We are giving final exams this week, which means I am grading and turning in grades. I hope to be finished today, so I can write some new posts.
Sorry for the inaction, but the day job calls....
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I provide commentary on political economy, police and prosecutorial abuse, and whatever else might come to mind. Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24 (ESV)
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About Me
- William L. Anderson
- I teach economics at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland. We are located on the Allegheny Plateau, and we have cool summers and tough winters. I am the single father of five children, four of them adopted from overseas and I have two grandchildren. My family and I are members of Faith Presbyterian Church (PCA).
14 comments:
I studied honest I did...
So did I, Hurry up and give me my grade... Sure hope I passed..Haha..
Having spent time on both sides of the lectern, I absolutely feel your pain. Hang in there!
Will this be on the test?
Will this be on the test?
As a teacher I learned something very interesting about that question. I used to get it from students all the time after I'd toss out a tidbit of trivia during lectures, prefaced or post-scripted by statements like "just FYI," or "you don't have to remember this, but I'm bringing it up as an interesting example." Inevitably, students would become fixated on these factlets and forget or ignore the crucial points of the lecture that were testable material. I know there's some psychometric term for this, but darned if I can remember what it is.
Preference bias, maybe?
For students who have been burned by professors who can't remember whether or not they said it wont be on the test, I'd say the term is justified paranoia.
My ECON 202 final is pretty tough. The highest grade so far has been 82, with the average in maybe the 60s. I told them all semester that it would be hard, and now they know.
My ECON 202 final is pretty tough. The highest grade so far has been 82, with the average in maybe the 60s. I told them all semester that it would be hard, and now they know.
I'm sure for many of them it's been the first class they've had (and might be the only one they ever will have) in which they've had to actually think critically.
Ah, the good old days of studying until your brain leaked out your ears and then looking at the test and realizing you studied the wrong thing. Fortunately, I have a pretty good memory and didn't get much below an 80%. but the panic. Oh, I remember the panic!
Economics is called the dismal science for a reason.
I get a kick out of bloggers who claim economics is a science. My favorite thing to do when they challenge my statement: "Show me a theory in economics that provides verifiable real world results based on the scientific method."
Usual response?
"Huh?"
I'm sure Bill understands where I'm coming from. Elasticty only goes so far when economists create models, inputs are extremely difficult to measure; outputs are therefore going to reflect the quality of inputs. Who wants to stay up late and discuss moral philosophy for fun with me? Happy Holidays!
Or you could have my student, who 28 hours after the final was given, e-mails me and says, "I thought the final paper was the final until I got home and looked at my calendar. Then I realized I had a final last night. I got to class late and everyone was gone. Can I still take the final for partial credit?" (I stayed for 45 minutes after the last student had left waiting for this student to show and finally went home after checking to see if he had e-mailed me as to why he was Missing in Action). He was informed that he had missed it, no possible make up options out there. (He had already missed 39% of the classes during the semester and had a D+ going into the final.)
Anon 11:21, your student sounds like ideal material for either executive management in a Fortune 500 corporation, or politics.
When I went back to school for my nursing degree (at an advanced age!), I was shocked by the attitudes of my fellow students.
They would complain, well you didn't lecture on THAT specific question (it was in the book or study materials we were given). I was the only student pulling straight A's, and one of my co students told me, it is because you are OLD and don't date.
I said no, it is because I understand my job right now is this school and if this is how you are doing the job now, what kind of nurse are you really going to be?
That student went from barely passing to B's.
Why the students had an expectation of being spoon fed the test questions and not being required to think critically is somewhat beyond me. But given that we now teach our children specifically with the goal of passing a test, rather than thinking for themselves, this is no surprise.
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