Topic: Bang Your Head on Your Desk - the thread of teaching despair!

[mythbuster]

I just got back from taking a bunch of students to Pittsburgh for a conference- these are smart kids, good kids, more aware than many kids.
On our afternoon off, we rode the Trolley to the top of the cliff (very cool!). I mentioned Mr. Rogers- crickets. I start singing won't you be my neighbor-- still crickets. No clue who he was.

Only about 3 of them had a clue who Andy Warhol was when I suggested going to the Warhol museum as well.

So I'm not so sure now about the alphabet song thing.

[apl68]

I just got back from taking a bunch of students to Pittsburgh for a conference- these are smart kids, good kids, more aware than many kids.
On our afternoon off, we rode the Trolley to the top of the cliff (very cool!). I mentioned Mr. Rogers- crickets. I start singing won't you be my neighbor-- still crickets. No clue who he was.

Only about 3 of them had a clue who Andy Warhol was when I suggested going to the Warhol museum as well.

So I'm not so sure now about the alphabet song thing.

Well...Fred Rogers has been deceased for over two decades now, and most students probably aren't taught a lot about art in school anymore.  But it's kind of disturbing to think that the alphabet song--or at least something more or less equivalent--has been dropped from our elementary teaching.

[the_geneticist]

Had an odd conversation with a student who is *getting an A+* in [Baskets 101]. 
He wanted to argue about getting partial credit on an assignment where he left part of it blank. 

Why?

He wants to be #1 in the class. 
He seems unconvinced by my saying that rank does not matter, we don't keep track or even really notice. Students earn grade as individuals & not in competition with their classmates.
I said it won't show up on his transcript, we don't report or keep track at all.
There are 400 students in the class - we expect many, many of them to also earn an A.

He thinks that being #1 in a class will matter for getting in to medical school.  Calm down stu, you are are in your Fall quarter of your first year in college in introductory classes.  You should not be asking your [Baskets 101] instructor for a letter to get into medical school or graduate school anyway

[Puget]

Had an odd conversation with a student who is *getting an A+* in [Baskets 101]. 
He wanted to argue about getting partial credit on an assignment where he left part of it blank. 

Why?

He wants to be #1 in the class. 
He seems unconvinced by my saying that rank does not matter, we don't keep track or even really notice. Students earn grade as individuals & not in competition with their classmates.
I said it won't show up on his transcript, we don't report or keep track at all.
There are 400 students in the class - we expect many, many of them to also earn an A.

He thinks that being #1 in a class will matter for getting in to medical school.  Calm down stu, you are are in your Fall quarter of your first year in college in introductory classes.  You should not be asking your [Baskets 101] instructor for a letter to get into medical school or graduate school anyway

Uh oh,  "pre-med student syndrome" -- though if he is very distressed,  it may also be time for a talk about perfectionism with mental health professional.

Alternatively, any chance this is an international student? I've learned from my Chinese students that class ranks there are publicly posted for all to see and compare, and a big deal made of being #1 in the class, so if so he may just need to adjust to that not being the case in the US.

[the_geneticist]

He might be an international student.  He did seem a bit surprised that students are not ranked and that grades are not competitive.  I'll send him to the Health Professions Advising folks.  They have lots of resources about what it takes to get into medical school (and what things do not matter).