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This is not surprising. The culture of varsity sports on campus is a relic of an institution that has optimized its admissions process for corporate job placeme
by nateburke 14y ago
This is not surprising. The culture of varsity sports on campus is a relic of an institution that has optimized its admissions process for corporate job placement over academic integrity and originality of thought. This makes sense--if you can swell your endowment by letting in athletes who are a-ok with taking easy classes and then using their one-track brains to 'flip decks' at Goldman, why not? It's good for them (Goldman pays) and it's good for your own job security as a university administrator. The culture produces student-athletes who are some of the most tenacious, personable, and loyal people you can find. They make great leaders of companies that consist of giant pyramids of people doing menial tasks.
This culture, however, does not optimize for original thought.
Regarding the exam structure: (humanities + short answer questions + take-home) = increased likelihood of similar answers, given internet search.
The professor here was lazy, too--these problems could have been avoided with a comprehensive 20-page paper instead of a more-easily-graded short-answer final exam.
- pstuart 14y agoOr just cut to the chase and use multiple choice.
- Evbn 14y agoHow does an essay cover anywhere near the full breadth of course material.
- cturner 14y agoExam room essays are a great way to measure knowledge, and difficult to cheat on. You have to know the domain thoroughly in order to be ready to write an essay response. Being able to write this demonstrates integrated understanding of the concepts. And probably breadth of knowledge. The easy solution for universities is give people take-home work during the semester and return it marked, but have 100% of the course score determined by a sit-down exam at the end of the period.
- stevesearer 14y agoYou're correct. I taught high school history for several years and used in-class essay responses as the primary testing method. Essays allowed me to understand what students actually know and how their overall knowledge on a topic has developed. Multiple choice-style questions (or any memorization-style question) do test knowledge, but I regularly found that many of the students who could easily memorize facts had a hard time explaining them in a coherent essay describing how the events were interconnected. And students who might get a C on memorization tests often had a better grasp of the period as a whole. Unfortunately, most teachers don't want to take the time to read essay responses because shoving scantron tests through a machine is much easier and less time consuming.
- jaredhansen 14y agoCorrect. Which is why most law schools do exactly that.