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Re: Jackson



What has changed since the fifties?

....After all, osteriches still stick their heads in the sand...

Regardless of our obliviousness to what is going on behind the scenes,
consider the following:

...The "exclusive club" nature of study groups used to be the realm of the
"good old boys in fraternity houses." Chris has pointed out that
we,intellectuals do exactly the same with women, and, I would suggest, with
any other group..that's human nature, however unfair.

...What I think is different is that students realize the advantages of
exclusive access to certain information, in courses for which there will be
a curve of success. For example, nearly all students now know that
SAT/GRE, etc test performance is dramatically improved by studying the
test, including previous copies, test strategies of the test author, etc.
I am NOT convinced that the osteriches are willing to do what it takes to
level the playing field in Physics.

As an undergrad in physics, I had a fellow student whose parents could, and
did, afford to purchase any text for reference that he thought would be
useful. He mentioned his ownership of such a text that was in the
suggested reading list, and also in the library. When I went to check out
the text at the library, I was too late. Upon placing a recall, I
discovered that this same individual who had his personal copy was the one
who checkmated the rest of the class from gaining access to the information
which he had. The rest of us had to solve a very difficult problem with no
clue, while he could spend his energies on the rest of the homework set,
reasonably confident that he was at least one problem ahead in this
homework "Paperchase,"...and that was in the 60's, before the movie.

As a grad student, I was grading one of the core courses for a PhD. One
student who got only partial credit for a problem (because he had skipped
so many steps in his solution) argued with me that his solution was
correct. I offered to change his grade to full credit if he could, indeed,
fill in the steps. He went away, then returned to argue that his solution
was correct and that there were no skipped steps, that the steps were
obvious. I, again offered him the oppertunity to try again, and he again
went away, only to return with the same argument. My research supervisor,
who had observed the exchange, asked me if I knew why this student was so
self-assured. I said no, and he said "HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF THE HONG KONG
AND TAIWON PRESS?" For those of you who are uninitiated, the copyright
rules in those two areas permit the carte blanche copying of all copyright
material. As a result, complete worked solution manuals can be obtained
for ANY technical text..AND JACKSON IS ONE OF THEM!

My colleagues argue: "It won't do them any good on a test." If you
believe that, just try giving the solution to a very difficult problem to
one of the grademongers that knows that your homework is used to generate
your test problems (generally true of most graduate physics courses).

My contention is this: If you do not level the playing field for your
students by making the solutions equally available, then you ARE the
osterich in the sand.

What has changed since the 50's? More streetwise students are in our
classes. They know when they are being had, and they leave us to destroy
ourselves. Is your enrollment increasing? Will it make it past the
tailend of the babyboom?

Karl


____________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Karl I. Trappe Desk:(512)471-4152
Physics Dept-Mail Stop C1600 Office: (512) 471-5411
The University of Texas at Austin FAX: (512) 471-9637 (other building)
Austin, Texas 78712-1081 E-Mail:trappe@physics.utexas.edu
____________________________________________________________________________