University of Oregon - Oregana Yearbook (Eugene, OR)

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Robert McCullock: German

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'They're very serious about their iob and won't allow any mickey-mousing around in class, one student mentioned. The general consensus agreed that the TA had few discipline prob- lems and essentially had a weII-structured class. Occasional flaws were found in rhe material presented how- ever, but Hwhen the class mentions it, he doesn't try to take his way. He'd tell us he didn't know the answer and then go look it up, one freshman commented. I respect him most, I guess, be- cause he knows so much about the subiect, one girl said. You can talk to him and you'll come out understanding the problem better. Primarily, most students felt as this freshman girl, iil'm sure glad I got him; he dresses like we do so he seems closer to us. Per- haps, the ultimate compliment though was this one from a fresh- man fellow, iiHe knows everyone's names, in fact he learned all our names almost before I had a chance to learn his. I guess I like him, because he seems to care about us. But what do TA's feel about freshmen? HFreshmen are definitely people in a new situation, and they don't quite know what to expectf' one TA mentioned. HThey realize though, he continued, that college is a serious situation. Hence, they are genuinely concerned about their studies and grades.

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But the student is not only interested in the grade, he also shows an enthusiastic, eager interest in learning something new, one TA mentioned. HThe freshman is definitely more eager than the sophomore, another TA mentioned, Hand he gives more classroom response, still another added. Most TA's, especially those who had high school experience, found that freshmen were essentially more academically-minded than high school seniors. They seemed to learn twice as fast, and there were few, if any, discipline problems. 'They seem more mature than when l was a freshman, one TA was quoted as saying, Hand definitely more aggressive. When I was registering freshmen, he recalled, HI asked them to sign up for an 8 o'clock appointment to see their advisors. But they didn't go for this and demanded appointments around 9:30 and 10 am. I never would have demanded like that; I'd have been too scared. While freshman thinking at times is illogical and they aren't as analytical as they later will be, TA's generally agreed that those freshmen left in the spring would definitely be serious about their courses and willing to go more than half way. Michael Kervin: Math