Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Is being a High School TA slave labor?

So recently a friend of mine that is still in high school was telling me that she was a TA (teachers assistant) for the high school in her town.  And I remember back a few years that being a TA in high school was a cool thing.  In fact I had a few opportunities to do it, but ended up doing some other classes instead.  The bottom line is..Is it worth it for students to be TA's? 

Some of the other "cool classes" to take in high school seemed to be: study hall, weight lifting and other PE classes.  I would also put being a TA in the same category with these other classes, and basically they are mostly not a great choice for students to prepare them for life after high school

My friend even told me that there was times the teacher would have her do ridiculous things, stuff not even related to schoolwork or education.  Things like:  making the teachers lunch, organizing her music or movie lists, or even cleaning the locker bathrooms.  All things that would fall under either personal responsibilities or teacher work responsibilities, NOT something the student should be doing. 

Seems to me it's a little like slave labor.  These tasks are crazy and it just simply goes to show how lazy some teachers can be.  All said in done, I wouldn't think that being a TA in our high schools would be a very productive thing, as students are preparing to apply for college.