Not surprisingly, these students are the ones who were already comfortable asking me questions about Ec 10 in class or office hours. The ones who showed dedication and effort in the course had opportunities to benefit from us lowly graduate students both outside the class and afterward as well.

I close with one last comment and warning. While the graduate and law students who teach Ec 10 (and other Core classes) may be somewhat unproven, do not feel so assured that tenured faculty would be better.

I give out my home phone number to all my students; I wonder how many of the tenured faculty do the same.

Before I taught, I went through two days of intensive teacher training. I was videotaped after about a month of teaching, and I went over the videotape, as well as students' comments about my teaching, with a faculty member early in the term.

These steps were designed to help me and every other Ec 10 section leader improve our teaching abilities. We're young and adaptable: If you tell us that changing something will help you learn, if you contribute to the discussions in class, or if you show up in office hours, we will bend over backwards to help you out.

Fortunately, some members of the tenured faculty are equally dedicated. But don't get your hopes set too high just yet. Dave Tabak