I decided to attend another tutorial for my class today and was surprised at how thick the TA’s accent was and how hard she was to understand. On top of that, she was ill prepared and seemed not to know the material. I’ve had a prof like that as well teaching a difficult class. Brilliant guy but a third of what he said either had to be repeated so we could understand it or I didn’t get at all.
I have nothing against accents (heck I have a Pakistani accent) but when you are paying for your education, shouldn’t you get your money’s worth? Would it be racism to not hire someone because their accent and bad English makes things harder for the student but is otherwise equal in every other way to another candidate?
Hmm, I guess one might get used to the accent but what about the bad English?
We had an Indian lecturer and she spoke perfectly clear English but half the students complained about her, and I think its because she was a mousy little Indian woman, who was also a bit strict.
Sarah back in last year of high school I was paired up with this Chinese student for some project. Im sorry to say that I couldnt understand him at all. He was an exchange student. His English was not too great to start with on top of that his accent...it was so hard to understand him.
I wanted to talk to the teacher so badly, but I couldnt. I felt so cruel when I would come home and scream about how I couldnt understand that guy.
But hey I got an A on the project. Needless to say I did the oral presentation.
I just think you have to give people a chance. I mean yeah it might be hard to understand them , and annoying too, but those people could be brilliant and they must know how to do their jobs, which is why they get hired.
yeah Ive had some proffs like that too.Thick French accents and so on. Always had to see them after the lectures. But Ive met enough to know that those people know what they are doing.
I dont think its racism...but those people shouldnt be kept away from jobs they CAN do. That would be racism. :p
I took physics and engineering courses in college and the teacher was an Indian with an accent so thick, he was usually asked to repeat himself 4 or 5 times, making the class soooooooo slow. But he was also one of the best teachers we had. He always knew how to explain things and made things a lot easier to learn.
He always spoke correctly, but that accent killed it.
Proper english is another thing. My mother would always correct us, constantly.
I think it is racism to fire her now, but how on earth did she get hired in the first place? She had to speak to someone to get her job.
No, it’s not racism - you’re entitled to know what she’s talking about… my brother has the same problem with his biology teacher… sure she knows what she’s talking about - but no one else does…
Last semester I had a hispanic female teacher for chemistry. Her accent was weird and funny. Even I cracked up sometimes when she completely ruined some of the elements' names. She couldn't say "atomic" properly, she always pronounced it "atthomeec". lol. Sorry, but I am not in favor for teachers who have bad accents. We deserve better teachers!
The university I teach at, the recruiting committee actually looks at level and clarity of dialog and idiomatically correct usage of english as two criteria. Now everyone in the committee has his/her own subjective opinion about those criteria, and they'd give their own individual scores to it.
So, to answer your question whether its racism/discrimination, no it isn't - its a professional imperative and those standards apply to all.
I don't care where a teacher comes from or how many degrees he has. If he can't communicate, he's of no use to students. And no, preferring a teacher fluent in English is not racism but his race is inadvertently affecting his ability to do his job.
An accent is no big deal but when it's so thick that u cant understand wat they saying, then yeah I think u have a right to complain....ur paying a lot to get an education, you shouldn;t have to waste ur time staying after lectures or complaining about the teachers..