Saturday, September 14, 2013

A very brief "ugh".

From a response paper to some readings for a senior-level methods course:

"My question is basically what exactly is “Hegelian” dialect? Am I even coming close to knowing the concept of it?"


Lesson learned -- read the damned spoon-feeding 10th-grade-reading-level textbook before reading the primary sources.


  1. Silly boy (not you Dr. Lemurpants), Hegel's dialect was Swabian.

  2. What has changed in the last decade or so, I think, is that many students are no longer embarrassed when you point out that the answer to the question is in the reading they were supposed to do. This is especially true if you aren't directly, explicitly testing on all the reading material (as opposed to, say, expecting them to apply the concept in another assignment, such as a response paper). This is very frustrating for those of us who consider reading quizzes sort of high-schoolish.

    1. This.

      They're not only not embarrassed; they take umbrage at being held accountable for material in the reading that isn't covered in lecture.

      One of my favorite comments at the Site That Shall Not Be Named is "She expects you to come to class every day AND read the book." This was said about me as if it were a bad thing.

    2. PG, I get similar comments: "You have to read the book and figure out how to do the problems by yourself". Not meant as a compliment, though it is the only way to actually learn the stuff.

      Maybe we should have a thread with "favorite comments about me made on that site". Slightly changed, in case it is searchable.

      And this reminds me: I need to inform them explicitly that they're responsible for the material found in the relevant sections in the text, even if I did not discuss it in class (due to time constraints).

