One day in the life of a student

I was explaining that we really cannot talk about history.  We cannot explain or discuss history because it is, very much, all subjective.  Events are categorically factual, but almost all else is subjective and open to interpretation and opinion.  Therefore, we cannot study it, or rather, should not be able to due to our inability to set aside opinions and bias.

One student stood up and said we could study history, and that he tries very hard to be objective and he didn't believe it would be that difficult.

The issue of Palestinians and Israelis was raised as an example of how difficult it is for people to set aside their opinions and bias when discussing a situation.  The student responded that no, he prided himself on knowing what was happening 'over there' because he was Palestinian and he prided himself on being able to see that there was a difference between the great power of Israel and the rag tag Palestinians who were (not his words but his sentiment) simply wanting to be free of the Israeli oppression.

Later the issue of Libya came up and the aircraft and al qaida seizing the airport and this student stood up again and asked why all Arabs were being lumped together with bombs and terrorism.

Hmmm.  Maybe that was the original point raised, and maybe this is exactly why studying history is difficult.

Students and Teachers - Anti-US, Anti-Western, Anti- Everything.

I had dinner with someone tonight who told me about a class they were taking with a professor who was, as they described him - great, fantastic, brilliant, and wonderful - I was waiting for the person to bring out his crown. He teaches an anti-American class, Marxist in his interpretation of historical events and actions [my analysis based upon what he requires in reading and what I have culled from this person and several others who were his unwitting victims].

Summary of his teaching/argument:

Poor Osama, we declared war on him and he was defending himself because he had no other way to respond, and it was all our fault, and we trained him so we got all that blowback and its all our fault and we deserve to be punished for all the bad things we do/did to them.


[Amazing - you take 1/10 bit of truth and concoct 9/10 lie and people accept it because it is wrapped up in this mind-numbingly stupid argument - he is telling you what the media will not because they are all part of the conspiracy. And he learned what he learned from? Where? The Palestinian TV]


When I made a derogatory comment about the instructors usefulness to humanity and what should be done to him [a boot and his ass] - I was told I was 'closed minded'.

I have absolutely no time for such asinine comments or for anyone who believes such nonsense. Truly. If you ever want to push every wrong button - proceed down that road, because it is a sure fire way to get erased. I do not care who that instructor is, he is a waste of human life, a piece of rubbish of utterly no use to anyone, who, if he realized how wrong he was and that what he has been teaching is more dangerous than bin laden's propaganda he would do himself in - after recognizing what utter humiliation he has inflicted upon himself, his family, his country, and civilization. I wish I could introduce him to bin Laden, to watch as his head was cut off his body and carried about like a trophy. All the while he would have protested how he was really supporting bin Laden and respected him.

As for the person who I had dinner with - well, the dustbin awaits.

I cannot tolerate ignorance that exceeds that of a two year old. No matter who they are, we cannot waste time on people and things that consume energy.

There are moments I wish bin Laden prevailed, just so he could cull the population, and I know that among the first would be all those who spew forth the rubbish as presented above from the person in the class or their instructor.

Someone might say - what makes me so sure I am right, maybe they are, and maybe I am closed minded. I have spent over eight years evaluating every possible answer to that issue. I have looked at it from every side, and then found nuances that required evaluating. I have spent more time dealing with that single question than this person has spent on their entire education, and quite likely more time than the instructor has on any given subject. I started the analysis with my believing the Evil One and his cohorts were Robin Hood against the evil Sheriff. I started where the idiotic instructor now stands. I began with that premise and believed it from 1995 until 2001, longer than the instructor has taught any of his courses on the subject. Six years of believing, and not just believing but being able to argue every defense of the Evil One, and fully supporting him. Until 2001. Blowing up a military base or ship or ... was, for me, acceptable as long as it did not turn on civilian lives being lost.

I have considered that instructors arguments, long before he even knew he was making them, and I reject them.

Those who teach those lies are more dangerous than bin laden, for he has told us he wants to destroy us while they pretend to be one of us. He wants to change us - they claim to want to educate us. Bin Laden is honest in his purpose and goals, the purveyors of the lies are not.

In that way, I suppose, I still prefer bin laden - I know what he is, and what he wants. Instructors who teach Marxist theory, and take pieces of truth and wrap it in crap and sell it to students as the gospel of anti-Western thought ... they are a more serious threat.







idiots

Students: I wanna good grade. Gimme an A.

Gimme. I deserve. I want. I should get.



Pay the mortgage, pay their tuition, pay their insurance ...



I can't imagine where they get the idea they are entitled to anything.





New York Times

February 18, 2009

Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes

By MAX ROOSEVELT

Prof. Marshall Grossman has come to expect complaints whenever he returns graded papers in his English classes at the University of Maryland.

“Many students come in with the conviction that they’ve worked hard and deserve a higher mark,” Professor Grossman said. “Some assert that they have never gotten a grade as low as this before.”

He attributes those complaints to his students’ sense of entitlement.

“I tell my classes that if they just do what they are supposed to do and meet the standard requirements, that they will earn a C,” he said. “That is the default grade. They see the default grade as an A.”

A recent study by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found that a third of students surveyed said that they expected B’s just for attending lectures, and 40 percent said they deserved a B for completing the required reading.

“I noticed an increased sense of entitlement in my students and wanted to discover what was causing it,” said Ellen Greenberger, the lead author of the study, called “Self-Entitled College Students: Contributions of Personality, Parenting, and Motivational Factors,” which appeared last year in The Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

Professor Greenberger said that the sense of entitlement could be related to increased parental pressure, competition among peers and family members and a heightened sense of achievement anxiety.

Aaron M. Brower, the vice provost for teaching and learning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, offered another theory.

“I think that it stems from their K-12 experiences,” Professor Brower said. “They have become ultra-efficient in test preparation. And this hyper-efficiency has led them to look for a magic formula to get high scores.”

James Hogge, associate dean of the Peabody School of Education at Vanderbilt University, said: “Students often confuse the level of effort with the quality of work. There is a mentality in students that ‘if I work hard, I deserve a high grade.’ “

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.”

Sarah Kinn, a junior English major at the University of Vermont, agreed, saying, “I feel that if I do all of the readings and attend class regularly that I should be able to achieve a grade of at least a B.”

At Vanderbilt, there is an emphasis on what Dean Hogge calls “the locus of control.” The goal is to put the academic burden on the student.

“Instead of getting an A, they make an A,” he said. “Similarly, if they make a lesser grade, it is not the teacher’s fault. Attributing the outcome of a failure to someone else is a common problem.”

Additionally, Dean Hogge said, “professors often try to outline the ‘rules of the game’ in their syllabi,” in an effort to curb haggling over grades.

Professor Brower said professors at Wisconsin emphasized that students must “read for knowledge and write with the goal of exploring ideas.”

This informal mission statement, along with special seminars for freshmen, is intended to help “re-teach students about what education is.”

The seminars are integrated into introductory courses. Examples include the conventional, like a global-warming seminar, and the more obscure, like physics in religion.

The seminars “are meant to help students think differently about their classes and connect them to real life,” Professor Brower said.

He said that if students developed a genuine interest in their field, grades would take a back seat, and holistic and intrinsically motivated learning could take place.

“College students want to be part of a different and better world, but they don’t know how,” he said. “Unless teachers are very intentional with our goals, we play into the system in place.”





students

Discuss, Debate, Opinion, Facts

I believe in a God, a good thing to believe, I think, but I am more than willing to hear the argument for the opposing side and or be questioned on why I believe what I do. If I am not willing to be questioned, if I fear being mocked or ridiculed for my beliefs, then I have to wonder how strongly I believe what I believe. Are my beliefs simply those accoutrement I keep around unless it becomes too complicated or burdensome.

If I believe UFOs exist and I refuse to engage someone in debate or discussion because I fear looking silly or my words twisted, how will I ever test what I believe. Do I need to, or am I certain I am right - just like the known world and their belief in the 14th century that the world was flat. How do you know what you believe is accurate if you refuse to be questioned about what you believe? You simply believe what you do regardless? Makes sense - like believing in fairies regardless of reality.

Why is it fine for a professor to lam bast the president, attack the military, and accuse the US of malicious and vile acts - and no one questions him. Yet, question economic policies or the ineptitude of democratic candidates and you have become too extremely right-wing to talk to or engage in debate out of fear your words get twisted or you look silly.

I believe some people find it too difficult and they avoid the discussion. They would prefer (I think) to argue emotionally and with feelings, then to consider any of the issues rationally. I do not have the answer to the resolution of this issue, but I do know it is an issue, and anyone at any time should feel free to raise the issue and discuss it - but, stand ready to be cross-examined, for you do not get to accuse the United States of monstrous acts, and get away with it just because that is how you feel, nor because that is how your other professor feels or the NY Times or Moveon.org feels. At one time, everyone felt the earth was flat.

I feel like a headache, but I don't blame you.

And a one and a two and a ...

In the 1970s, Americans were entertained by Lawrence Welk who by today's standards would fall quite flat, but back in the day - he was quite the entertainer / conductor. I have no memory of him but for a very foggy image of bubbles and a polka music. None of that has any relation to the point of this posting but for the waste of time Americans spent listening to polka (or whatever it was he did) music.

Someone mentioned to me that I interrogate with my questions in class, much like a lawyer. I felt bad, for the person and for others who feel similarly.

My response is, quite simply - I don't.

What I do is direct the question to get the answer or phrase I want or need.

We have 20 seconds to get an answer out and move on. If I asked a question that was, preferable, it would be open-ended and discussion would be free-flowing with an answer located somewhere in a long-winded monologue consuming ten minutes and never fully accomplishing anything I want to accomplish.

I need to direct the question and the answer - not because you do not have something useful to say, rather I do not have the time to figure out what it is you are trying to say and make any sense of it and accomplish that task in my lifetime.

I want 1-10 word answers and I would prefer the answer to be given promptly and not the time schedule for a long lost tribe that sleeps all day.

It has nothing to do with interrogation, it has to do with making a point. I can tell you the point and you can ignore it, or I can pose it in a question form and have you answer it, thereby making my point.