Profs, not peers,
should teach 1010

The English Department started an internship program this school year in which senior English majors teach the required introductory class to compensate for a lack of professors to teach English 1010.
We believe the internship program is a solution that should not have been implemented because it is unfair to students taking the class, not in accordance to accreditation rules, and runs the risk of a lawsuit against the university.
Students pay for an excellent education. It is not fair to the student who enters a classroom and finds that the professor has less experience and education than a high school teacher. At least an adjunct professor has a bachelor’s degree.
We understand that some interns will teach more effectively than others, but it is not worth running the risk of a lawsuit. If a student who goes to class every day and turns in all of the assignments receives a poor grade from an underqualified professor, a challenge of that grade is justified and a lawsuit may follow.
Todd Petersen, director of English composition who keeps tabs on the interns, said all the interns are qualified to teach.
“None of them get to waltz onto the scene,” he said.
He said sometimes the interns have more educational experience than adjunct professors. However, we believe an instructor should be fully qualified, at least having earned a bachelor’s degree, before they are hired to teach a required class.
Unlike other areas of education, English is not an exact field of study, causing another problem with the internships. In math, the answer is right or wrong. There is one solution, but an essay can be written in many styles with many solutions.
Megan Winchester, a sophomore theatre arts major from Kanab, said she dropped her English 1010 class around midterms because she believed her professor was not teaching composition.
“We were reading stories and answering questions I answered in seventh and eighth grade,” Winchester said.
She said her class started with about 25 people and when she dropped the class, 10 others had already dropped it.
Winchester said she attended the class every day and received a poor grade on an essay. She said she asked the professor what was wrong and how she could improve, but the instructor couldn’t give her an answer.