Off By One » society

Cannot Be Taught

Chris — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:20:30 +0000

Here’s something that I will do my damnedest to teach my child: Just because you worked hard doesn’t mean you worked well.

In line with Dean Hogge’s observation are Professor Greenberger’s test results. Nearly two-thirds of the students surveyed said that if they explained to a professor that they were trying hard, that should be taken into account in their grade.

Jason Greenwood, a senior kinesiology major at the University of Maryland echoed that view.

“I think putting in a lot of effort should merit a high grade,” Mr. Greenwood said. “What else is there really than the effort that you put in?”

“If you put in all the effort you have and get a C, what is the point?” he added. “If someone goes to every class and reads every chapter in the book and does everything the teacher asks of them and more, then they should be getting an A like their effort deserves. If your maximum effort can only be average in a teacher’s mind, then something is wrong.”

[cite] emphasis mine

Mr. Greenwood, you are correct in one thing: Something is wrong. It’s not what you think it is, but you got at least part of that right. I’d grade that thought a D.

Another straw (or two)

Chris — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 07:28:48 +0000

Following up on my previous musings:

Toys R Us has tramp stamps

Where has all the pubic hair gone?

Close to my (predatory?) heart

Chris — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:27:16 +0000

Two articles in the Wall Street Journal, one titled Are We Teaching Our Kids To Be Fearful of Men? and its sequel, Avoiding Kids: How Men Cope With Being Cast as Predators.

I’m just going to let these speak for themselves.

Found via MetaFilter.

How Will You React?

Chris — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 01:54:01 +0000

What’s next?

We’ve all heard about the shootings at Virginia Tech, and now more information is going to come out, leading to a wave of media speculation, blog postings (my bad), and calls for emotionally-driven action.

So, how will you react?

Will you use this incident as a stalking horse for your issue of choice, as the gun-control and pro-gun lobbies are doing?

Will you demand immediate, emotion-fueled legislation aimed at preventing another event just like this, forgetting that almost every other tragedy will be very little like this one?

Will you point your finger at everyone, demanding that someone who is alive and can feel your revenge take some part of the fall?

Will you forget, next time, that none of the quick fixes you demanded this time made a difference?

Will you remember that we live in the safest, least-violent epoch in human history, with lower violent crime rates and murder rates than humanity has enjoyed at any time in history?

Will you glue yourself to the television, to WikiPedia, to Metafilter, to Google News, to Little Green Footballs, to the Virginia Tech website, to CNN, NBC, CBS, and Fox, thereby providing validation to those that would use their homicidal urges as a cry for attention?

Will you make no difference at all?