<p>Well, like most LACs, Smith doesn’t promise that you’ll never have a non-Phd teaching your course, only that you won’t be taught by a TA. And none of the grad students teaching at Smith (and I wouldn’t say there are tons, but there are a few) are TAs. </p>
<p>I mean, I guess I can see why you’d be somewhat miffed, but honestly, in a lot of cases it doesn’t matter/you can hardly tell the difference. My intro macro class at Smith was taught by a UMASS grad student and he was one of the best professors I’ve ever had. He really understood how to teach so that studetns learned, something even a lot of tenured profs can’t do. </p>
<p>Also, a lot of times utilizing graduate students allows Smith to offer courses that a college of its size and location would not otherwise be able to offer. For example, all of my Arabic classes at Smith were taught by people from the Arab world earning graduate degrees while on Fulbright scholarships in the U.S., simply because it’s very hard for small schools to attract Phd’s that also speak and teach Arabic (there aren’t that many), but UMASS has a huge world languages center that attracts people that speak in every language. Because of that, Smith can offer its students an education not only in Arabic, but also in Hindi, Farsi, Turkish, Urdu and many other rare but useful languages. </p>
<p>And of course, without a doubt, it’s cheaper to higher a graduate student rather than a full Phd., but I don’t think that 1) the number of grad students has increased or 2) that it has increased because of the budget cuts. I think if anything, she has two grad studetn professors because there are a lot more students who want to study sciences at Smith than there are doctoral faculty immediately available to teach them. Smith could either sacrifice small class size or variety of courses, or it can make use of the resources available to them, and help out some grad students at the saem time. </p>
<p>I assume her two-credit course is an Exercise and Sports Studies or a Dance? those are usually taught by grad students because ESS and Dance are two of Smith’s few graduate programs and those Smithies need the practical work for their degrees.</p>