BaltACD Ulrich About arrogant colleges.. sometimes the messaging is funny. a few months ago I attended a U of T engineering open house on behalf of my son who could not attend. The first presenter, making the point that the program is challenging, stated "look to your left and look to your right.. chances are that the person sitting beside you won't be here in six months". Well.. nothing but parents to my left and right, and I'm pretty sure I won't be there in six months. But I get it.. its part of the mystique of attending an Ivy league school. A bit of arrogance is ok if there's some substance behind it, and in U of T's case there is as they're rated among the top 50 schools worldwide. When I attended Purdue it was stated differently - with Freshman Math, Chemistry and Physics all flunking 70% or more of each class - It was stated 70% if you won't be he next year! In my case I made it to 1st Semester 2nd year.
Ulrich About arrogant colleges.. sometimes the messaging is funny. a few months ago I attended a U of T engineering open house on behalf of my son who could not attend. The first presenter, making the point that the program is challenging, stated "look to your left and look to your right.. chances are that the person sitting beside you won't be here in six months". Well.. nothing but parents to my left and right, and I'm pretty sure I won't be there in six months. But I get it.. its part of the mystique of attending an Ivy league school. A bit of arrogance is ok if there's some substance behind it, and in U of T's case there is as they're rated among the top 50 schools worldwide.
When I attended Purdue it was stated differently - with Freshman Math, Chemistry and Physics all flunking 70% or more of each class - It was stated 70% if you won't be he next year! In my case I made it to 1st Semester 2nd year.
It was similar at Illinois. I remember the midterm in the first semester freshman chemistry class. The median score was 48. After that, there were many empty seats and the rest of us woke up.
charlie hebdo It was similar at Illinois. I remember the midterm in the first semester freshman chemistry class. The median score was 48. After that, there were many empty seats and the rest of us woke up.
Three considerations:
1) Harder 'college-level' curricula and subject material. This is fair. (But selection into the program presumably involves a candidate showing either early knowledge of the general material or advanced study in high school ... such was the case at the Ivies I applied to in the mid-Seventies.)
2) the intentional use of 'weeder' courses for more popular ... or better-'paying' or more competitive ... majors. My sister hit one of these as Biology 201, a prerequisite for all the 'pre-meds' trying to climb the establishment tree. Lots and lots of material, taught and graded with rigor, with the stated intent not so much to separate the sheep from the goats as to 'demonstrate the dedication and skills needed to survive medical-school education'. Of course this was not communicated to the marks, many of whom suffered and died without really knowing why...
3) "Grading on a curve". This in my not-so-humble opinion is inexcusable, even if the State is paying the bill for the obscenity. A given course is teaching objective competence, presumably following an objective curriculum, and should be graded on absolute objective standards. If a given cohort tends to 'score low' on fair testing, either the testing modality needs to be changed (again, fairly for all in the cohort) or something is wrong with the lesson planning or the teaching. On the other hand, if everyone scores high, it ought to be a demonstration that the teaching and materials have 'got the message through' -- and anyone looking at a resulting transcript can form a fair picture of how much the corresponding student is likely to know, or how well their skills have been developed, etc.
And then there is (4), the Boston Latin School method (which I had exhaustively explained to me at age 14 because the Dwight headmaster was tapped to lead that school the year I was dating his daughter). Boston Latin is one of the premier high schools, academically, in the country, and perhaps in the world, but it does not have highly selective admissions. What it does have is a marked decrease in class size from one year to the next, as all the 'unfit', unmotivated, etc. students leave. If there is too much of a shortfall year-to-year, the difference is made up by increasing transfer spots. Again, this is not artificially 'crapped up' to make things arbitrarily more difficult, and there are no special 'provisions' for particular groups either pro or con. (There are, on the other hand, quite a few opportunities to game the process -- which calls for particularly ethical people at the helm and on the staff...)
I taught Calculus for 4 years at the Mine School here. That was enough. I could not do it now, cannot explain that, simply cannot. We have a young buck from Greece, by way of Norway of all things, teaching that now. His second year here now teaching Calculus and I see the signs already. He sports a man bun, fierce beard, see's spiders and the 'air is no good in his classroom and office' and the cleaning crew is no good and so on. 2 more years and he'll drop dead like I did.
Once revived he will not be able to teach Calculus any longer and could not explain why that is.
I used David Berlinski's book 'A tour of the Calculus' for my own self, which helped a lot and put a bit of fun and down to earth approach to it for teaching.
OM: You'll be glad to hear I never graded on a curve, nor did I dumb down the coursework to reduce Ds and Fs.
https://www.fliegerfaust.com/the-fall-of-bombardier-2645070174.html
More on Bombardier
charlie hebdo OM: You'll be glad to hear I never graded on a curve, nor did I dumb down the coursework to reduce Ds and Fs.
I had one professor at the community college who carefully tracked and analyzed all the questions on his tests. I don't think he dumbed down any of the questions, but I'd guess that if a certain question was frequently missed he adjusted his teach or figured out that there was a problem with the question itself.
Some years ago, the results of the NYS EMT test were abysmal. Given that the test is given statewide, to students who have had a variety of instructors, about the only place to point the finger was at the test itself, which I believe they did.
Quite a few people still had to retake it.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
tree68 charlie hebdo OM: You'll be glad to hear I never graded on a curve, nor did I dumb down the coursework to reduce Ds and Fs. I had one professor at the community college who carefully tracked and analyzed all the questions on his tests. I don't think he dumbed down any of the questions, but I'd guess that if a certain question was frequently missed he adjusted his teach or figured out that there was a problem with the question itself. Some years ago, the results of the NYS EMT test were abysmal. Given that the test is given statewide, to students who have had a variety of instructors, about the only place to point the finger was at the test itself, which I believe they did. Quite a few people still had to retake it.
Content and criterion validity of tests are tricky to implement in test construction but essential. Unfortunately, many instructors and professors haven't a clue.
BBD just sold the rest of their share of the C-Series program to Airbus.
Breaking rumor is that they just sold the rail division to Alstom.
Interesting times.
NorthWest BBD just sold the rest of their share of the C-Series program to Airbus. Breaking rumor is that they just sold the rail division to Alstom. Interesting times.
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
BBD is in such poor financial condition from their airliner problems that I would suspect that if not bought will go the equivalent of Chapter 7 liquidation. Then what is left will be picked over by anyone despite the EU.
And from TRAINS Newswire : "Alstom reaches agreement to buy Bombardier" (updated) February 17, 2020
linked @ https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2020/02/17-alstom-reaches-agreement-to-buy-bombardier
FTA: [in part] "...Bombardier was facing more than $9.3 billion in long-term debt, and took a $350 million charge in its fourth-quarter 2019 financial results for problems related to long-overdue high-speed trainsets for the Swiss Federal Railways and the London Overground.
Alstom said in a press release that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bombardier and its largest shareholder, pension firm Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) to make the acquisition. CDPQ will become the company’s largest shareholder with 18% of Alstom’s capital, the company said.
Henri Poupart-Lafarge, Alstom chairman and CEO, said in the release that the acquisition “is a unique opportunity to strengthen our global position on the booming mobility market,” giving the company “complementary geographical presence and industrial footprint in growing markets, as well as additional technological platforms. It will significantly increase our innovation capabilities to lead smart and green innovation...."
At least maybe; They have found someone that will help them survive(?)
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