AIs help profs, students learn

If it seems like more of your classes are taught by grad students than by full professors, you're not imagining things. It has recently come to light that IU has the most assocciate instructors out of all the Big Ten schools.\nWhat a rip-off! Shouldn't our tuition dollars go exclusively toward hiring "real" professors?\nWell, not necessarily. One reason our tuition stays relatively low is that AIs are paid much less than full professors. And the cheaper the teachers, the more the University employs. That's how a school with 38,000 students manages to have several small sections of many courses instead of huge lecture halls filled with anonymous students. That's also how students can so easily obtain one-on-one help after class and during office hours.\nThe benefits are also great for graduate students who hope to become professors. They gain excellent teaching experience, all the more valuable because they have knowledgeable full professors available for consultation. And because their graduate education is funded by the AI program, many bright grad students are lured to IU who might not have come here otherwise. That boosts IU's academic reputation tremendously.\nMany of our most esteemed professors are here to do research as well as to teach. With thousands of undergraduates here, AIs are instrumental to the balance between teaching and research. Their help allows IU to balance research goals with teaching responsibilities, without causing tuition to skyrocket.\nBut can an inexperienced AI without a Ph.D. truly teach as effectively as a seasoned professor? We think so, because years of research and knowledge don't necessarily make an adequate teacher. Especially for introductory classes, AIs are usually capable of doing the job. With some professors here primarily for research, sometimes an AI will have more energy to devote to teaching.\nHowever, not all AIs are exemplary teachers. How many times have you and your classmates filled out scathing semester-end reviews for a bad AI, only to witness him teaching the same course again and again? IU isn't short-changing us by giving us student teachers in place of professors, but we are getting scammed when our input is ignored. \nWhile we appreciate that the AIs are often more accessible than professors and that they help keep our costs down, our opinions need to be considered when deciding whether to keep certain AIs. It's inappropriate that an AI who is the protégé of a prominent professor is likely to be retained despite legitimate complaints on student reviews.\nWhen "selling" IU to prospective students, it's OK to rave about our teacher-to-student ratio so long as IU clarifies that a large number of teachers are actually AIs. It's only fair to be up front about the way in which students will be taught, because there are benefits for undergrads with the AI program.\nIn short, we think IU should keep up its tradition of employing so many AIs. As long as AIs are held responsible for doing a good job, we'll get a top-notch education at a low cost.