In response to Jennifer Tsai's complaint about the April 18 issue in which the "Better Than Stick Figures" cartoon featured a TA who spoke no English, I would like to respond by stating that it was not in any way racist. Furthermore, Tsai seems to carelessly throw around accusations of racism without supporting the position. Paul Hebert is not racist simply because he, presumably a white student, draws a cartoon of a TA who speaks Chinese.
Hebert is simply criticizing how the university hires teaching assistants, some of whom don't speak English well. How are students supposed to learn if they can't understand their teachers? The TAs may be the best in their field, but if their students can't understand them, they are not effective teachers. Oftentimes, the material is hard enough to understand as it is, and if it is difficult to understand the TA on top of that, it can be very frustrating.
Maybe the TAs did pay $60 to take the Speaking Proficiency English Assessment Kit test, but I'm paying a lot more than that to attend this university and would like to have teachers that I can understand. I know many other students have the same problem, and as this is the case I think it is obvious that the test is not an accurate measurement of English proficiency. This is not racially discriminatory in any way, it doesn't in any way relate to race.
If someone comes from another country to teach me, that's fine, and as I found here, it is often better; they come with different ideas and experiences that give me more to learn from. However, if I can't understand what they are saying, I'm not benefiting at all. It doesn't matter whether they came from China, Japan, India or Argentina; if they don't speak English well enough for students to understand them in class, they shouldn't be teaching.
