Hey, Sparky!

Instead of a "no zero" policy, they should probably be sure to weight different assigments according to their importance.

I'm not sure if this is universal, but the majority of my teachers did that. Homework might be scored out of ten, where a test would be out of 100.

I can understand why zeros are problematic mathematically, but at the same time ... it seems terrifically unfair that a kid who tries her hardest and just doesn't understand a concept could get the same grade as a kid who completely blew off the assignment.

Do teachers not set their own grading practices anymore?

I don't know about other universities, but here we have a manditory curve that we have to apply and and adminstration that butts in to keep the students (who will someday hopefully get rich and donate a lot of money) happy.

Hey, P-C!

Sparky!! I was just wondering this morning when you'd be back!

Why An All-One-Length Bob Is A BAD Idea

Dude, I had that haircut! I think it might have been the same year!

it seems terrifically unfair that a kid who tries her hardest and just doesn't understand a concept could get the same grade as a kid who completely blew off the assignment.

That is unfair, but a student who does poorly could be blowing it off, and a student who doesn't turn in the assignment may have struggled with it but had such a hard time she didn't turn it in. I'm not saying that's good, I'm just saying it isn't necessarily so clear-cut. Kids have different reasons for doing things. Weird things. Nonsensical, self-sabotaging things. Er, anyway. As I say, I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here, because those teachers must have reasons for this.

Well, I'm one of those students who thought anything less than a B was failing, so the finer points of distinction between 50% and 0 passed me by. Always thought it was stupid to have one 0 skew your whole class, though.

the point of diplomacy to establish cordial relations with other countries?

8-5 only, or at receptions. If you choose to go out socially, you're clearly one of those treasonous liberals Bush is always going on about. But really, most of the non-frat stuff went away with the Cold War.

I realized, thinking about this, that it's one of the reasons I'm not having a good tour. I'm so not Greek. I'm like the polar opposite of Greek. So I've had jack-all ability to make friends here. (And I'm also the polar opposite of most of the Americans at the embassy, and the other missions like the Brits don't really speak to us here). Every other place I've been, I've been able to make a couple friends at least, get engaged with the local scene. Part of it is I'm older, and don't enjoy the nightclub scene, and part of it was being pregnant, but most of it is just my complete inability to connect with the Greeks.

I did have one minor success today - I left my car with the garage attendant, and told him I'd be back in one hour...and I used the right word for "one!" It's "ena" if the noun is neuter or masculine, but "mia" if it's feminine. I always think "ena" because it sounds like "one" and "uno" and "ein," but "ora" is feminine...so today I said "mia ora" and didn't get the talking-horse look!

Go me! I've lived here 10 months and can count to one!

I should, by the way, be writing my reflection rather than self-sabotaging by chatting about other teachers' practices when students undercut themselves.

Why An All-One-Length Bob Is A BAD Idea

Dude, I had that haircut! I think it might have been the same year!

I think all-one-length bobs are good only for women with straight, sleek hair. On any woman with any bit of wave/curl/even frizz, it turns into Pyramid Head.

Freshman year of college, Why An All-One-Length Bob Is A BAD Idea (and please do not speak of the dress; it was 1990, damn it): [link]

Hey, I had that hair too!

Always thought it was stupid to have one 0 skew your whole class, though.

Others have said it, but it really depends on what the zero is for. Missing one of six assignments v. missing the major research project, etc.

At McGill there were a couple of classes known by and for their grading structure.

"Something or other Astronomy 300? Why are you taking that?"

"100% paper."

The 100% paper and 100% final classes were pretty well known as ways to grab a few extra credits for the semester if your strengths ran that way without having to go to many classes or worry about a bunch of assignments throughout the term.

There was an engineering class at my school that included a discussion of a gadget that would act kind of like a Maxwell's Demon, but it had to be precisely machined to work. The prof said if anyone could make one it'd be worth an A in the course. One of the students happened to be an expert machinist. I think he was up for about a week juast working on the gadget, but he didn't have to do a thing for that class the rest of the semester.