TA- "Teaching Assistant" the famous word among the student community in usa.
As i was walking towards home, from Maes(CS Department @ Lamar University) group of students were passing by, looking angrily at me and mumbling something. If not the lips i could read their minds.... "sala mar kyu nahi gaya 0 dene se pehle".
Students would think about a TA as God, when it comes to that particular subject. But the truth is he is a human and learning at every stage of his life.
There is often pressure from the instructor to grade in a particular way, wheather you like it or not, wheather the students love it or not. And that way generally is called the tough grading. My instructor would tell me "You cannot make every one happy...grade tough".
Catching "copy cases" was a quandary. You know it might ruin the career of a student, but you know if you dont do it, it might ruin yours. Many time i felt i could not do it any more playing with careers of students, but i had no option. I had commited for the job and i could not leave in middle, and i wanted to be honest to myself and my work.
It was in middle of Fall 06, i decided that after the end of the semester i will never ever take up this job again.
The other side of the story is that, the students should themselves understand that they are here to study, and they better study, which will make life easier for every one around, instead of indulging themselves in plagiarism issues.
Arpan.
