Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Briefest of comments about discussion today about Ralph's book. We ended up on a Bernie tangent that led to calling up his website, which led to a lot of snarky critique (best one: it looks like the Heaven's Gate cult's page). Sorry, Bernard, you won't be recruiting any shock troops from my class …

edit: Also, more than a few leapt onto the bandwagon started by one student that the solution to the Clash is that Bernie had to die. Not be fired or quit, but die. Tough crowd!
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
16 Nov 2018, 7:19pm
Briefest of comments about discussion today about Ralph's book. We ended up on a Bernie tangent that led to calling up his website, which led to a lot of snarky critique (best one: it looks like the Heaven's Gate cult's page). Sorry, Bernard, you won't be recruiting any shock troops from my class …

edit: Also, more than a few leapt onto the bandwagon started by one student that the solution to the Clash is that Bernie had to die. Not be fired or quit, but die. Tough crowd!
This is great. Did they come up with various ways to kill Bernie? Because I imagine it would take a lot of creativity. He's not going to just go with a typical slash to the throat.
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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JennyB wrote:
19 Nov 2018, 11:41am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
16 Nov 2018, 7:19pm
Briefest of comments about discussion today about Ralph's book. We ended up on a Bernie tangent that led to calling up his website, which led to a lot of snarky critique (best one: it looks like the Heaven's Gate cult's page). Sorry, Bernard, you won't be recruiting any shock troops from my class …

edit: Also, more than a few leapt onto the bandwagon started by one student that the solution to the Clash is that Bernie had to die. Not be fired or quit, but die. Tough crowd!
This is great. Did they come up with various ways to kill Bernie? Because I imagine it would take a lot of creativity. He's not going to just go with a typical slash to the throat.
Not that I recall. They were quite amused when I explained that he does not want to be called Bernie. He's Bernard, you see.

I also related during our mid-class break how Vince threatened to slash my throat. More amusement.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Nov 2018, 12:05pm
JennyB wrote:
19 Nov 2018, 11:41am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
16 Nov 2018, 7:19pm
Briefest of comments about discussion today about Ralph's book. We ended up on a Bernie tangent that led to calling up his website, which led to a lot of snarky critique (best one: it looks like the Heaven's Gate cult's page). Sorry, Bernard, you won't be recruiting any shock troops from my class …

edit: Also, more than a few leapt onto the bandwagon started by one student that the solution to the Clash is that Bernie had to die. Not be fired or quit, but die. Tough crowd!
This is great. Did they come up with various ways to kill Bernie? Because I imagine it would take a lot of creativity. He's not going to just go with a typical slash to the throat.
Not that I recall. They were quite amused when I explained that he does not want to be called Bernie. He's Bernard, you see.

I also related during our mid-class break how Vince threatened to slash my throat. More amusement.
:lol: :ugeek:
Got a Rake? Sure!

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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JennyB wrote:
19 Nov 2018, 12:22pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Nov 2018, 12:05pm
JennyB wrote:
19 Nov 2018, 11:41am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
16 Nov 2018, 7:19pm
Briefest of comments about discussion today about Ralph's book. We ended up on a Bernie tangent that led to calling up his website, which led to a lot of snarky critique (best one: it looks like the Heaven's Gate cult's page). Sorry, Bernard, you won't be recruiting any shock troops from my class …

edit: Also, more than a few leapt onto the bandwagon started by one student that the solution to the Clash is that Bernie had to die. Not be fired or quit, but die. Tough crowd!
This is great. Did they come up with various ways to kill Bernie? Because I imagine it would take a lot of creativity. He's not going to just go with a typical slash to the throat.
Not that I recall. They were quite amused when I explained that he does not want to be called Bernie. He's Bernard, you see.

I also related during our mid-class break how Vince threatened to slash my throat. More amusement.
:lol: :ugeek:
But at no time did I reveal the existence of this place. All the Hoyston Phil Collins stuff would sink me just by association. That and the dumb stuff I offer up.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by revbob »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Nov 2018, 1:01pm
JennyB wrote:
19 Nov 2018, 12:22pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Nov 2018, 12:05pm
JennyB wrote:
19 Nov 2018, 11:41am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
16 Nov 2018, 7:19pm
Briefest of comments about discussion today about Ralph's book. We ended up on a Bernie tangent that led to calling up his website, which led to a lot of snarky critique (best one: it looks like the Heaven's Gate cult's page). Sorry, Bernard, you won't be recruiting any shock troops from my class …

edit: Also, more than a few leapt onto the bandwagon started by one student that the solution to the Clash is that Bernie had to die. Not be fired or quit, but die. Tough crowd!
This is great. Did they come up with various ways to kill Bernie? Because I imagine it would take a lot of creativity. He's not going to just go with a typical slash to the throat.
Not that I recall. They were quite amused when I explained that he does not want to be called Bernie. He's Bernard, you see.

I also related during our mid-class break how Vince threatened to slash my throat. More amusement.
:lol: :ugeek:
But at no time did I reveal the existence of this place. All the Hoyston Phil Collins stuff would sink me just by association. That and the dumb stuff I offer up.
What we do is secret.

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Wolter wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 5:51pm
:sad: This is true. Or, rather, even your committee members don't read the whole thing. A friend of mine said that at her defence it was quite clear that some people skipped whole chapters when they accused her of not dealing with X or Y … the subject of whole chapters. It really is shocking how irresponsible so many academics are. I was lucky that my external examiner was super conscientious and gave some astute criticism of the whole damned thing.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Okay, funny/weird story from today. Last day of lectures, I'm yakking about postmodernism and Ghost Box. Ten minutes in, a student I've never seen before comes in, Asian, and tries to hand me a term paper. I tell him, nope, that ain't for me. And stands there confused. I've got better things to do and it's the last day, so I don't care, so I tell him he can stay and listen but this isn't the class he wants. And he does. He sits down and pulls out his phone and stays there the rest of the class. My actual students are baffled and laugh a bit. Whatever, I've got better things to do than escort him to the door. I complete my lecture and talk about the final exam, everyone leaves, and he comes up to me again with his paper. I say, "I assure you, I am not your professor." But think: you clearly haven't come to class all term if you think this is where you should be, so your efforts are almost surely for naught anyway. Then he stalked off.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 2:58pm
Okay, funny/weird story from today. Last day of lectures, I'm yakking about postmodernism and Ghost Box. Ten minutes in, a student I've never seen before comes in, Asian, and tries to hand me a term paper. I tell him, nope, that ain't for me. And stands there confused. I've got better things to do and it's the last day, so I don't care, so I tell him he can stay and listen but this isn't the class he wants. And he does. He sits down and pulls out his phone and stays there the rest of the class. My actual students are baffled and laugh a bit. Whatever, I've got better things to do than escort him to the door. I complete my lecture and talk about the final exam, everyone leaves, and he comes up to me again with his paper. I say, "I assure you, I am not your professor." But think: you clearly haven't come to class all term if you think this is where you should be, so your efforts are almost surely for naught anyway. Then he stalked off.
This is like the nightmare I have periodically - showing up at the final exam not having attended class all semester.

Was he enrolled in your class or was he just in the wrong class?
Got a Rake? Sure!

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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JennyB wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 3:26pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 2:58pm
Okay, funny/weird story from today. Last day of lectures, I'm yakking about postmodernism and Ghost Box. Ten minutes in, a student I've never seen before comes in, Asian, and tries to hand me a term paper. I tell him, nope, that ain't for me. And stands there confused. I've got better things to do and it's the last day, so I don't care, so I tell him he can stay and listen but this isn't the class he wants. And he does. He sits down and pulls out his phone and stays there the rest of the class. My actual students are baffled and laugh a bit. Whatever, I've got better things to do than escort him to the door. I complete my lecture and talk about the final exam, everyone leaves, and he comes up to me again with his paper. I say, "I assure you, I am not your professor." But think: you clearly haven't come to class all term if you think this is where you should be, so your efforts are almost surely for naught anyway. Then he stalked off.
This is like the nightmare I have periodically - showing up at the final exam not having attended class all semester.

Was he enrolled in your class or was he just in the wrong class?
Nope, he was in the wrong room. My class was moved there in the middle of September, so there was a different one meeting there and at that time, but that was two-plus months ago. Which means he hasn't shown up since then. Either way, kid, you ain't passing the class … mine or your actual one.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 3:28pm
JennyB wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 3:26pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 2:58pm
Okay, funny/weird story from today. Last day of lectures, I'm yakking about postmodernism and Ghost Box. Ten minutes in, a student I've never seen before comes in, Asian, and tries to hand me a term paper. I tell him, nope, that ain't for me. And stands there confused. I've got better things to do and it's the last day, so I don't care, so I tell him he can stay and listen but this isn't the class he wants. And he does. He sits down and pulls out his phone and stays there the rest of the class. My actual students are baffled and laugh a bit. Whatever, I've got better things to do than escort him to the door. I complete my lecture and talk about the final exam, everyone leaves, and he comes up to me again with his paper. I say, "I assure you, I am not your professor." But think: you clearly haven't come to class all term if you think this is where you should be, so your efforts are almost surely for naught anyway. Then he stalked off.
This is like the nightmare I have periodically - showing up at the final exam not having attended class all semester.

Was he enrolled in your class or was he just in the wrong class?
Nope, he was in the wrong room. My class was moved there in the middle of September, so there was a different one meeting there and at that time, but that was two-plus months ago. Which means he hasn't shown up since then. Either way, kid, you ain't passing the class … mine or your actual one.
Ha!
Got a Rake? Sure!

IMCT: Inane Middle-Class Twats - Dr. M

" *sigh* it's right when they throw the penis pump out the window." -Hoy

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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JennyB wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 3:30pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 3:28pm
JennyB wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 3:26pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 2:58pm
Okay, funny/weird story from today. Last day of lectures, I'm yakking about postmodernism and Ghost Box. Ten minutes in, a student I've never seen before comes in, Asian, and tries to hand me a term paper. I tell him, nope, that ain't for me. And stands there confused. I've got better things to do and it's the last day, so I don't care, so I tell him he can stay and listen but this isn't the class he wants. And he does. He sits down and pulls out his phone and stays there the rest of the class. My actual students are baffled and laugh a bit. Whatever, I've got better things to do than escort him to the door. I complete my lecture and talk about the final exam, everyone leaves, and he comes up to me again with his paper. I say, "I assure you, I am not your professor." But think: you clearly haven't come to class all term if you think this is where you should be, so your efforts are almost surely for naught anyway. Then he stalked off.
This is like the nightmare I have periodically - showing up at the final exam not having attended class all semester.

Was he enrolled in your class or was he just in the wrong class?
Nope, he was in the wrong room. My class was moved there in the middle of September, so there was a different one meeting there and at that time, but that was two-plus months ago. Which means he hasn't shown up since then. Either way, kid, you ain't passing the class … mine or your actual one.
Ha!
The other experience today was being visited during office hours by a kid who has literally shown up once in the last seven weeks, on the day to turn in his term paper. Which I failed because it was half-assed, under researched, and non-argued. He came to argue, page by page, why my criticism was wrong. As if I don't know what I'm doing. At the end, he told me he was only in the class because his friend signed up and then the friend dropped out. Which wasn't a surprise. Given that the final exam is predicated on attending the lectures and being able to recite and analyze the material, he's royally fucked on that as well. But I was clear to everyone that if you don't attend lectures, you can't pass the class, so they're receiving a lesson in reaping what is sown (or never bothering to sow).

Talking with other profs this term, we all agree that student attendance is getting much worse. Next term, I'm trying an experiment of passing around a sign-in sheet to track who is showing up. There's no penalty one way or the other, but I'm curious whether knowledge of being monitored will improve attendance. And next year I might start applying academic penalty to consistent non-attendance. I'm torn on the issue. On the one hand, you pay your tuition, it's up to you whether you want to do the work to pass the class. Now, tho, I'm wondering whether that option is leading to people just wasting their money, failing classes and barely learning anything—maybe we need to hold the crop and motivate them to come to class.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 3:54pm
JennyB wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 3:30pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 3:28pm
JennyB wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 3:26pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 2:58pm
Okay, funny/weird story from today. Last day of lectures, I'm yakking about postmodernism and Ghost Box. Ten minutes in, a student I've never seen before comes in, Asian, and tries to hand me a term paper. I tell him, nope, that ain't for me. And stands there confused. I've got better things to do and it's the last day, so I don't care, so I tell him he can stay and listen but this isn't the class he wants. And he does. He sits down and pulls out his phone and stays there the rest of the class. My actual students are baffled and laugh a bit. Whatever, I've got better things to do than escort him to the door. I complete my lecture and talk about the final exam, everyone leaves, and he comes up to me again with his paper. I say, "I assure you, I am not your professor." But think: you clearly haven't come to class all term if you think this is where you should be, so your efforts are almost surely for naught anyway. Then he stalked off.
This is like the nightmare I have periodically - showing up at the final exam not having attended class all semester.

Was he enrolled in your class or was he just in the wrong class?
Nope, he was in the wrong room. My class was moved there in the middle of September, so there was a different one meeting there and at that time, but that was two-plus months ago. Which means he hasn't shown up since then. Either way, kid, you ain't passing the class … mine or your actual one.
Ha!
The other experience today was being visited during office hours by a kid who has literally shown up once in the last seven weeks, on the day to turn in his term paper. Which I failed because it was half-assed, under researched, and non-argued. He came to argue, page by page, why my criticism was wrong. As if I don't know what I'm doing. At the end, he told me he was only in the class because his friend signed up and then the friend dropped out. Which wasn't a surprise. Given that the final exam is predicated on attending the lectures and being able to recite and analyze the material, he's royally fucked on that as well. But I was clear to everyone that if you don't attend lectures, you can't pass the class, so they're receiving a lesson in reaping what is sown (or never bothering to sow).

Talking with other profs this term, we all agree that student attendance is getting much worse. Next term, I'm trying an experiment of passing around a sign-in sheet to track who is showing up. There's no penalty one way or the other, but I'm curious whether knowledge of being monitored will improve attendance. And next year I might start applying academic penalty to consistent non-attendance. I'm torn on the issue. On the one hand, you pay your tuition, it's up to you whether you want to do the work to pass the class. Now, tho, I'm wondering whether that option is leading to people just wasting their money, failing classes and barely learning anything—maybe we need to hold the crop and motivate them to come to class.
Its about 10 years since I did a college class but attendance was always stressed,. I wanna say 2 absences was generally the limit. If I were teaching a class I would have a problem with someone turning up just for a test or to turn in a paper.

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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revbob wrote:
03 Dec 2019, 8:41pm
Its about 10 years since I did a college class but attendance was always stressed,. I wanna say 2 absences was generally the limit. If I were teaching a class I would have a problem with someone turning up just for a test or to turn in a paper.
The only time I've had an attendance policy has been seminars, but that's because participation made up a significant part of students' final grade. Everybody got one free absence, but otherwise missing a class necessarily meant a grade reduction based on one meeting's worth of participation. Lecture courses, tho, I don't know anyone who takes attendance. One friend advised me against it. He said that those who come to class and those who don't won't care, and those who are haphazard will just hate me. But I can't help but feel that if this generation needs inducement to come to class—that they haven't developed that discipline and need external structure (from parents, teachers, employers)—maybe instructors have to do it. I hate the idea of being a babysitter, but I also hate the idea of students paying a fuckload of tuition and then pissing it away. I dunno. Are your kids pretty self-disciplined compared to your own experience at that age?
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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