectacular. sc al "But the thing got out of th hand," Grandpa Joe said. "And after a dozen years the crowds T got so big that Wonka couldn't hi fit them in any of his buildings. pj 'What will I do?' Wonka cried. 'I T can't let some people in and leave ur others out! It wouldn't be fair!"' in "What did he do?" Charlie G; "Why, he left everybody out, dc Charlie. I.ocked the doors and th held graduation ceremonies with no audience at all. And he does that to this day." co Send us a I F.xprcss your likes and dislikes by ler to the editor or a guest editorial l etters must be typed, double-sp; more than 300 words. Include you dress, telephone number and where ' reached for verification. Letters also should include whetb student, staff or community men editorials must be limited to 500 writers must come to the newsroor picture taken. ir mm ould receive ther assistants English TAs should rcceivc the money they deserve. In the non-academic world the humanities ate being forced to take a back seat to technology. It is frightening that this institution of higher education seems to agree, and that it would rather use extra funds to attract dignitaries instead of paying educational staff. USC officials must learn that to receive quality, you must pay for it. That's what they tell students every time thev raise* tuition Porhonr ... . .1U|? they should start listening to their own sermons. A walkout may be considered drastic, but it may also be the only way the administration can be made aware of the seriousness of the situation. With any luck it won't come to that. VI > Wm Andy Duncan From the other side of the bed, jrandma Josephine sighed. 'How fine the ceremonies must 3e by now if Wonka's been improving them every year." on, uranapa Joe," Charlie .aid. "Wouldn't it be wonderful o see this year's graduation?" Grandpa Joe laughed and hook his head. "There's no way, < Jharlie. No one's allowed in here." ] Just then, Mr. Bucket, Charlie's father, came into the I oom waving an evening 1 ewspaper. "Have you heard the ews?" he yelled. He held up the aper so they could sec the huge t eadline. The headline said: i Wonka Graduation To Be Opened At j Last To Luck} Few } Then Mr. Bucket read the 1 ulletin: "I, William Wonka, have 1 ecided to allow five people ? tst five, mind you, and no more - to visit my graduation ;remony this year. These lucky ve will be shown around perrnally by me, and they will be lowed to see all the secrets and * ic magic of my diploma factory. K "So watch out for the Golden t nvc uoiaen lickets | we been printed on golden jper, and these five Golden ickets have been hidden iderneath the ordinary wrappg paper of five ordinary umecock candy bars. H "And for those of you who n >n't get in ? your diploma is in gi e mail." V ei Editor's note: The preceding ti lurun was sarcastic. s| letter writing a let- The Gamecock \ letters a month by aced and no only be withheld r name, ad- pseudonyms are no you can be er you are a The Gamecock re iber. Guest and guest editorials words, and returned. Send n to have a Gamecock, Drawer bia, S.C. 29208. If PHfirc fn f.h' I ? v t?V# 111 IV English TAs' pay good next to other salaries To the editor: I am writing the following letter in response to your headline article of April 2 concerning the low pay of English teaching assistants. Last semester I was an English TA, and 1 feel that TAs in the English department receive enough money for what they do. Teaching two classes requires about 24 hours per week: five hours in class preparation, five hours teaching, 11 hours grading papers and three hours set aside for office hours. At the annual salary of $6,000, a TA makes $200 per week for two 15-week semesters. At an hourly rate, a TA makes $8.33 per hour. The amount of time for preparing classes and grading papers may vary a little from TA to TA. I think $8.33 is pretty good compared to working off-campus or doing work-study, especially since performing as a TA is actually on-the-job training for manv. if not mmi TAs. I don't really understand why TAs in other departments make more money than those in English. I think that is their concern and their good fortune. However, if anyone wants to entertain the idea of equalizing the income of IAs in all departments, I would suggest that he income of I As in other departments be lowered instead of the income for English I As be raised. I would be interested to hear from some of he more "affluent" TAs in other departments concerning how much money they nake for their assigned duties. I.ike anyone else, I would greatly enjoy an ncrease in salary; but I find those who arc ortunate to get an assistantship in English mgrateful when they denounce a generous in:ome because they see someone else who is loing even better. Larry Bagwell Comparative Literature, Grad student English TAs trying for ess work, same pay I o the editor: Recently, the graduate instructors in the nglish department at USC have had cwspaper and television coverage of our rievances regarding assistantship stipends, t'hile such opportunities have certainly nhanced our visibility, they are at the same me f rustrating; so far no one has voiced the >ecific reasons behind our dissatisfaction. ? ' I Be?t Newip i I fir Pnu Im wv ? was no* _____ fa* 1981 ! Kdilor in C.'h vill print no more than two Marisa J. h the same writer. Names will Minting vx Jeri Rowe by special exception, and ( allowed. topy 1)eskt ; Linda Tayl< Assistant Co| serves the right to edit letters buddy Moo ,, both of which will not be New? Kdlior letters 10: Editor, The Met Node, 4 ii it f f* A%sis(ttnl Nev A, Kussell House, Colum- Hal Millard Paula Weth ''0 ! editor Ill .ni l III Contrary to the focus of these news stories, our main purpose is not to make more money. What we are really seeking is less work for the same pay. Our primary purpose in the English department is to learn. We are students first and foremost. By offering assistantships, the university administrators imply their support of our degree pursuits. However, what they an. in ian uoing is laKing advantage of an inexpensive means of providing instruction for 82 percent of all English freshman courses and 45 percent of all English classes that are presently taught by graduate students at USC. The department could never find funds to pay professors (many of whom would refuse to do so if asked) to teach the courses that we cover. We arc frustrated because we spend more time fulfilling our teaching responsibilities than studying. Teaching two courses a semester demands at least 30 hours a week teaching, preparing assignments and lectures (we are new at this ? we don't have file drawers full of prepared lessons), conferencing with individual students and grading papers ? a minimum of 400 a semester per instructor. Plus, in order to make enough money to pay the bills, many of us who are ^elf-supporting have taken on at least one overload class. 1 his workload leaves us with enough time to do only the minimum requirements for our own graduate courses. We have a high failure rate among students taking comprehensive exams, due in large part to the amount of time spent teaching rather than studying. By refusing to give the English department more money the university is forcing us to spend too much time teaching and not enough time learning; they are undercutting the entire principle behind assistantships. USC is underpaying us to teach invaluable communication skills to undergraduates ? skills upon which all other classes in this university arc prefaced, skills which the university apparently recognizes as such, since freshman English is a requirement for every student. When enrollment skyrocketed last fall, rather than being provided with more money to hire additional instructors, we were forced to increase the number of students enrolled in each section. This not only increased our workload, but it violated the guidelines imposed on the University by the Southern Association of Colleges, a governing body that has determined the number of students that can effectively be taught in a composition class. SAC also prohibits first-year graduate students from taking on the full responsibility of teaching classes and assigning grades, but our English department administrators have frequently been forced to ignore this rule because they do not have the funds to attract experienced graduate students to our program. We are, on an average, receiving $2,000 less per year ? one-third of our entire salary ? than other English graduate students in the Southeast, manv of whom am a , uiv ivlJUIIkU 111 f"'" The Gdnii lef Huslnets hdltor Photogri 'orto Maria Frutus Ray Cn lltor Viewpoint i-xlitfir Assistant Carl Dawson Sean Kt Senior P hlef Spotlight hdltor David L >r Ed Chambliss Joseph i py l>e?tk C "hicf Assistant Spotlight Kditors re Stephen Guilfoyle Senior K Patrick Jean ^d Bo hi r Sport* Editor Art Hoe vs hdltor* John Boyette Amy Dt Assistant Sport* hdltor Ron! Be mxion Jeff Shrewsbury Joanne teach fewer classes annually. Clearly, we are being taken advantage of in a number of ways. If the administration leaves us with no alternative but to take some form of action, we won't be doing so because a we arc money-mongers; instead, we will ^ be demanding that the university take significant steps to remedy this inequitable situation. Nancy Lewis English, graduate student Students should show concern for apartheid To the editor: While some students are running to and fro trying to land summer jobs, trying to read the small print of the summer and fall course schedule, selling every piece of furniture in their room or apartment before they graduate, others are still trying to get President Holderman's attention concerning the university's role in South Africa. Let's face it, many of today's students arc more concerned about Halley's comet than they are about South Africa. They are vaguely familiar with the name Botha ar.d even less familiar with Nelson Mandela. Nevertheless, the students that have taken an interest in the policies of this university and how they invest university funds should be commended. This is not an off-the-wall cause. Apartheid is a gross injustice to humanity despite the contradictory reports. This monster has turned blacks against blacks, whites against ^ blacks, whites aaainst whites onH w .. uiau illWlV tip" pears to be no end to the psychological effects it has on the entire world. Many of us are too "into ourselves" to be concerned with South Africa. We are too caught up with the latest "whatever" to even support the cause by participating in a walk, or candelight vigil, write letters, or even make a financial donation (the "Free South Africa" button costs 25 cents.) I admit, I have my share of overload and may not get out to every meeting or debate about South Africa. But I have taken the time to read and become knowledgeable about the situation. I am writing this letter in support of the shanty. Perhaps a closer view of the conditions of South Africa would soften the mental walls of the university's board members As college students and leaders, we must speak out for what is right. I think of the fact that I would not be attending this univesity today, had not someone spoken up in behalf of minorities two decades ago. Sallic A. Butler Journalism, junior acock I iphy Editor Kuthy Lewis onberfi Tracy Mixson i ("holography hdltor Fred Steppe 'efer Adviser holograph* Bill Rogers )otson Director Garneit, Jr. Bill Clements Production eportero Lewis Covington vn Mark Armstrong r*e Advertising Manager 'IPo Margaret Michels a Kayne Student Advertising Manager Korth Kelli Freas i