We learn a lot through failure, mainly about what to avoid.

Indeed! I have learned not to over-handle pie crusts. And to make sure that the water isn't so hot that it kills the yeast when I make bread. Both of those mistakes have resulted in me throwing out a lot of organic material and starting over...

Just noticed they are doing street cleaning on my street tomorrow. Which means no legal parking on the block all day. Hello, polling station? If this weren't Chicago I'd raise an eyebrow.

It also means I have to move the car by 8, so I'm still irked.

The used book store near Wackos? I'm not sure if it's still there. Skylight Books is still there a block down from the Dresden, though.

I did the vodka crust, and it worked quite well for me. But, I don't have a food processor, so I did it all very much by hand.

I do think there's a difference between a student being wrong because they're wrong and a student being wrong because it's not what it says int eh answer key (I still maintain that I have given perfectly valid answers that were counted wrong because they were not the "official" answer)

There's a difference between creating an environment where it's okay to be wrong than creating an environment where nothing is correct.

I would encourage people to take chances and risk error. I would also want to give the critical tools to allow discernment.

I do my pre-election investigations of state and local candidates and props with note-taking now.

I live in Kansas. Pray for me...

(The closer tomorrow gets, the more and more worried that this is going to turn into another Bush/Gore fiasco. In that case, I'm a gonna call my doctor for a big effin RX of Valium. Diagnosis: politics.)

I'm only joking a little....

All right, I'm goin' in!

Also, ita ! I am SO pissed on your behalf. SO. PISSED. It is beyond ridiculous.

With the essays that 12th grade AP students do, there isn't an answer key. There are anchor papers and a rubric. The issue is, though, if you misread the text then your interpretation is wrong. It's a fine line to balance, but there are some readings that clearly miss the meaning of the text completely.

Looking at cartoons is pretty similar. There are defensible interpretations and there are interpretations that are too far outside of what can justifiably be read into the cartoon.

Blind loyalty to the answer key is the flipside to blindly saying all answers are valid.

Y'all are making me want pie but I've never made a successful pie crust. sigh. Now I want to try Republic of Pie.

Because the fragile flower gifted kids have issues with risk taking and perfectionism.

When did it become the norm to treat gifted kids like emotional wrecks?

That's what the vodka is supposed to fix

Eh. I'm with shrift. Other people make pie.

I can just drink the vodka.

FiveThirtyEight is at 92.2% and I am still worried. I need closure.

semi related... has anyone else read the NYT Mag piece on raising prodigies? [link]

Such a good article.