Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Inder
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Inder »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
25 Oct 2021, 10:51am
Silent Majority wrote:
25 Oct 2021, 9:08am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 9:17pm
Grading book reviews this weekend and am depressed by the number of students who think it's inappropriate for a scholar to interpret lyrics because, well, the lyrics could mean anything and it's wrong that the author is imposing their view. Kinda helps explain how anti-vax bullshit gains traction if experts aren't allowed to express their opinions without it being tyranny.
Where'd this shit originate?
One thing that I constantly battle against is students' inclination to criticize a writer for having a "bias." The writer has a feminist bias or a conservative bias or whatever. It's seemingly predicated on a notion that scholars have a duty to be objective, to present all sides of an issue, clap their hands, and walk away—ta da, a book! There's a perverse notion that having an opinion or perspective or philosophy means being unfair. But, in practice, it usually means "I didn't like what they said." They want their own perspective to be confirmed. (Students also complain about scholarly works where they come across strange new terms that they have to look up. Horrors! You mean you're … learning … something? In a university course?) It's fundamentally intellectual laziness.
I have a based-on-nothing suspicion that this has a ton to do with an online culture that has for nearly 20 years has banged on incessantly about objectivity and reason and logic etc. The derisive ‘le logic’ meme that made fun of the new atheists/Ron Paul types wore out its welcome fairly quickly, but I think it was bang-on — I’d be really interested to read a study about the trajectory from “logic and reason” to “facts don’t have feelings”.

A lot of people seem to have this weird conception in relation to journalism as well, that ‘real journalism’ merely presents the facts in a vacuum… which inevitably leads to the kind of gotta-hear-both-sideisms that we so enjoyed over the past five years.

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Inder wrote:
25 Oct 2021, 2:17pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
25 Oct 2021, 10:51am
Silent Majority wrote:
25 Oct 2021, 9:08am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 9:17pm
Grading book reviews this weekend and am depressed by the number of students who think it's inappropriate for a scholar to interpret lyrics because, well, the lyrics could mean anything and it's wrong that the author is imposing their view. Kinda helps explain how anti-vax bullshit gains traction if experts aren't allowed to express their opinions without it being tyranny.
Where'd this shit originate?
One thing that I constantly battle against is students' inclination to criticize a writer for having a "bias." The writer has a feminist bias or a conservative bias or whatever. It's seemingly predicated on a notion that scholars have a duty to be objective, to present all sides of an issue, clap their hands, and walk away—ta da, a book! There's a perverse notion that having an opinion or perspective or philosophy means being unfair. But, in practice, it usually means "I didn't like what they said." They want their own perspective to be confirmed. (Students also complain about scholarly works where they come across strange new terms that they have to look up. Horrors! You mean you're … learning … something? In a university course?) It's fundamentally intellectual laziness.
I have a based-on-nothing suspicion that this has a ton to do with an online culture that has for nearly 20 years has banged on incessantly about objectivity and reason and logic etc. The derisive ‘le logic’ meme that made fun of the new atheists/Ron Paul types wore out its welcome fairly quickly, but I think it was bang-on — I’d be really interested to read a study about the trajectory from “logic and reason” to “facts don’t have feelings”.
The internet has inspired a confusion between quantity and quality of content. That is, more people having access to offer their opinion has been confused with their opinion having equal quality. So the mere fact that lots of people are saying it gets elevated has being axiomatically worthwhile. Loathe as I am to the idea of gatekeepers, we're suffering from a flood of garbage and ignorance and malicious preying on the latter.
A lot of people seem to have this weird conception in relation to journalism as well, that ‘real journalism’ merely presents the facts in a vacuum… which inevitably leads to the kind of gotta-hear-both-sideisms that we so enjoyed over the past five years.
It's breathtaking how many people apparently don't know what an oped is. Getting angry at an opinion piece for not being objective should mean having to stand in the corner for the rest of the day not getting praise for exposing the writer's fraud. I can't help but think that that's helped gut modern journalism, as more and more writers retreat from bold stands.
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Because I teach interdisciplinary courses, I get students from all kinds of programs. And because many of those programs don't expect their students to write term papers, I don't think it's fair for me to dump a major paper expectation on them when they've got no experience doing that kind of work (plus I don't want to slog thru 20 pages of incoherence). Instead, I assign a series of book reviews. They're short, it's a useful and transferable skill to learn to write concise, focused criticism, and having multiple assignments means I can (in theory) better help people improve. To this end, over the years I've developed a guide to writing scholarly book reviews (structure, the purpose of the components, do's and do-not-ever do's, etc). I urge people to read it. I push that guide like crypto. I say it in the syllabus, I say it on the course's site, I say it in feedback. I'm not modest.

Today I got an email from a student asking whether I knew any resources anywhere on writing book reviews so they could do better on the next review.
Image
Now I think I've been speaking on mute the whole year. X(
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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I let students write informally for their final exams, including casual word use. I've found it encourages creativity thinking and a better focus on ideas. It also encourages wonderful statements like KISS are a structuralist's wet dream.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
23 Apr 2022, 12:29pm
I let students write informally for their final exams, including casual word use. I've found it encourages creativity thinking and a better focus on ideas. It also encourages wonderful statements like KISS are a structuralist's wet dream.
This paper is making some great points!
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Flex wrote:
23 Apr 2022, 12:33pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
23 Apr 2022, 12:29pm
I let students write informally for their final exams, including casual word use. I've found it encourages creativity thinking and a better focus on ideas. It also encourages wonderful statements like KISS are a structuralist's wet dream.
This paper is making some great points!
I think the university should reconsider letting Geordies enroll in these kinds of classes.

edit: Just read another exam that discusses KISS and credits the class for seeing them as just a commodity, not actual music. Mot *quite* what I was going for, but close enough. :approve:
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Is amusing how many KISSertations you get, doc
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
23 Apr 2022, 12:29pm
I let students write informally for their final exams, including casual word use. I've found it encourages creativity thinking and a better focus on ideas. It also encourages wonderful statements like KISS are a structuralist's wet dream.
Hello,

I don't encourage casual word use in the work I assign. I've found casual word use often promotes casual (not causal) thinking - kind of like texting it in. I understand your purpose but my experiences have been better when I encourage more formal expression. I make sure that students understand the purpose for the more formal structure - reviewing your wording helps review your thinking. It may come down to the casual use is better for different disciplines - sciences versus humanities. Your example demonstrates this (what grade did you award the cited work?).

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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gkbill wrote:
23 Apr 2022, 1:27pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
23 Apr 2022, 12:29pm
I let students write informally for their final exams, including casual word use. I've found it encourages creativity thinking and a better focus on ideas. It also encourages wonderful statements like KISS are a structuralist's wet dream.
Hello,

I don't encourage casual word use in the work I assign. I've found casual word use often promotes casual (not causal) thinking - kind of like texting it in. I understand your purpose but my experiences have been better when I encourage more formal expression. I make sure that students understand the purpose for the more formal structure - reviewing your wording helps review your thinking. It may come down to the casual use is better for different disciplines - sciences versus humanities. Your example demonstrates this (what grade did you award the cited work?).
This approach began quite accidentally, when I was trying to get students to be conscious of the required elements of the introduction to their term papers. So, in addition to the paper, I had them submit an extra page that explained, in informal language, what the paper is about, what its argument is, and why this paper was important. To my surprise, students were really bloody good at explaining all those things in their informal piece, almost always better than in the formal paper. They've got the ideas but something freezes in their head when they write in proper scholarly ways. They think they have to sound smart and bland, which strangles their intellectual expression. I've experimented with the use of more informal writing pieces to test this out further and, yup, a lot of students demonstrate a better grasp of ideas in the informal pieces versus the formal ones. Grading terms papers and book reviews often has me shaking my head, but exams are usually a relief, as I find out, okay, they do understand these ideas. Just get them to relax and enjoy thinking about ideas and perspectives rather than regurgitate. I've actually had some superb pieces where students write scenes in a story to demonstrate the ideas (like meeting a cultural critic in a comic book store and arguing about the form's value).

And I agree, it might not work in all disciplines or even all fields within disciplines. But given that I'm far more focused on ideas and critical thought, I'm willing to sacrifice some formality to push those things.

(That answer, btw, scored 12/15. They got the basics of both the KISS example and of that analytical perspective, and could sensibly apply the latter to the former.)
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Ha! I have commented to students that, at their age, I was always in the back row, surly and bored, contemptuous of the keeners at the front. I love those front row keeners now because I might not be just talking to myself.
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 May 2022, 1:58pm
Ha! I have commented to students that, at their age, I was always in the back row, surly and bored, contemptuous of the keeners at the front. I love those front row keeners now because I might not be just talking to myself.
But do you discourage moshing? :mrgreen:
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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I have never willingly sat in the front half of a classroom in my life
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

Pex Lives!

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Sparky wrote:
05 May 2022, 2:31pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 May 2022, 1:58pm
Ha! I have commented to students that, at their age, I was always in the back row, surly and bored, contemptuous of the keeners at the front. I love those front row keeners now because I might not be just talking to myself.
But do you discourage moshing? :mrgreen:
If it broke out, no, no I would not.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Flex wrote:
05 May 2022, 2:37pm
I have never willingly sat in the front half of a classroom in my life
Even in seminars, which I love like a fat kid does cake, I've always sought a seat farthest from the person running the show. Staying away from power, I think.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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