13 February 2005 - Sunday
Optimistic outlook
I did my first history grading work last week. Dr. Kubricht had me work on Western Civ II exams, processing Scantron forms and correcting a section of matching questions.
The matching section was alarming; far too many students identified Edmund Burke as a prominent liberal and Goethe as a nationalist rather than a Romantic. A number of students missed every question. Worse was the student who left every matching question blank (she also left two open blanks on the multiple-choice section). I helpfully wrote "guess" on that exam in red ink.
Dr. Johnson informed me that this sort of self-destructive behavior is the reason he lies awake at night.
Meanwhile, at Cliopatria, Jonathan T. Reynolds reviews the results of a map quiz:
We support our troops.. wherever they are. 58% of students placed Iraq properly. For all the Iraq-is-another-Vietnam types, you will be interested to know that nearly half of the incorrect answers for Iraq placed it in Southeast Asia.I look forward to a wonderful career.
| Posted by Wilson at 19:29 Central
| TrackBack
| Report submitted to the Education Desk
I know that Iraq is not in Southeast Asia. Next time we invade Canada and Mexico, I will learn which subcontinent they are on. ;-)
The thoughts of Wilson on 13 February 2005 - 20:31 Central+ + + + +
The world is begging for your talents, Wilson. I am thinking about that career as well.
The thoughts of Barbour on 14 February 2005 - 0:06 Central+ + + + +
It was rather kind of you to offer help to the poor student in the form of "guess." Another reason to go into higher education ... a never-ending stream of cynical jokes in the form of blatant stupidity!
The thoughts of Daniel Leatherwood on 15 February 2005 - 10:07 Central+ + + + +
(You must preview your comment before posting it)
Honestly, I don't see a reason to be too concerned about where exactly a country is. I'm fine just knowing what continent it is on and then if I am actually interested for a particular reason, then I'll check a map to see exactly where it is.
This goes for cities in Texas just as easily--I've heard of Plano for years, but I didn't know where exactly it was until a few years ago when I moved nearby for the summer. Knowing where exactly it is located on the map was pointless knowledge to me until I needed to go there. I knew it was in Texas, good enough.
I'll often go look on a map when a country comes up in the news or some particular country is discussed in a book I'm reading.
Do you know all the Canadian provinces and capitals? How about Mexico?
The thoughts of eliot on 13 February 2005 - 20:20 Central+ + + + +