Apprentice teachers demand higher pay
Sarah Friedman
Issue date: 4/5/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
On Feb. 16, Ryotaro Tashiro '09 submitted a petition demanding a pay raise for foreign language Apprentice Teachers (ATs) to the Provost's office. The petition, signed by 23 fellow ATs, reasoned that the highly skilled ATs should receive greater compensation than the minimum wage salary they currently receive.
According to Tashiro, a Japanese and Spanish AT, last year first-semester ATs were paid $5.50 an hour and experienced ATs were paid 50 cents more. He said that this year's across-the-board salary of $6.85 an hour, which reflects changes in federal minimum wage laws, is in essence a pay decrease. Before the recent minimum wage hike, which is up from $5 and was passed for the state of Ohio in November, unskilled jobs received minimum wage while ATs were paid more.
According to College officials, department budgets determine student salaries, and sometimes there is not enough money to satisfy everybody. "A rate change now would need Senior Staff approval since it would impact the [Modern Languages and Literatures] budget," said Teri Blanchard, associate vice president for finance. "When Senior Staff reviews student compensation, we will evaluate the special skills and expertise required of the ATs in relation to all other student jobs. … Senior Staff hopes to create a more coherent plan for the entire College."
On the academic side, the MLL department unanimously supports the ATs' request for a salary increase, said department chair Jianhua Bai, professor of Chinese. The department's annual report to the provost has several times requested a raise in ATs' salary, he said, sometimes in response to AT concerns expressed to the Kenyon Intensive Language Model director. In Bai's 16-year tenure, this is the first time students have initiated a petition.
•The AT position
ATs are "directly responsible for the success of the KILM program," said Susmita Sundaram, KILM director and visiting assistant professor of Russian. "They spend about as much time with the students as the professors do," she said, but they provide a "low-anxiety" environment for practicing the language.
ATs ensure that students "acquire the skill efficiently and effectively," said Bai. They supplement the five weekly classes taught by professors by meeting in two to four 50-minute sessions a week, depending on the language level. Every semester, prospective ATs are recruited, trained and selected after a tryout. The KILM director trains and supervises ATs and the professors make lesson plans.
"In many places, foreign language teaching is considered like the other disciplines," said Bai. "Kenyon is different in the way that language learning is considered doing the language rather than sitting in the classroom listening passively. … It's half intellectual and half physical type of activity. It's like swimming; you can tell people [what to do] but without throwing them into the water to swim you do not become a good swimmer."
•The request
ATs and MLL professors alike say they are concerned that, besides leaving current ATs dissatisfied, the low salary will deter potentially qualified students from applying for the position. "I'm sure there's a direct correlation between the good ATs and the quality of the program, so it's crucial for us to keep [them]," said Sundaram.
"I am very honored to be part of this program," said Tashiro. However, "I am very afraid that the KILM program may not work in the near future because people choose to not work as an AT," he said. "It's really sad because … it's really not fair to see people who have harder jobs get paid [the same wage]." The current salary of $6.85 is significantly less than that of, for example, a student working at the recycling center who earns $7.50 an hour.
"I've worked several jobs on campus including, for a short span, a time in the dishroom, a few weeks working at Phonathon, desk attendant at the KAC, and even nude-modeling," said Andres Millan '07, a Spanish AT. "AT needs more skill, and is more exhausting, than any of these."
"There's something wrong with the fact that one can make that much more money sitting naked on a bench than striving to teach the fine points of foreign grammar," said Millan.
"It is more than just a job. I really enjoy teaching and I like seeing my students improve in their language," said Tashiro. "However … because of [the] nature of the position, I think it needs to be paid a little more than we currently are."
Sundaram agreed. "The ATs put in a lot of work. It's not just about the quantity; it's also the quality. It's highly skilled work that they do." She added that if higher pay is a motivating factor for ATs, their salary should be increased. She conceded, however, that members of the MLL department "don't know the administrative side of issues."
•Different Perspectives
The Kenyon Intensive Language Model (KILM) program was launched in 1980. Following a visit from Dartmouth College's John Rassias, the College adopted Rassias's method of teaching languages. According to Bai, the Modern Languages and Literatures department then received a grant and Rassias was invited to run the first intensive language workshop.
Although Kenyon has used the Rassias method since 1980, it added the foreign language requirement only in the last few years. The added requirement put stress on the MLL department because it resulted in a "pretty obvious" enrollment increase, said Bai.
"From the College, we have a certain budget and that budget has been [remaining the same]," he said. "The department has been trying very hard to finding money to increase salary."
According to Tashiro, minutes from a meeting with President S. Georgia Nugent showed that Provost Greg Spaid presented the ATs' petition to her. Although there has been no administrative response yet, said Tashiro, "I can see that something is happening in the near future, hopefully."
According to Tashiro, a Japanese and Spanish AT, last year first-semester ATs were paid $5.50 an hour and experienced ATs were paid 50 cents more. He said that this year's across-the-board salary of $6.85 an hour, which reflects changes in federal minimum wage laws, is in essence a pay decrease. Before the recent minimum wage hike, which is up from $5 and was passed for the state of Ohio in November, unskilled jobs received minimum wage while ATs were paid more.
According to College officials, department budgets determine student salaries, and sometimes there is not enough money to satisfy everybody. "A rate change now would need Senior Staff approval since it would impact the [Modern Languages and Literatures] budget," said Teri Blanchard, associate vice president for finance. "When Senior Staff reviews student compensation, we will evaluate the special skills and expertise required of the ATs in relation to all other student jobs. … Senior Staff hopes to create a more coherent plan for the entire College."
On the academic side, the MLL department unanimously supports the ATs' request for a salary increase, said department chair Jianhua Bai, professor of Chinese. The department's annual report to the provost has several times requested a raise in ATs' salary, he said, sometimes in response to AT concerns expressed to the Kenyon Intensive Language Model director. In Bai's 16-year tenure, this is the first time students have initiated a petition.
•The AT position
ATs are "directly responsible for the success of the KILM program," said Susmita Sundaram, KILM director and visiting assistant professor of Russian. "They spend about as much time with the students as the professors do," she said, but they provide a "low-anxiety" environment for practicing the language.
ATs ensure that students "acquire the skill efficiently and effectively," said Bai. They supplement the five weekly classes taught by professors by meeting in two to four 50-minute sessions a week, depending on the language level. Every semester, prospective ATs are recruited, trained and selected after a tryout. The KILM director trains and supervises ATs and the professors make lesson plans.
"In many places, foreign language teaching is considered like the other disciplines," said Bai. "Kenyon is different in the way that language learning is considered doing the language rather than sitting in the classroom listening passively. … It's half intellectual and half physical type of activity. It's like swimming; you can tell people [what to do] but without throwing them into the water to swim you do not become a good swimmer."
•The request
ATs and MLL professors alike say they are concerned that, besides leaving current ATs dissatisfied, the low salary will deter potentially qualified students from applying for the position. "I'm sure there's a direct correlation between the good ATs and the quality of the program, so it's crucial for us to keep [them]," said Sundaram.
"I am very honored to be part of this program," said Tashiro. However, "I am very afraid that the KILM program may not work in the near future because people choose to not work as an AT," he said. "It's really sad because … it's really not fair to see people who have harder jobs get paid [the same wage]." The current salary of $6.85 is significantly less than that of, for example, a student working at the recycling center who earns $7.50 an hour.
"I've worked several jobs on campus including, for a short span, a time in the dishroom, a few weeks working at Phonathon, desk attendant at the KAC, and even nude-modeling," said Andres Millan '07, a Spanish AT. "AT needs more skill, and is more exhausting, than any of these."
"There's something wrong with the fact that one can make that much more money sitting naked on a bench than striving to teach the fine points of foreign grammar," said Millan.
"It is more than just a job. I really enjoy teaching and I like seeing my students improve in their language," said Tashiro. "However … because of [the] nature of the position, I think it needs to be paid a little more than we currently are."
Sundaram agreed. "The ATs put in a lot of work. It's not just about the quantity; it's also the quality. It's highly skilled work that they do." She added that if higher pay is a motivating factor for ATs, their salary should be increased. She conceded, however, that members of the MLL department "don't know the administrative side of issues."
•Different Perspectives
The Kenyon Intensive Language Model (KILM) program was launched in 1980. Following a visit from Dartmouth College's John Rassias, the College adopted Rassias's method of teaching languages. According to Bai, the Modern Languages and Literatures department then received a grant and Rassias was invited to run the first intensive language workshop.
Although Kenyon has used the Rassias method since 1980, it added the foreign language requirement only in the last few years. The added requirement put stress on the MLL department because it resulted in a "pretty obvious" enrollment increase, said Bai.
"From the College, we have a certain budget and that budget has been [remaining the same]," he said. "The department has been trying very hard to finding money to increase salary."
According to Tashiro, minutes from a meeting with President S. Georgia Nugent showed that Provost Greg Spaid presented the ATs' petition to her. Although there has been no administrative response yet, said Tashiro, "I can see that something is happening in the near future, hopefully."