A philosophy professor justifies tough grade policy

[Iacchus]

Originally Posted by Adam

Yes, but you emphasized a word using italics!

Yeah, but it's old and doesn't mean much to me. I just underscored it because it might be new and refreshing to you folks.

[Adam]

Well, thank you for sharing the old, dusty word you had lying around anyway.

[Iacchus]

Is this some sort of concesson on your part?

It's not the word (itself) I'm speaking about. It's what the word refers to. Otherwise there's no need to italicize it.

[Adam]

Concession of what? I'm congratulating you on not using quotation marks for emphasis. I'm a little confused by why you think that you need to italicize a word to indicate that you are talking about the concept and not the word itself, though. That's how most people use most words most of the time. Am I to suppose that all your unitalicized words are intended to refer not to the concepts they describe, but to the words themselves?

[Brimshack]

I think Mick and Iacchus make a sweet couple.

[beyelzu]

Ich and mick sittin in a tree
t- a- l -k i- n- g
bout nuthin

[TranscendHumanity]

Originally Posted by erimir

I'm assuming he's taking a stand against grade inflation.

I understand the desire to counteract grade inflation, however, a response to it would be best done as a university-wide policy, not by an individual professor. You don't want to just give out an average grade of C because you simply want the average to be C while other people want the average to be a B, but you also want other people to know that a C is an average grade. That is, presumably he's not just giving out lower grades because he wants to be harsh. But if you're one of only professors doing that, then other people will read the transcript and think that the student did poor work to earn a C, rather than average work.

Why not? University is corrupt, is not his business to aid it. If good student do less well in records than poor student that is other professor fault, not his.
I think most American student could not get through University in China or Singapura. Only top 10% get into University, and all must take pre-university courses and usually have academic studies in secondary school.

[Iacchus]

Originally Posted by Adam

Concession of what? I'm congratulating you on not using quotation marks for emphasis. I'm a little confused by why you think that you need to italicize a word to indicate that you are talking about the concept and not the word itself, though.

Are you talking about the word italicized itself? Yeah, I don't generally italicize it but, since we talking about both the word and the significance of the concept, I decided to go ahead and do so. I had to debate on it though, and went back and forth several times before I finally decided to leave it. Am glad you are amused anyway.

[Iacchus]

Originally Posted by Brimshack

I think Mick and Iacchus make a sweet couple.

Originally Posted by beyelzu

Ich and mick sittin in a tree
t- a- l -k i- n- g
bout nuthin

And if I was to respond to this? I guess we could all dig in a little deeper, eh?

Besides, we all know that Mick is a turd, and there is no need to take it any further.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Iacchus

Are you talking about the word italicized itself? Yeah, I don't generally italicize it but, since we talking about both the word and the significance of the concept, I decided to go ahead and do so. I had to debate on it though, and went back and forth several times before I finally decided to leave it. Am glad you are amused anyway.

No, I am talking about the word "nothing", and your strange explanation for italicizing it.

[erimir]

Originally Posted by Iacchus

If you would like to understand how gorillas live in Africa, you go to the gorillas.

Well, I've been to your website. And it was nothing but a bunch of retarded numerological nonsense. What's your point?

Originally Posted by TranscendHumanity

I think most American student could not get through University in China or Singapura. Only top 10% get into University, and all must take pre-university courses and usually have academic studies in secondary school.

Yes?

So university is not something for most people in Singapore. That just means that the other 90% don't get any education past high school.

The top universities in the US are just as rigorous, and quite respected. But there are also plenty of universities that serve the larger population. Having a university system which is meant to serve a larger part of the population means that you can't just say that the average American university student can't compete with the average Singaporean university student. Anymore than it's a necessarily fair comparison to compare the average Singaporean student with the average American Ivy League or Harvard student.

All in all, I don't really see what point that's supposed to make about grade inflation.

[mickthinks]

Originally Posted by erimir

Your assertions that I was wrong and "really" know you're right are all well and good, and I assume you will consider just as valid my assertions that you are wrong, and you realize this but are unwilling to admit it.

I've said you were wrong when you likened seebs's "I have never seen Mick admit to errors" to someone describing a blue shirt with a little white trim as "blue", instead of likening it to someone saying that they could see absolutely no white trim on the shirt at all.

You've replied "I don't care", and that it would be too tedious for you to explain further.

I'm happy to leave it to the reader (if there is one) to decide which of us has made the more valid assertion.

[ChuckF]

Originally Posted by mickthinks

I'm happy to leave it to the reader (if there is one) to decide which of us has made the more valid assertion.

Done.

[mickthinks]

Originally Posted by seebs

What's funny about it is that he's completely ignoring the fact that his allegations of "dishonesty" turned out to be allegations that, long after I made a comment, someone said something as a result of which that comment may have ceased to be completely literally true.

Okay, you have either misunderstood my allegations or you are misrepresenting them, seebs. The allegations of dishonesty are not because you said something that turned out not to be true. They are based on your subsequent falsehoods and evasions, as explained here.