used up all of my friends, but who needs them?

[intertribal]

   

Me and Piper?  Same person.  Believe me, I often imagine myself wielding an ax and wearing way too much leather.  And we all know me and motorcycles.  I told my mother I wanted to ride a motorcycle before I die and she was like, "Grrr."  I think that's actually the sound she made.  I'm pretty sure that she has been on one, but my mother's one of those "do as I say, not as I do" type of parents - that's what you get for having been a hippie, mom. 

Piper:  Leave it to me to fall for a dead guy.
Phoebe:  At least he wasn't a warlock.

Of course she does end up marrying a whitelighter. 

Also, thank God for an A in Topics in Economic History.  I don't want to never be able to think about Malthusian pressure again, since I use it to argue everything these days.  And thank God for my disaster shows, because I can't watch SportsCenter fawn over Texas.

Comments

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

There's a couple profs here too that don't give As except for like, legendary work (in other words, never).

That's why I think people don't necessarily care too much about transcripts? I don't really know. But yeah, the Ivies like to keep grades in the As and Bs, and that's obviously different from public universities... that and grading is so subjective within each school, so yeah, I agree.

I actually don't like grading based on effort unless there are results, even if those results are sort of "different" or whatev. I mean, if the person does average work, then they should be graded averagely, I think. But at Columbia, average = B. So it's more like what they should just do is eliminate Ds and Fs, since they don't use them and have to curve to keep grades out of their range.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think my work ethic is way too shitty to pull off 'legendary work' the vast majority of the time. There are a few harsher graders here than others, too. It seems like this is truer of people who have been here 10+ years or went to Reed for undergrad...dunno what that says.

Reed I guess likes to clarify, since it's at the top-end of non-Ivy small liberal arts schools. Like, so people won't think it's the same as like Wesleyan in NE or Lewis & Clark here, I dunno. Esp. since they refuse to give data to college ranking places, or used to. I think it's pretty easy to get As and Bs at most public universities, but there's also a lot more people with jobs and other issues, who don't necessarily come to class...etc.

I just mentioned effort as part of trying to think about like how an A at Reed takes more effort than an A at PSU, or whatever. I agree that there should be some way of telling the person that their work was average, but I'm not entirely opposed to a grading method like Cognard's, either, where effort/improvement counts a lot toward your final grade. Because if someone took the class and did better than their peers but hardly improved at all, I don't really think that person deserves an A either. Reed definitely uses Ds and Fs. It's more like...

-Missing a lot of assignments/class = F.
-Missing some assignments, not talking, missing too many classes = D.
-Meeting bare requirements of work/participation = C
-Participating some in class, producing papers with some serious thought/effort behind them = B
-Making productive contributions to conference, doing stellar work, demonstrating involvement throughout the course = A

Obviously those change a bit depending on the prof, and some are fond of giving C-'s to 'warn' students without destroying their academic career, etc., but basically, that's my impression of how grading works here.

Lol, though, if Columbia did that, then B really would be a C, and C an F, and A an A, sorta. Except C's wouldn't fail you.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think improvement is really important too. I just mean that I don't like it when people who just "try really hard" (or at least, that's what they cry to the professor) but clearly reach no deeper fortress of the mind (or whatever) or attempt to actually listen to what the professor wants... get good grades.

Well, yeah exactly (a B would be a C, etc.). But you're right, I guess the point is that students need to feel like they did better than a bunch of other people, even when those other people don't exist.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

I can't believe anyone would actually cry to their prof about grades. Steve would so bitchslap me if i did that. But yeah, I'm quite sure that you, at any college, deserve the A's you've gotten. I actually think I deserved most of the grades I got too.

Wait, is that what I was saying?

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

hm, i think it kind of was, yes.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, people here cry to their professors about grades in DROVES. DROVES, I TELL YOU.

Thanks though, and I'm sure you do as well.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

ugh.

Haha, thanks. I deserve that F!

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

You know that's not what I meant.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

I just found it amusing.