We’ve all been in those classes where you sit in the front row and you still can’t understand a word of what your teaching assistant is saying. Or the TA is nervous, so he/she stumbles over every other word in a lecture class of more than 100 students.

We’re not saying all TAs are bad. In fact, there are a lot of good TAs who sometimes do a better job at explaining the course material than the professor.

But there are those pieces of coal in the rough who just haven’t quite matured to diamonds.

In a presentation project by Professional Communication 214, a seven-member TA Patrol Team made several suggestions on ways to monitor and evaluate TAs.

One of their suggestions included having a Speak-Teach Test that would evaluate whether a TA is capable of grading papers or teaching class.

If there hasn’t been some test like this in the past, then it is no wonder more students flunk Math 150 than any other class at Iowa State. It’s obvious the English Proficiency Test is not working.

There need to be other measures taken so students get the best quality of education possible. It is the goal of ISU to become the best land-grant in the United States, so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have the best TAs.

TAs who speak English as a second language are not the only TAs who receive complaints.

There are many times TAs are only seen when it is test time. But when found, many are more than welcome to help students, even if they don’t know the answer to their questions.

All TAs are not totally clueless. But there needs to be better training and improved evaluations to provide students with the best undergraduate education available.

Remember, not everyone can be born to be a natural teacher.