Re: [Phys-l] not our majors now!

[Jack Uretsky <jlu@hep.anl.gov>]

Hi all -
	Two separate questions:
1.  There is no such rule.  If I assign 6 homework propblems I keep my 
teaching load tolerable by choosing at random which one or two I will 
grade.  If the student hasn't done thae one that's graded, tough.  No 
credit.

2.  When you find yourself pontificating about society and the big 
picture, look out!  That's one or our psychological devices for avoiding 
the hard work of solving prolems that we can actually deal with.
	ON THE OTHER HAND, our students today are facing issues that most 
members on this list never had to deal with.  I remember that I did 
practically no homework in the spring of 1943, the semester before I went 
into service.  I left school, in fact, before the semester was over, and 
hitch-hiked across the US, waiting for my call to active duty.  I run into 
many young people who have volunteered for military service, or are 
thinking of doing so.  The issue of mortality takes precedence, in the 
minds of many young people, over the demands of homework.
	I suggest that it is important to understand the issues 
confronting your students, now.
					Regards,
						Jack



On Fri, 6 Oct 2006, R. McDermott wrote:

> Is there some rule that requires assigning and grading homework?  Seems to
> me that the tests would indicate how well a student has learned.  As to
> having the test solutions, I can see where this would be an issue with
> multiple choice, but problems can be modified, and it is unlikely that a
> student can memorize all possible permutations of problems (keeping in mind
> that most students see problems as all being different whereas we know they
> fall into only a couple of general categories).
>
> As stated earlier on, this simply reflects our (US) society.  The wise and
> learned person found in some cultures is here the bumbling, absentminded,
> socially inept dork.  Little reverence for learning as an end in itself.
> Reverence instead for the person who can get the better of others by dint of
> being craftier, more ruthless, etc.  No surprise that we see this in our
> students.
>
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