Reality-BasedTM Political Numbers from Nicholas Beaudrot
Electoral Math
Reality-BasedTM Political Numbers from Nicholas Beaudrot
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Hopefully my first attempt at semi-tongue-in-cheek criticism will not offend anyone.
A man whose business involves teaching, and who has been in this business for much longer than I ever was, needs some help:
Right now I have the flu, and I'm trying to figure out whether we should give zero, one, or two points to someone who writes that the "Eerie Canal connects the Great Lakes with Hudson's Bay, and thus allows water transport from the Midwest to the Atlantic Ocean." Everything after the comma is 100% true...
UPDATE: The consensus is full credit: the part after the comma is right, we don't mark off for spelling mistakes under exam pressure, and from the viewpoint of San Francisco failing to distinguish between two bodies of water both named after Henry Hudson is excusable.
To which I say: Probably not. If, at some point, the student was expected to read a sentence that stated "Erie Canal connects the Great Lakes with the Hudson River, allowing uninterrupted water transport from the Midwest to the Atlantic Ocean" or something to that effect, or if such a sentence was uttered in a lecture or section that all students are expected to attend, then he or she is not correctly recalling the reading material and should be penalized -- if the scale were zero to two I would give a one; if the scale were zero to ten I would give a seven or eight. If, however, the Erie Canal example was not explicitly covered in course material, then it is acceptable to let the body-of-water confusion slide with the "Bay" crossed out in Red Ink and replaced with "River". By failing to administer tough love in this situation, DeLong is contributing to the general sloppiness of today's youth, and, more importantly, to grade inflation. After all, if you let this slide then you're aiding and abetting the confusion of Medicare and Medicaid, something I'm sure Mr. DeLong would not want even if he is happy to accept the political consequences.
DeLong is correct that in a timed exam one should not be penalized for spelling errors, especially if they would not be caught by Microsoft Word.
... And yes, I am almost certainly guilty of lots of said sloppiness.
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updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 10:27 18 February 2005
