Educators! Come rant! it's that time of year!

[Catamount]

@Sampiro

“Print is ALWAYS more reliable than the Internet”

So if you print out the article that you find on the internet, does that magically make it more reliable?

[bbs2k]

@SpazCat

So if you print out the article that you find on the internet, does that magically make it more reliable?

10 cents a sheet buys you more than a copy, you’re purchasing authenticity!

[MsRobyn]

Sampiro, Word 2007 automatically puts the citations in the right format and includes Turabian, which impresses me for some reason. I showed this to my advisor and he looked positively ecstatic.

I do agree that citation Nazis are the worst. I got marked down to an 83 because my footnotes and endnotes didn’t show up when I e-mailed the paper. When I brought a printed copy, whose footnotes and endnotes magically appeared when I changed formats, that same paper got a 98.

Gotta love it.

[susan]

Wrong thread, friends. you want to kvetch about educators, go to the recent thread on same. This threadis for kvetching about students.

[Angua]

@Cryptoderk

How odd. My understanding is this sort of thing is practically unheard of in the UK - those who do cheat seemed to do it more as a game, sometimes putting far more effort into cheating than doing the work in the first place.

Is there something in the American system that encourages this? I’m certain no one here, except perhaps in the former polys, gets so much choice about courses to do as you seem to (reading between the lines).

Its the same in some British universities and not just the ones that are former polys. I have taught students, or know people who’ve taught students that have variously:

1. Copied their best friend’s work and thought they could get away with it, and when called on it, have physically threatened the instructor.

2. Used “Ask Jeeves” to find an essay, believing that since it wasn’t google, it’d be harder to trace.

3. Taken print outs from the web, complete with web-addresses and underlined hyper-links and web backgrounds and handed it in as their own work.

4. Copied descriptions verbatim from course text-books in front of the lab demonstrator and then attempted to pass said descriptions off as their own.

5. Handed in problem sheets with explanation sections copied directly from the first hit on google.

There are probably others that I’ve forgotten about, but those are just from my own experiences. Plagiarism is becoming increasingly rampant in the UK also.

[Sitnam]

My girlfiends a dance professor at a college nearby, she once posted this to me:

By Taylor Mali

Taylor Mali

He says the problem with teachers is, “What’s a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?”
He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true what they say about
teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the urge to remind the other dinner guests
that it’s also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we’re eating, after all, and this is polite company.

“I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor,” he says.
“Be honest. What do you make?”

And I wish he hadn’t done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
if you ask for it, then I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor
and an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won’t I let you get a drink of water?
Because you’re not thirsty, you’re bored, that’s why.

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven’t called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.
Billy said, “Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don’t you?”
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.

I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write, write, write.
And then I make them read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely
beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a difference! What about you?