May 10, 2005
Grading curve, or slippery slope?
More madness from the UK:
GCSE and A-level pupils in England are given 5% more if a parent dies close to exam day or 4% for a distant relative.From Marginal Revolution, which in turn credits Jacqueline Passey's post, titled "Sorry, Fluffy, but I really need an A."They get 2% more if a pet dies or 1% if they get a headache.
Posted by David on May 10, 2005 6:54 PM
Thanks for the link!
I have a midterm tomorrow that I'm worried about, but I think I have time to get an ant farm and have a terrible, terrible tragedy... :)
Posted by: Jacqueline on May 11, 2005 1:07 AM
There are few really taboo subjects over here in the UK, but 'slipping' exam standards is one of them. If more people are passing it must be good, right? Sensible discussion beyond this point seems untouchable right now. It troubles me. Feels very much like a symptom of something deeper.
Posted by: Adam Wasenczuk on May 11, 2005 2:45 AM
This just can't be true. Please tell me it's not true!
Posted by: Michael Tinkler on May 11, 2005 1:04 PM
Having slept on this, I'd like to add the following randomness:
Perhaps the underlying philosophy here is a kind of perverted 'Occam's razor': the simplest representation of things is always correct. This addiction to the representation rather than the thing itself has a very old name, and that name is 'idolatry'.
I've never read Rand. McLuhan was very interesting though.
Posted by: Adam Wasenczuk on May 12, 2005 3:24 AM
Incredible. Had to comment further in my own blog. What are these fuzzy minded people thinking?
Posted by: Sarah
on May 12, 2005 6:56 PM
gmail.com