[lit-ideas] Re: On Names and Respect

  • From: Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:43:27 -0400

>>What would YOU do as her professor?

Avoid the temptation to apply maximim to her, and thereby refuse to presume sufficient knowledge to assess that which confers maximum benefit on anyone.

* Call the student to my office.

* Offer the student three choices and get the student's written agreement to abide by the consequences of their choice:

        1. the minimum passing grade; or

        2. a coin toss to decide
a. HEADS: retake the written test the next day with results to reflect -5 percent for failing to answer the proper question; b. TAILS: an immediate, impromptu oral examination of all the key points covered by the test, without the 5 percent demerit but subject to the vagaries of my more subjective evaluation of the student's spoken defense.

3. indicate that my professorial salary is minuscule and invite the student to risk attempting to bribe me to get a higher than minimal passing grade.

* After the student has made their choice, shred the written agreement, explain that it was merely a ruse, and give the student a 65 because that's what Volodya did. Briefly exult in the cruel sense of power that came from negating the student's choice. Hope that the episode (employing the pre-Enlightenment option of recourse to authority by doing what Volodya did) has taught the student something about the elusive nature of justice and personal motives.

* Resign from the university and pursue a new career in landscaping or landscape architecture, enjoying fresh air, healthy exercise, and the incomparable satisfaction of watching plants take root in earth as they aim at the sky.

* or not.
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