I'm feeling so low that nothing, really, is beneath me today. Hence, Rick Perry's transcripts instead of my usual concision.
Still, as a prof, even if a retired one, even if a socialist one, a word on motivation might be in order.
Rick Perry is an oily opportunist, one of the "lying liars," to be "franken" about it. A more focused Lieberman-Flip-Flopper sort, he fails to understand that some of us take our politics extremely seriously and that such flops designate insincerity, one of the more huge and awful crimes in our world. My Readers are likely trying to get their eyebrows lowered to their original scowling position at the news that, yes, I firmly believe political discourse is, can, and ought to be a sincere form of communication.
That belief, of course, is based on my flawed understanding that sincerity is also necessary to the correct functioning of repentance, an integral part of politics.
But back to the transcripts. What bothers me is not the tremendous personal support of mediocrity but the complete lack of any discipline to ignite anything close to the passionate curiosity that drives good grades. As an educator, I am fond of those students who travel from wide-ranging disinterest and complacency in their first two years of standard university fare to fascination with their coursework once a major is declared.
That focus of the gaze, that quickening of the pulse, is what's really lacking in these transcripts.
Sure, a good many students struggle with growing beyond their parents' influences when determining a major, and a considerable minority may aim so much to please that the college experience is wasted. And then there is the ridiculous notion that these courses of study are best undertaken between the ages of 18 and 22...
I had four majors before landing on the right one, and also took a couple of noteworthy leaves of absence before deciding that college was really what I needed. I learned the most while in the course for which I got my lowest grade, and am most proud of a B+ I got first semester of grad school, in an undergraduate course -- so I understand that transcripts can be misleading.
Still, it's not like a birth certificate, which tells you nothing, really, of the so-certified person.
Still, as a prof, even if a retired one, even if a socialist one, a word on motivation might be in order.
Rick Perry is an oily opportunist, one of the "lying liars," to be "franken" about it. A more focused Lieberman-Flip-Flopper sort, he fails to understand that some of us take our politics extremely seriously and that such flops designate insincerity, one of the more huge and awful crimes in our world. My Readers are likely trying to get their eyebrows lowered to their original scowling position at the news that, yes, I firmly believe political discourse is, can, and ought to be a sincere form of communication.
That belief, of course, is based on my flawed understanding that sincerity is also necessary to the correct functioning of repentance, an integral part of politics.
But back to the transcripts. What bothers me is not the tremendous personal support of mediocrity but the complete lack of any discipline to ignite anything close to the passionate curiosity that drives good grades. As an educator, I am fond of those students who travel from wide-ranging disinterest and complacency in their first two years of standard university fare to fascination with their coursework once a major is declared.
That focus of the gaze, that quickening of the pulse, is what's really lacking in these transcripts.
Sure, a good many students struggle with growing beyond their parents' influences when determining a major, and a considerable minority may aim so much to please that the college experience is wasted. And then there is the ridiculous notion that these courses of study are best undertaken between the ages of 18 and 22...
I had four majors before landing on the right one, and also took a couple of noteworthy leaves of absence before deciding that college was really what I needed. I learned the most while in the course for which I got my lowest grade, and am most proud of a B+ I got first semester of grad school, in an undergraduate course -- so I understand that transcripts can be misleading.
Still, it's not like a birth certificate, which tells you nothing, really, of the so-certified person.
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