The teaching assistant system originated from Harvard University in the late 19th century. Practice and research have shown that teaching assistants play an important role in college teaching. Under the influence of China’s teaching assistant system, which aimed at helping the impoverished and helping the needy students for a long time, the graduate teaching assistant system has the problem of insufficient integration of the ability cultivation consciousness in the practice, which affects the efficiency of teaching assistant activities. Ohio State University has innovatively implemented all-round penetrating and capability-oriented teaching assistant team model composed of undergraduates and graduates in the first-year engineering program. Through the analysis of the characteristics and experience of the teaching assistant team model in OSU, this paper puts forward six enlightenments to the teaching assistant system of graduate students in China, including strengthening the understanding of teaching assistant system and improving the top-level design of teaching assistant system; making the teaching assistant organization system standard and clarifying responsibilities to strengthen management; designing selection criteria and procedures to make teaching assistant entrance strict; carrying out various forms of training to enrich the connotation of teaching assistants; improving the supervision and assessment system and refining the target comprehensive evaluation; increasing the pay and benefits of teaching assistants to attract more outstanding students.