When Wallace Professor of Applied Physics R. Victor Jones introduced his teaching fellow (TF) during this semester's first lecture of Engineering Sciences 151: ` "Electromagnetic Communication," the class responded with a standing ovation.

"They rose and cheered," Jones says. "The students actually had him for an ear lier course."

Christopher J. Patrick '96, who lead the bi-weekly laboratory section of the course, says students find him easy to talk to because he is an under graduate.

"I think I'm a lot more pal than authority figure than a lot of other lab TFs," Patrick says. "I think it's good knowing them in that it's easy to get the chemistry pretty good and have a positive feeling in the lab."

But Patrick says he sometimes finds it difficult to grade fellow undergraduates' lab reports.

"Once in a while, it's tough, especially if I have to grade somebody and give them a bad grade," he says. "It makes me take a long time considering what grades people deserve--I really know these guys well."

Harvard undergraduates play a role in grading other undergraduates work in many courses in the natural science.

Although some students say they wonder whether undergraduates are capable of evaluating other students fairly, many say their undergraduate section leaders have been the best teachers and most fair graders they have had while at Harvard.

"My experiences have been uniformly positive," says math concentrator Andrew J. Blumberg '97-'98.

"Mistakes were made, but no more than in my classes with graduate TFs or professors doing grading."

The Policy

Although undergraduate TF's abound in the sciences, students in the humanities are far less likely to be involved in the evaluation of other undergraduate students.

Faculty Council rules, as specified in the "Information for Instructors" handbook, state that although undergraduates "may participate in the evaluation of students, they should not be involved in the subjective evaluation of essays and examinations."

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 says these rules imply a difference in the role of instructors in the natural sciences as opposed to the humanities.

"I think the rules against undergraduates grading subjective material such as essays are appropriate," says Lewis, who is also McKay professor of computer science and a former head tutor. "However, the situations with which I have familiarity in which undergraduates grade problems in mathematics and computer science are not subjective in the same sense and do not present difficulties."

And Menzel Professor of Astrophysics David R. Layzer '46 says undergraduate teaching assistants are most valuable in courses that emphasize a specific "skill."