Received: from UConnVM.UConn.Edu (uconnvm.uconn.edu [137.99.26.3]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.7.6/8.7.3/CNS-4.0p) with SMTP id NAA01926 for ; Sun, 18 May 1997 13:37:45 -0600 (MDT) Received: from UCONNVM.UCONN.EDU by UConnVM.UConn.Edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 8932; Sun, 18 May 97 15:37:45 EDT Received: from UConnVM.UConn.Edu (NJE origin DMC96005@UCONNVM) by UCONNVM.UCONN.EDU (LMail V1.2c/1.8c) with BSMTP id 4857; Sun, 18 May 1997 15:37:45 -0400 Date: Sun, 18 May 97 15:34:09 EDT From: danielle Subject: Re: "Talk of the Nation" program on academic careers today (5/15) To: jim c In-Reply-To: Message-Id: <970518.153745.EDT.DMC96005@UConnVM.UConn.Edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT I listened to that program and they had some good points and some weaknesses. For those of you who don't listen to it, you should try sometime -- it is a great program that deals with a lot of different issues. The one thing they said that really irritated me had to do with their assumption that grad students cannot teach as well as more experienced professors. I would disagree and say that in many cases, particularly at Research I institutions, the grad students are actually the ones connecting with the students and getting them interested in sociology. That has been my experience in my two years of teaching. My students love the fact that I am accessible, and that I care, and that I am still very much excited about what I am studying and learning. The "exploitation" issue is very real however. There are many schools that totally take advantage of their grad students and justify it in some stupid and self-serving way. UCONN is good about it, in my opinion. We don't get much cash, but we get full tuition waivers and health insurance!! Any thoughts on this whole issue? -danielle at UCONN