Academia was interesting and pleasant when I was a student. That is how I became a professor. Since then I have wondered why academia is actually so unpleasant and I have come up with several observations and theories. I stand by these theories and by others, including the theory that professors are in a way … More On Academic Misery
I am still in shock over the antics of the woman I have been tutoring every morning so she could perhaps pass my course, and who, as I only discovered last week, was having the problems she was having because she had never taken the prerequisites. She was covering this fact up in hopes of … More On Progress to Degree
One of my students has written me a two page letter in which he recognizes that he is failing my course and requests a D because he is graduating and needs it. He is unable to earn a D, he says, because the subject is beyond his grasp. This is why he has not prepared … More A Letter
James Baldwin died November 30, 1987, twenty years ago today. I was having a traumatic semester and I did not take note of his passing, but he has always been one of my favorite writers, so I will take note of it today. This post is intended as a James Baldwin Video Aggregator. CSPAN Baldwin … More James Baldwin
If your parents believe that you can pass 15 credit hours’ worth of college level work by merely attending class, they can insist that you also work full time, because 40+15=55. If your parents insist that missing class to drive them to the doctor or babysit your sister’s children should be an “excused absence” from … More An Academic Culture
Unless you are in the honors program or a graduate student, in which cases situations vary, you can tell me your class and a little bit about your life; I will then guess what your grades are and be right. I hardly need to see your work, because I have diagnosed you by class and … More On Grading
Last month Reassigned Time was called “selfish” for planning to go on the market for a job she may like better than the one she has. I find it is very strange how often professors are told they are selfish, arrogant, or childish to want other jobs and/or other careers. But it is true. The … More Reassigned Time
Tower of Babel – Western Epistemology, by Jennifer Cascadia. A snippet: “Rational thinking has become a lost art, and catering to one another’s ‘perceptions’ by treating all perceptions (no matter how outlandish) as if they were already valid components of reality itself has become more common. In other words, social interactions have become politicised. . … More On Perception and Reality
When my university discovered the Wikipedia and decided it could not be cited as a source in dissertations because it was not authoritative, I laughed. While I do strongly encourage students to consult reference works of all sorts, and while I like the Wikipedia, I do not allow citation from any encyclopedias or handbooks. However … More Conservapedia
Early on we see a young Oscar Ghiglia. The video heats up when Segovia loses patience with another student and bursts into Spanish. At the end comes the key comment, on “the delicate lack of respect we have for the rhythm – a lack of respect which defines both the good and the bad artist.” … More Andrés Segovia – Master Class 1965
coldhearted scientist وداد 