4 ms·

True in theory, but not true in practice. Terrible lecturers find ways to rationalize the poor grades of their students (i.e. externalize the blame) and curve

True in theory, but not true in practice. Terrible lecturers find ways to rationalize the poor grades of their students (i.e. externalize the blame) and curve grades to get kids to pass the class. Especially bad lecturers will give the bulk of students high grades to preclude complaints. For their part, poor students could care less about what they learn, instead focusing on passing or getting a good letter grade. In poor programs, subsequent more advanced courses in a sequence are subjected to downward pressure when it comes to teaching more rigorous or advanced topics because the students suck so badly (because of the lack of rigor in early courses). A cluster of poor students can be surprisingly good at stymieing course progress. Many professors have to perform research and would rather placate the students with good grades instead of wasting their research time, which is vital to maintaining their careers (Teaching is secondary at research universities no matter what administration tells you) . The can gets kicked down the road, and mediocrity matriculates.

Lafcadio 11y ago
Couldn't care less* <3
- nights192 11y ago
  I believe the term 'could care less' is largely facetious- "I could care less... but it would be extremely difficult," tends to be the implication; don't understand why you found it necessary to correct him. edit: Added clarification.
  - Lafcadio 11y ago
    Eh, I think it's just a common mistake, and I corrected them because it's a pet peeve of mine, not because I think it is a big deal. Your line of thinking is not new to me though, and if "could care less" is sarcastic then I would argue it is particularly ineffective sarcasm (see: http://incompetech.com/gallimaufry/care_less.html http://incompetech.com/gallimaufry/care_less.html).
    - ColinWright 11y ago
      It's no longer a common mistake, it's now become an idiom in some dialectic variations. As such it cannot be broken down into its constituent parts and analyzed for meaning, it has to be understood as an atomic utterance. It's a little like "The proof is in the pudding." The original was "The proof (test) of the pudding is in the eating," but it got shortened, possibly by mistake, possibly by laziness. And so it is with "I could(n't) care less." It's like sandpaper on my brain, but that's how linguistics works. The more you study language, the more you realize it can't possibly work.
      - balabaster 11y ago
        The more you study language, the more you realize that none of it makes sense. It's a wonder how any of us English speakers understand what each other are talking about. I think the trick is to only look deep enough to gauge the sentiment of the presenter and no further. If you look too deeply, the whole thing falls to pieces.
      - mnarayan01 11y ago
        Generally I agree with this approach, but this case seems similar (though obviously not in the safety aspects) to "flammable" versus "inflammable". Obviously you can't really stop actual usage, but I know this used to always confuse me when I was younger, so I'm disinclined to criticize people who yell "Stop!".
      - Someone1234 11y ago
        The other thing that people often overlook, is that "could care less" and "couldn't care less" mean exactly the same thing IF the person saying "could care less" was intending to be sarcastic. As in: "I couldn't care less about this test." (literal) "I could care less about this test." (sarcastic) Yes, the actual expression is "couldn't care less" but I can easily see how people think it is "could care less" (in a sarcastic tone). Same as "by the waist side" instead of "by the wayside." The term "wayside" is so rarely used now that people mishear it and rationalise the alternative definition that does make sense. There are other examples too (correct on the right): - Nip it in the butt vs. Nip it in the bud - One in the same vs. One and the same - You’ve got another thing coming vs. You’ve got another think coming - Each one worse than the next vs. Each one worse than the last - On accident vs. By accident - For all intensive purposes vs. For all intents and purposes - Extract revenge vs. Exact revenge - etc
- dghughes 11y ago
  I'd like to start a new saying "I quantum state care".

Lafcadio 11y ago

Couldn't care less* <3

nights192 11y ago
I believe the term 'could care less' is largely facetious- "I could care less... but it would be extremely difficult," tends to be the implication; don't understand why you found it necessary to correct him. edit: Added clarification.
- Lafcadio 11y ago
  Eh, I think it's just a common mistake, and I corrected them because it's a pet peeve of mine, not because I think it is a big deal. Your line of thinking is not new to me though, and if "could care less" is sarcastic then I would argue it is particularly ineffective sarcasm (see: http://incompetech.com/gallimaufry/care_less.html http://incompetech.com/gallimaufry/care_less.html).
  - ColinWright 11y ago
    It's no longer a common mistake, it's now become an idiom in some dialectic variations. As such it cannot be broken down into its constituent parts and analyzed for meaning, it has to be understood as an atomic utterance. It's a little like "The proof is in the pudding." The original was "The proof (test) of the pudding is in the eating," but it got shortened, possibly by mistake, possibly by laziness. And so it is with "I could(n't) care less." It's like sandpaper on my brain, but that's how linguistics works. The more you study language, the more you realize it can't possibly work.
    - balabaster 11y ago
      The more you study language, the more you realize that none of it makes sense. It's a wonder how any of us English speakers understand what each other are talking about. I think the trick is to only look deep enough to gauge the sentiment of the presenter and no further. If you look too deeply, the whole thing falls to pieces.
    - mnarayan01 11y ago
      Generally I agree with this approach, but this case seems similar (though obviously not in the safety aspects) to "flammable" versus "inflammable". Obviously you can't really stop actual usage, but I know this used to always confuse me when I was younger, so I'm disinclined to criticize people who yell "Stop!".
    - Someone1234 11y ago
      The other thing that people often overlook, is that "could care less" and "couldn't care less" mean exactly the same thing IF the person saying "could care less" was intending to be sarcastic. As in: "I couldn't care less about this test." (literal) "I could care less about this test." (sarcastic) Yes, the actual expression is "couldn't care less" but I can easily see how people think it is "could care less" (in a sarcastic tone). Same as "by the waist side" instead of "by the wayside." The term "wayside" is so rarely used now that people mishear it and rationalise the alternative definition that does make sense. There are other examples too (correct on the right): - Nip it in the butt vs. Nip it in the bud - One in the same vs. One and the same - You’ve got another thing coming vs. You’ve got another think coming - Each one worse than the next vs. Each one worse than the last - On accident vs. By accident - For all intensive purposes vs. For all intents and purposes - Extract revenge vs. Exact revenge - etc
dghughes 11y ago
I'd like to start a new saying "I quantum state care".