Dealing with terrible gsi? Advice/Experience?

Lemaitre1
Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:53:34 +0000

I am guessing a GSI is what we called a TA years ago when I was an undergraduate in college. It sounds like nothing has really changed in decades. Trying to learn from them, particularly in the sciences, has always been a struggle. You have to remember that these people are graduate students, often from Asia, who are only teaching because they are required to as part of their grants. They generally have no teaching experience and did not go to graduate school because they wanted to teach lower division Physics to freshmen and sophomores. They are there because they want to become leading researchers or academics in their fields and teaching what to them is very basic material to often uninspired students feels like a waste of time and energy to them. Add in the fact that they often have to do it in what to them is a foreign language compounds the stress they experience.

This is no excuse for GSIs who are rude, unhelpful and condescending to their students. This is the quid pro quo they agreed to in exchange for graduate training and a stipend and they should do their best to meet their obligations. However, it does explain why they often seem unhappy and unenthusiastic about teaching.