Sleeping is for Quitters

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/education/18college.html?em

For later.

If generalizations is frowned upon then a generational attack, such as the one that's being made here.

Kids are on scholarship, others pay nearly a quarter of a million dollars to be at the schools they're studying at. These kids work hard.

At least the one's contesting their grade care. Adminstrators, departments, create twisted incentives. Learn! Explore! Discover! they shout, but make sure you beat that guy next to you, because we're grading on a curve. And don't spend to much time learning and discovering, because there are exams every two weeks and departmental pressures require us to give the majority of you C's. (I've heard a lot of my professors mutter to themselves during lecture that they would be fired if they gave an exam in which too many people do well.)

This is a stupid situation. Here's the setup - Here Now UCLA, we have so many smart student! Here Now UCLA, we have high grading standards! Here Now UCLA, we are failing these students. Does a system of that can only measure relative mastery of the material really capture each student's ability? What if geniuses take the class one quarter, or a harder professor teaches the same class next quarter? I suppose 'A' students would have run probabilistic regressions on these possibilities, unlike the rest of use who in these people's eyes, sit on our asses and beg for A's on the street corner, a drain on the economy.

number 2, grading is often outsourced to stressed out graduate students who are just trying to get the damned things done. They make mistakes - refuse to read for understanding and simply match it to an answer sheet. Questioning is not only important, it's necessary in this case. I contested my grade on my last trade midterm, and it went up 2 letter grades - the original grader simply saw that my answers were dissimilar in look, and ignored their content.

There are students that fuck up, who think they can talk their way into anything, where merit doesn't enter into their calculations of what kind of grade they deserve. I complain about my generation than probably anyone else I know but this is too much.