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I have a friend at work who either helped write, or wrote most of her daughter's papers in high school and now in college. The same with her college essays. I know this because she saved them to the common drive on the computer.
That's a shame, and it's not limited to parents, either. A friend of mine completed her master's degree and her husband wrote almost all of her papers. She'd give him the thesis or what she wanted to write about and he'd flesh it all out for her and spend hours working on it. So he did about 90% of it. Even though he worked full time. Her own writing skills are pretty bad, as evidenced by the emails that she's sent to me. She can't spell very well or put together a coherent sentence. She got into a master's program because she found one that didn't require the GMAT or GRE.
Yep. Over involved parents are no longer unusual. It’s pretty nuts. I’ve had to field parents at work multiple times.
Just a few years ago someone in my family asked to come over to my home to use our computer because hers had died. She had a take home final to finish. Her mom came with her and they worked on it together. She was a college junior. I was flabbergasted.
No decent college worth going to gives "take home finals." Or uses scan-tron or whatever today's equivalent to that is for multiple choice tests. Essay or short-answer tests are the only real way to gauge the students' understanding of the material.
I'm still stuck on "grading on a curve", although it's been around for years. I don't get it.
I learned about this in one of my math classes. I don't remember the gist of it, but what most people think "grading on a curve is" is incorrect. It's not just taking the highest grade on a test or paper, etc. and making that an "A." There's a whole formula for it, that i can't remember offhand because it's been years since I learned it.
There was a thread on the Education forum just recently, posted by a mom who wanted to know if it would be crossing a line to contact the Dean about an incompetent professor, who was negatively affecting her child's GPA, and ability to complete the course. She said that since she was writing the tuition checks, she felt she had this right. If the student wasn't able to pass the course, s/he would have to spent an extra semester on top of the basic 4 years, to re-take the course or take an equivalent. At least she had enough of a clue to ask whether that would be inappropriate helicoptering or not.
If you're referring to my thread, it was quite irritating because that was not at all what the topic was I asked. But people jumped in assuming it was and started their own set of assumptions that others started answering to. That's why I left that thread because everyone was so eager to hit the helicopter punching bag they weren't even reading the actual topic.
Actually the article here is right in line with what I was trying to discuss there, namely the high cost of college is driving this behavior. But seems no one wants to discuss the actual issue. Much more fun to beat on parents.
It truly doesn't bother me that other parents resort to stuff like this. If they can accept their kids getting an expensive diploma instead of a real education, then it's no skin off my nose. I know my own did their work, and did it well.
I do think colleges should react quickly and firmly to shut down parental interference. Nobody wants their staff held up dealing with over-involved parents.
I learned about this in one of my math classes. I don't remember the gist of it, but what most people think "grading on a curve is" is incorrect. It's not just taking the highest grade on a test or paper, etc. and making that an "A." There's a whole formula for it, that i can't remember offhand because it's been years since I learned it.
yeah, if the lowest grade in the class is a 91 and the highest is a 99, then that 91 is a failing grade, the 95 is a C or c+...
Yes, but they are also timed. You have to know the information, otherwise you will quickly run out of time looking up all the answers. Professors can also choose to require their students to take online tests at the college's testing center.
It truly doesn't bother me that other parents resort to stuff like this. If they can accept their kids getting an expensive diploma instead of a real education, then it's no skin off my nose.
The problem is that those lazy, incompetent, marginally literate kids use that diploma saying "magna *** laude" to get a job and make their supervisor tear his hair out, or to get into medical school, thereby wasting a space in the class before flunking out or BS'ing their way through and becoming my doctor.
Grading on a curve is based on the assumption that grades should be normally distributed with typically C as average. Several problem include the fact that most tests are poorly designed to produce valid data to start with and in many classes the sample size is too small. Might be moe valid if the exact same test were given over the exact same material over a period of years. But too often are not. Take for example this set of grades: 96, 72, 47, 27, 13, 13, 7. What would that tell you? Tells me a poorly designed test that doesn't evaluate anything.
Yes, but they are also timed. You have to know the information, otherwise you will quickly run out of time looking up all the answers. Professors can also choose to require their students to take online tests at the college's testing center.
Still, with an in-classroom test, one would never be able to look up the answer no matter what. That's why timed tests at home still allow for some easy cheating.
Online tests at a college testing center are different, sure. They put you in a room, you are watched the entire time. Nobody can cheat as far as I know.
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