Monday, January 6, 2014

Assistant

On a recent occasion, our lady from Mercury suggested that we should employ some teaching assistants to shoulder part of our work load.

(Haven’t you heard of the lady from Mercury? Too bad. You know what, the lady lives outside the Earth, but on a planet that is the farthest away from any extraterrestrials that inhabit outside the solar system.)

On the first glance, it seems a brilliant idea. With the increasing number of medical students (and possibly other need of teaching), we really need someone to help out.

However, I become skeptical in no time. My concern is a purely pragmatic one: How could we create a post of teaching assistant that is attractive enough to recruit reasonable applicants? If a person agrees to take up a post with a modest salary and nondescript title, and the duty is nothing but regular teaching and clinical ones, they are most likely not good enough – otherwise they should have better prospect as full time academic or clinical staff.

No comments: