posted
He's been posting an awful lot today. Which is really cool. But, I can't help but wonder if he is procrastinating. I mean I can't help but wonder if he started school or grad school. This level of procrastination certainly suggests such a thing. Posts: 872 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
This is a worthwhile place to hang out at and allow the laundry to wrinkle, the beds to remain unmade, the yard to stay unmown, the bills unpaid . . . Who needs schoolwork?
Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
No more posting about OSC posting. You might jinx us and he may go away and never be heard from again. I'm having a great time reading what he writes, and I don't want to scare him off until I can get him to respond to one of my posts. Not that I post a whole lot, but it's not totally beyond the realm of possibility.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Like I said in the other thread. If I were OSC, I wouldn't post here much either. People make such a big deal about it whenever he does. If he just wants to join in a discussion, or play a game with us, or make a corny joke, and everyone starts behaving like the bloody King of England has just wandered into a common workers' pub, I wouldn't blame him if he got irritated and disappeared again. Can't we just treat him like he's simply One Of Us and stop being drooling fanboys and fangirls? At least on this side?
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
though to be fair, when a 'regular' poster who has been away for a long time comes back, people tend to make a big deal of it as well
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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posted
Only at first. They don't make several different threads about it and squeal with glee when the returning poster actually addresses a comment at them.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Yeah, I agree with Verily, I mean...why such a fuss because of a lurker? Look at his postcount! If it wouldn't be considered rude, I'd even call him a n00b!
Now, seriously...everyone is here because we admire his writing. His work is deep, and it touches us intelectually and emotionally in so many levels...it is quite hard to be indifferent when the person we admire so is in our midst, talking and joking with us. More so, because he does not use to do so. But, I'm sure, if he turns into a regular poster (although I find it not very likely), people will take his posting more lightly over time (although we might expect much newbie 'fanboying', after the movie is released Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote: Students aren't the only people associated with schools who procrastinate. He could also have a stack of papers to grade that he's avoiding.
Not that I know anyone who does anything like that . . . *whistles innocently*
Ugh, once as a teaching intern for a lower division soc class, I procrastinated on grading some really bad essays for so long, I ended up having to have 2 friends come and help grade. I did a cursory read through of them all, and took the REALLY bad ones, and gave the others to my friends to decide whether they got a credit or a credit +5 pts.
The worst one by far started with "Are there gender and or sex differences among other intelligent life in the cosmos?" That was bad enough, but then the student never addressed the question. in a stream of consciousness style, she described the ways in which she intereacted with her friends and family. She concluded with a dialogue, presumably a conversation she had with her boyfriend, about the aesthetic qualities of his penis. She clearly procrastinated on her assignment. I was not sad when she dropped the clas.
posted
Oh I think I'd laugh at anyone on hatrack I knew who had been silent for a while and suddenly started posting. But only if I too was procrastinating.
*looks at student papers* *whistles innocently*
I'm oh so tired of grading. Anyone who has to turn in homework just remember nice handwriting or typing makes your Teacher/Prof/TA/Grader very very happy.
Posts: 872 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
I once had a student write "you picked a question I know nothing about. Sucks to be me!" as their answer to an essay question worth 1/3 of their test grade.
posted
lol, he is actually the person I was thinking about when I pointed out that people go nuts over non famous posters. If he disappears for a while, people start wondering where he went...and go nuts when he comes back.
Though, I think you are the first to literally squeal with glee Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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quote: I once had a student write "you picked a question I know nothing about. Sucks to be me!" as their answer to an essay question worth 1/3 of their test grade.
Oh I LOVE the students who make it your fault that they didn't study.
I had one complain to the supervising professor that I would not bring her assignment and books from her on campus locker to her sorority house. The Professor stronlgy suggested that she drop the class.
Posts: 772 | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Oh, I actually like the smartass answers. It's the ones that are totally incomprehensible I'm not fond of. I am most unhappy w/ those when the person comes, explains what they were trying to say and then asks why they didn't get all the points. I have actually used the phrase, "I am not a mind reader" when talking to a few of them.
My happy moment this semester was when someone's complaints about how awful I am got back to me via a labmate. I can't help if I had to take all the points off of your paper because I didn't know what you did. A few sentances explaining it and you'd have gotten more of them.
Not that I'm bitter. I'm just amazed by how slack so many students are. I could have gotten away w/ doing *so* much less work in ugrad.
Posts: 872 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Of course students are slack, Sarahdipity. All but a few of them have been trained by their parents that if they aren't getting good grades, it's the school's fault. And since they went into college straight from high school, they haven't got out of that high school mentality yet.
Nothing concentrates the mind like supporting yourself for a couple of years before going to college. Students who go that route do SO much better when they actually start.
The trouble is, the scholarships all went to the kids who went straight on from high school. Bummer, eh? The system is designed to keep kids out of the work force as long as possible - even though the system would work better if students came to college FROM the work force.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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posted
Amen. There's nothing like working to support a family at the same time as going to college to improve the GPA - and consequently, improving the scholarships and grants options.
I still remember laughing when undergrads would complain about paying $600 a month for room, board, phone and internet access. Board, mind you, that they didn't have to cook or clean up after . . .
Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote: All but a few of them have been trained by their parents that if they aren't getting good grades, it's the school's fault.
I wouldn't say that. I don't think I know anyone who's been given that mentality, but it's possible that's the group of people I hang out with.
I do know that my mom's grade point average is at least .5 above mine, though, so I'm not disputing your argument.
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
You should hear teachers' horror stories about parents who come screaming and threatening to sue because their precious little Biff or Sally couldn't POSSIBLY have earned that F and if they did, it's because of this INCOMPETENT teacher or this BIASED school system or because it's STUPID to make students study this particular subject.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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When I was living at home, I could bring home straight As and one B+, and my dad would just say "You could have done better, couldn't you have?"
We weren't big on praise in my family.
Posts: 1002 | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Of course students are slack, Sarahdipity. All but a few of them have been trained by their parents that if they aren't getting good grades, it's the school's fault. And since they went into college straight from high school, they haven't got out of that high school mentality yet.
Nothing concentrates the mind like supporting yourself for a couple of years before going to college. Students who go that route do SO much better when they actually start.
My sense is that this is true of the average student but untrue of exceptional students. A few kids really are self-motivated and love learning, and they do best if they stay in school and keep the fires burning sustainedly.
Also, working the kind of job you could get without a college degree and then going to college just doesn't make economic sense for most middle-class people. Better to build up your earning potential with a degree right away, then begin your career as soon as you can. I'm not exactly happy that things are set up this way, but right now they are.
Posts: 4600 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
I've always been told the story of how my dad got one C in a class and it kept him out of the schools he wanted to go to.
I internalized that as B- is good enough. And cause I can be really lazy I prefer often to do the bare minimum, I set the cut off for myself at B-. I wouldn't let myself get anything below that if I could help it, but I didn't work particularly hard to make sure I got that A. I still ended up with a 3.75 GPA... but that wasn't good enough.
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
OSC, have you been reading some of the recent thread here? I think I had that very conversation here with someone a month ago or so.....
It is amazing how many things aren't their fault, huh? Even though they always seem to be the ones who get the bad grades they are complaining about, for the work they didn't bother to do.
posted
Speaking of those screaming parents, they seem to have given in to them in my hometown school district. They recently passed a policy which prohibits high school teachers for docking any marks for late or unfinished assignments. The grade is calculated as the average of whatever assignments *were* handed in. So you can hand in one piece of homework all year, and if you get an A, you're set. I read the news article about it and heck, even the slacker kids who admit to taking advantage of it think it's ridiculous.
Posts: 624 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
I have been supporting myself the past several years, and I am starting at the local community college this summer semester. I'm eager to learn about things now. High School was very boring for me. I also don't have parents that could pay for schooling for me, so in a way I think i'm getting the better deal out of it, because I have to support myself and pay for school. (This is beside the point of me actually going to school again.)
Posts: 121 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Oh, I've heard them. I've heard the comments as well. I think that's just proof that the parents are more ignorant than the children.
I don't think there's any harm in a little slacking. It's when it gets out of control that it's a problem, as with anything.
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Porter- I get that same thing from my dad. It is true, but it gives me a stress-induced chest pain to think of it. Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I harbor no resentment for it. The real reason why my father never praised my grades is because he knew that I never worked for them. I always did the minimum amount of work, and didn't deserver praise.
But for those things that I did work for, while still sparse with praise, my father did give me some.
Posts: 1002 | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
That makes me feel better. Maybe when I'm out of this place that I'm in, I can look back on it with that same fondness and knowledge that it was right. But for right now, it's hard. Overcoming attitudes fostered by the aforementioned not working for good grades while simultaneously running extracurricular activities and beloved continuous hobbies is making it difficult to remain healthy.
When my body, my mind, and I come to an understanding, things will be much better for me. But as of this point, I feel too young to be given this much responsibility, which perhaps proves the point I was trying to gloss over.
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
In my kids' elementary school, they give a grade for accomplishment separate from a grade for effort. I really like this.
My husband and I are on different pages with this issue. I am more impressed by extraordinay effort than I am by high grades. My husband would like to see high grades with as little effort as possible employed.
My reason for appreciating effort is that I want them to look at their own work with a critical eye and not look for "good enough" but for "well done". It doesn't matter how smart the kids are, I believe that they will run into a subject that will kick their butts. I want them to know that just because it's not easy, doesn't mean it's not worth doing. I also want them to know that the grade they give themselves is just as important as the grade that the teacher gives them.
My husband is a brainiac. He graduated from Notre Dame at 20. He believes that you only go to school to get grades, to get into the best college, so that you can get a good job. You don't need to really put in effort until you are earning a living.
It worked for him, but he's a risk taker. I think that learning to put in effort gives a much better chance of success.
Posts: 2425 | Registered: Jan 2002
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quote: Just what are you trying to say about me, rivka?
That we should all have your self-discipline, and cut back on our posting when grading needs to be done?
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Woo grading done. Thankfully that last assignment was easier to grade than the other one.
If I have to ever deal w/ parents calling about their children's grades in a college class I might not be able to not laugh in their face. Hopefully the person won't be really powerful or rich.
Posts: 872 | Registered: Mar 2002
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