7 ms·

At Michigan State, I had a math prof (Wade Ramey) who would lock the door after class started. If you were late, you couldn't attend. He also insisted students

by dunham 1y ago

At Michigan State, I had a math prof (Wade Ramey) who would lock the door after class started. If you were late, you couldn't attend. He also insisted students purchase a stapler and staple their homework. And he would give negative points on assignments. You could say "I don't know how to do X" for a step in a proof (0 pts), but if you put in something wrong, you would get negative points on that part. He was a good prof, and I enjoyed his classes.

bumby 1y ago
>And he would give negative points on assignments. I remember reading (maybe from Nate Silver) of a professor who would use this technique to teach about uncertainty. You could weigh your overall grade with a proclamation about how certain you were about the answer. Right answers with high certainty could really amp up your grade, but conversely if you claimed 100% certainty on a question you got wrong, you’d fail the course!
- gwern 1y ago
  There are a number of variations. You might actually be thinking of https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/my-favorite-liahtml https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/my-favorite-liahtml or possibly https://gwern.net/doc/statistics/prediction/2022-gelman.pdf https://gwern.net/doc/statistics/prediction/2022-gelman.pdf (if neither of those are it, it might be one of the others I collated in https://gwern.net/fake-journal-club#external-links https://gwern.net/fake-journal-club#external-links ).
- paulcole 1y ago
  This is the best/most fun way to bet on the Oscars. You pick the winner and then assign 1-25 (or whatever) points to it (using each number for only one category) and if you get it right you get that number of points. It basically prevents ties. It lets you make risky picks without falling out of the running. The downside is a shocking number of people won't be able to follow the rule and end up with 22 used twice or whatever.
  - Dylan16807 1y ago
    > shocking I don't think it's surprising or notably bad that people will have trouble tracking everything when you ask them to order a big list while making other decisions that affect the order. Make it a web app or hand out cards where the order is the certainty.
gnfargbl 1y ago
I have a medical condition (autoimmune hypothyroid, extreme edition) which I wasn't aware of, but was suffering from severely, during my University years. Waking up was extremely difficult for me and as a result I was often late. At the time I couldn't understand why I seemingly had a problem that nobody else did, and presumed I just lacked self control. Nope, I just needed (a lot) of medication. Your Prof Ramsey would have penalised me for this unknown condition. This isn't behaviour to be celebrated.
- CrimsonRain 1y ago
  As someone who is _often_ late, your inability to be there in time is not someone else's problem. Unfairly punished...gimme a break.
  - DontchaKnowit 1y ago
    Its so strange to me that when it comes to college no one has any empathy whatsoever for students. Its so absurd.
    - recursive 1y ago
      Some people don't have empathy for students regarding this particular subject.
      - deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
  - sunderw 1y ago
    That's a common point of view, but when your disability is never someone else's problem, it becomes waaaaaay harder to manage. You should display more empathy to people that don't follow the norm.
    - bumby 1y ago
      Except in this case, there is no information to the other party that someone has a disability. So the default that we assume someone has a disability is what most people take umbrage with. I try to be generous as much as is reasonable. I generally assume the person who cuts me off in traffic may have an urgent need, but vaulting every misdeed to an assumption that it's due to some unknown disability crosses into unreasonable territory, if for nothing else than it's probabilistically a bad assumption. Taken to the extreme, it becomes enabling for everyone who does not have a disability but gets away with bad behavior.

by dunham 1y ago

bumby 1y ago

>And he would give negative points on assignments. I remember reading (maybe from Nate Silver) of a professor who would use this technique to teach about uncertainty. You could weigh your overall grade with a proclamation about how certain you were about the answer. Right answers with high certainty could really amp up your grade, but conversely if you claimed 100% certainty on a question you got wrong, you’d fail the course!

gwern 1y ago
There are a number of variations. You might actually be thinking of https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/my-favorite-liahtml https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/my-favorite-liahtml or possibly https://gwern.net/doc/statistics/prediction/2022-gelman.pdf https://gwern.net/doc/statistics/prediction/2022-gelman.pdf (if neither of those are it, it might be one of the others I collated in https://gwern.net/fake-journal-club#external-links https://gwern.net/fake-journal-club#external-links ).
paulcole 1y ago
This is the best/most fun way to bet on the Oscars. You pick the winner and then assign 1-25 (or whatever) points to it (using each number for only one category) and if you get it right you get that number of points. It basically prevents ties. It lets you make risky picks without falling out of the running. The downside is a shocking number of people won't be able to follow the rule and end up with 22 used twice or whatever.
- Dylan16807 1y ago
  > shocking I don't think it's surprising or notably bad that people will have trouble tracking everything when you ask them to order a big list while making other decisions that affect the order. Make it a web app or hand out cards where the order is the certainty.

gnfargbl 1y ago

I have a medical condition (autoimmune hypothyroid, extreme edition) which I wasn't aware of, but was suffering from severely, during my University years. Waking up was extremely difficult for me and as a result I was often late. At the time I couldn't understand why I seemingly had a problem that nobody else did, and presumed I just lacked self control. Nope, I just needed (a lot) of medication. Your Prof Ramsey would have penalised me for this unknown condition. This isn't behaviour to be celebrated.

CrimsonRain 1y ago
As someone who is _often_ late, your inability to be there in time is not someone else's problem. Unfairly punished...gimme a break.
- DontchaKnowit 1y ago
  Its so strange to me that when it comes to college no one has any empathy whatsoever for students. Its so absurd.
  - recursive 1y ago
    Some people don't have empathy for students regarding this particular subject.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
- sunderw 1y ago
  That's a common point of view, but when your disability is never someone else's problem, it becomes waaaaaay harder to manage. You should display more empathy to people that don't follow the norm.
  - bumby 1y ago
    Except in this case, there is no information to the other party that someone has a disability. So the default that we assume someone has a disability is what most people take umbrage with. I try to be generous as much as is reasonable. I generally assume the person who cuts me off in traffic may have an urgent need, but vaulting every misdeed to an assumption that it's due to some unknown disability crosses into unreasonable territory, if for nothing else than it's probabilistically a bad assumption. Taken to the extreme, it becomes enabling for everyone who does not have a disability but gets away with bad behavior.