The Fora: A Higher Education Community

Quote from: downer on April 25, 2024, 08:29:15 AMI admire the hardassity of the policy.

I don't see it as hardassity (but I will accept the label for myself), the exam is compromised once someone leaves.

Same class as Tuesday, but today we are going on a field trip.  I cave an extensive explanation of where, when, why, what, and how they needed to navigate, prepare, and conduct the lab today.

Inquiring minds want to know what the half of the class that either didn't show or was late will do this afternoon....

Quote from: FishProf on April 25, 2024, 08:26:47 AM

Quote from: downer on April 25, 2024, 08:10:55 AMGiving exams in for classes, I can be confident that some students will finish the exam and leave before other students even turn up to take the exam.

I don't allow that.  Once someone leaves, no one else can start.

I admire the hardassity of the policy.

Quote from: downer on April 25, 2024, 08:10:55 AMGiving exams in for classes, I can be confident that some students will finish the exam and leave before other students even turn up to take the exam.

I don't allow that.  Once someone leaves, no one else can start.

Quote from: marshwiggle on April 25, 2024, 08:04:13 AM

Quote from: Langue_doc on April 25, 2024, 06:03:52 AMThe latest, from the NYT.

QuoteChaos and Oppression
The central question for universities responding to protests is whether to prioritize the preservation of order or the desire of students to denounce oppression.

It's fine for students to "denounce" oppression; what they need to be made to understand that history is a long game. Whatever they do right now is unlikely to have any visible impact, but the concerted actions of people with influence and authority, over time, will change things for the better.

It's not about denouncing oppression. They can denounce all they want. It's about interfering with other students' and citizens' lives. This has already gone so far as to close USC and put Columbia on-line. U Austin, on the other hand, shut down the interference right away.

Private universities can do whatever they please, for all I care. The most efficient will win.

Not really a vent, more an observation.

Giving exams in for classes, I can be confident that some students will finish the exam and leave before other students even turn up to take the exam.

It generally means that the classes are not well prepared for the exams.

Quote from: marshwiggle on April 25, 2024, 08:04:13 AMIt's fine for students to "denounce" oppression; what they need to be made to understand that history is a long game. Whatever they do right now is unlikely to have any visible impact, but the concerted actions of people with influence and authority, over time, will change things for the better.

So is the idea that they should just wait until they have influence and authority, and then they should work for incremental change?

They have very little power right now, but they're hoping to influence some of the people with more power to start changing things for the better. What's wrong with trying to exert some influence, even if they're not successful? Is that not part of long-term incremental change for the better?

I'll start writing my second referee report today, then work on T1.

Quote from: ciao_yall on April 24, 2024, 07:23:19 PM

Quote from: dismalist on April 24, 2024, 11:12:48 AM

QuoteI can't think of any example where a superior military power was actually able to dislodge a rag tag militia that can hide among the populace, take a few pot shots, and disappear back into the crowd.

It is forgotten that the French military won the Battle of Algiers and, indeed, controlled Algeria. Algeria gained independence because of support from outside. This was called "the internationalization of the conflict". This strategy has been imitated by the PLO, and now Hamas. Placing armed fighters among the civilian population is intended to cause lots of civilian casualties, which are then thought to stimulate outside support.

I don't think it will be successful because the Battle for Gaza is being fought by a neighboring, independent country with an existential interest in complete victory, something that metropolitan France never had -- French soil was not seriously threatened by the NLF.

Less dramatic historical memory surrounds the Malayan Emergency [1948 - 1960] because the British defeated the insurgents.

^ This.

Viet Nam is a great example.

The US Civil War was a classic example. On paper, the North should have won in 20 minutes. They had all the industry, weapons, wealth. What did they have to do to the South, and how long did it take, for them to finally get the South to surrender?

It is also overlooked that the Viet Cong were destroyed upon their Tet offensive. But the war didn't end because North Vietnamese regulars got involved. What Hamas has learned from the Vietnam War is that to defeat the United States, or affect its policy, one has to get at the US home front propagandistically. This is what is unfolding now. But there is so little at stake for US voters, I doubt it will make any difference.

The US Civil War was a conventional war. It is an example of something else: The attempt to internationalize the conflict, as the NLF did successfully. The South initially embargoed cotton, hoping to starve British factories of inputs and thus getting Britain to declare war on the North. This failed miserably. It did what the North could not do the first year of the war -- blockade the South.

Quote from: Langue_doc on April 25, 2024, 06:03:52 AMThe latest, from the NYT.

QuoteChaos and Oppression
The central question for universities responding to protests is whether to prioritize the preservation of order or the desire of students to denounce oppression.

It's fine for students to "denounce" oppression; what they need to be made to understand that history is a long game. Whatever they do right now is unlikely to have any visible impact, but the concerted actions of people with influence and authority, over time, will change things for the better.