LETTER: Strategic Plan will improve grad school

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by Maeve McCarthy

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To the editor:

Having read the Strategic Plan draft, I feel that I must respond to the comments made in last week's Thresher staff editorial ("Improvements?" Thresher , April 12). The disagreement of the editorial with the idea of graduate students teaching at Rice appalled me.

The Strategic Plan draft is very clear on the fact that any teaching opportunities made available to graduate students will be limited. There is no question of a move by the university to having graduate students teach the majority of undergraduate classes.

This move would lead to the "classroom weaknesses of larger research universities" that the editorial fears. The draft gives a commitment that faculty will still teach most undergraduate classes, and that those graduate students given the opportunity to teach will do so only after completing at least one year of graduate study at Rice, passing a teacher training course and if they have adequate English proficiency.

Courses taught by graduate students will be supervised by faculty mentors, and evaluated each semester. This is a very responsible approach to graduate students teaching at Rice.

These conditions would protect both undergraduate and graduate students from potential risk.

The benefits to graduate students are rather substantial. For those of us who seek to pursue a career in academia, the fact that we do not teach at Rice is a hindrance when we seek jobs.

Universities are reluctant to hire faculty members without some teaching experience. Rice has an obligation to train all of its students to the best of its abilities. It has not been doing so, and the introduction of limited graduate teaching opportunities is a step towards a better university.

Other issues raised in the Strategic Plan draft include the building of a new Graduate Center to replace the current Graduate House. The Graduate Student Association has been calling for an alternative to Graduate House for many years.

It is wonderful to see a commitment to this in the report, and I commend the committee for this. I urge all graduate students to express their support of a new Graduate Center by using the online form at http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~pilgrim/form.html .

Maeve McCarthy

GSA External Vice President

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the April 19, 1996 issue.

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