Thursday, December 01, 2005
Musings on many things
John Derbyshire writes on lots of different topics in this diary-like piece. I found most of what he said very interesting and well-worth the time spent reading.
A few of the things he said were perticularly interesting. One is educated people not knowing what the word "covet" (as in covering your neighbors wife) means. I would call people would didn't know that uneducated myself. My particular estimation of my intelligence rises every day when I read things like that. Or maybe it's just my estimation of the average person in America...
He also talks about grading people based on their standerd deviations from the mean. Good idea. That's what Chicago does in science courses, particularly chemistry. Which is why Chicago suffers from less grade inflation than peer institutions.
It'd be nice if American public schools would grade that way. Then you'd know if you're really smart, or if the test was easy and everyone got an A. If I ever become a high school teacher, I'll grade my tests that way. At least before I'd be fired for subsequently pissing off parents for giving out lots of Cs I'd go out with a blaze of glory.
A few of the things he said were perticularly interesting. One is educated people not knowing what the word "covet" (as in covering your neighbors wife) means. I would call people would didn't know that uneducated myself. My particular estimation of my intelligence rises every day when I read things like that. Or maybe it's just my estimation of the average person in America...
He also talks about grading people based on their standerd deviations from the mean. Good idea. That's what Chicago does in science courses, particularly chemistry. Which is why Chicago suffers from less grade inflation than peer institutions.
It'd be nice if American public schools would grade that way. Then you'd know if you're really smart, or if the test was easy and everyone got an A. If I ever become a high school teacher, I'll grade my tests that way. At least before I'd be fired for subsequently pissing off parents for giving out lots of Cs I'd go out with a blaze of glory.
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