tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post9084522610274760918..comments2024-03-13T21:26:03.011-07:00Comments on Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher: Smart Idea? Cowardly? Something Else?Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15730642770935985796noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-34483065333229295322008-10-23T20:38:00.000-07:002008-10-23T20:38:00.000-07:00There was a "scandal", if you can call it that, li...There was a "scandal", if you can call it that, like this for people graduating my year. Someone printed off several scandalous facebook pictures of 5-10 people and sent them to a whole bunch of colleges with write-ups about what terrible kids these kids were. They weren't, not really.<BR/><BR/> One girl, I know, got in to Duke early and it was sent to Duke. I don't think anything came of it, though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-18712226896102716662008-10-22T06:17:00.000-07:002008-10-22T06:17:00.000-07:00I had a different yet somewhat related experience ...I had a different yet somewhat related experience this summer. A student (who had had a bad attitude all semester, was disruptive in lab, skipped lecture) wound up getting a grade that was lower (by a couple percentage points) than what he felt he deserved.<BR/><BR/>So he e-mailed me, claiming that some of the other students in the class had "openly talked about" cheating. And therefore, he deserved a higher grade because even though he did a poor job, he did the poor job "honestly."<BR/><BR/>When I e-mailed him back, commenting that that was an unusual way to attempt to raise one's grade, and pointed out that it was ILLEGAL for me to discuss others' grades with him, he sent increasingly hostile e-mails. I finally told him his grade was remaining what it was and I had notified my department chair.<BR/><BR/>That stopped the e-mails but it was a decidedly uncomfortable situation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-81018764538139859722008-10-21T12:49:00.000-07:002008-10-21T12:49:00.000-07:00It sounds to me like the students in question don'...It sounds to me like the students in question don't understand the numbers involved ...<BR/><BR/>Consider a "highly selective" place (like Harvard?) that takes only 15% of the applicants. I'll pretend that there are 10,000 applicants for 1,500 slots.<BR/><BR/>How can removing *one* of these applicants (even assuming that the applicant was going to be admitted) help you in a non-trivial way? You've created *one* new slot with 8,500 people trying to get it.<BR/><BR/>This sounds like it is more useful as "payback" for some high school slight rather than useful as a tactic for actually getting admitted yourself.<BR/><BR/>Or these students just aren't very bright ...<BR/><BR/>-Mark RouloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-82095685187016532272008-10-20T19:06:00.000-07:002008-10-20T19:06:00.000-07:00It sounds to me like the students in question have...It sounds to me like the students in question have a promising future in politics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com