Blog 7: Chapter 7: Shaft the Undergraduates

The title of Chapter 7 pretty much sums up the chapter, but I will go into a brief synopsis for those of you who might not understand what “Shaft the Undergraduates” actually means. As schools began to see a lost of revenue, they had choices to make, so they began to cut the budgets of undergraduate programs instead of cutting the budgets of their athletic programs. Universities began to focus more and more on research fame and promoting their college franchises. Classroom buildings were beginning to show wear and tear. They were run down and instead of building new classrooms; fancy research buildings were being constructed. Professors began to question this, but they participated in the research. You might ask why a professor would do this. They did so because they are rewarded by the administration with perks such as personal research accounts, paid leave and other goodies. Professors were only required to spend six hours a week in a classroom, many professors managed to spend fewer hours than that in the classroom, sometimes no time at all. TA’s (graduate student teaching assistants) were used to teach undergraduate courses. How did a grad student feeling about teaching to the “four subcultures?” Well, this opposed a little bit of a problem because now they had to get over the “subculture factor” and be pleasant to all the “subcultures.” “Some graduate students climb over these obstacles and become good teachers; others allow their insecurities and inexperience to sabotage their teaching efforts, and they watch in frustration as students mentally and physically depart their courses” (Sperber 80).