tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post2356064314517241505..comments2024-03-29T04:34:05.185-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Finally Spring Edition (4/15)Peter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-64910356993884867912018-04-16T10:04:27.138-04:002018-04-16T10:04:27.138-04:00But you don't have to have an alternative to a...But you don't have to have an alternative to a bad idea. Just not doing the bad thing is enough. Peter has used a similar example before: if you're suffering from some ailment that doctors can't figure out and some outsider comes in and says, "well, then, I guess we'll have to cut off your arm" it's not incumbent on you to find a better alternative. Cutting off your arm would be obviously harmful. Simply not doing that is enough even without a "better idea". It's incumbent upon proponents of cutting off your arm to explain how that's going to help the situation any.Diennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04570040547158789834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-64633101174157309822018-04-16T02:08:34.604-04:002018-04-16T02:08:34.604-04:00Ditching the stupid SAT system would be a way forw...Ditching the stupid SAT system would be a way forward. Cheap, inefficient and predictable. And that's its good points.<br /><br />But once again a critic suggests no alternatives. Any issues raised are merely swept under the carpet.<br /><br />Asking that students give their own opinions -- as he asks -- is pointless, because they never will if they want to pass. Say a Martin Luther King speech is given -- no student will dare lay into it from right or left because they know that to do so would be poisonous to their marks. All you can do is lose marks by irritating the marker by rubbing them up the wrong way. (In my country exams actually do ask student opinions, and what they get are carefully scripted "correct responses in turn.) It would be like expecting a person at a job interview to say what they really felt. <br /><br />Asking for a precis of an essay is much more useful. The SATs stuff it up by being multi-choice and short answer, not because the skill of being able to follow someone else's argument is useless. Employers and universities, after all, are just as interested in this as being able to argue your own opinions.<br /><br />A proper essay/long answer system marked by trained markers across a broad rang of disciplines -- like every other civilised country -- is required.<br /><br />Modern external exams were introduced because they are progressive. The marker does not know your colour, sex, wealth or country of origin. To remove that system would mean replacing it with one of patronage and selection on other criteria, not the end of selection.<br /><br />Is it actually better that students get picked based on which school they went to, or if they have someone important to vouch for them? <br /><br />How do you propose universities select without the SAT? Yes, I know some do. They tend not to be the ones people most want to get into.Chester Drawsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-175225945883915122018-04-16T01:21:42.237-04:002018-04-16T01:21:42.237-04:00The Texas Observer article about Pearson essential...The Texas Observer article about Pearson essentially gunning for a professor is absolutely infuriating. Thank you for pointing it out to us.Bob Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08364910550052211768noreply@blogger.com