Another semester, another 26 pages of drivel disguised as thought...

[felis_ultharus]

I finished my last essay of the year, and handed it in. Twenty-six pages, plus 2 pages of endnotes and a 2-page bibliography. It's also the first essay I've handed in that included pictures (occasionally necessary).

I think it deserves probably a B or a high C. But then, one of my last essays deserved a D or F, and got an A. Given how this university marks, they'll have to invent something above an A+ for this current one -- unless Dr. Wright is a harder marker than I've given him credit for.

I don't want bad marks, of course. But it's discouraging when it feels that hard work doesn't get you anywhere better than laziness in your field.

Comments

[helenseidolon.livejournal.com]

I totally know what you mean. And undeserved A is fine, but one you had ro work hard at is so fantastic.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Part of me is hoping that Dr. Wright is a fair marker and will give me something like a B-. With my partipation grade and presentation grade, that would still be a high B or an A-, and I'd feel better about it.

It took 4 years for elementary school to start boring me, 3 years for high school, 2 years for undergrad. I'm already feeling unchallenged by grad school and I've only been there a year. It's depressing.

[jenjoou.livejournal.com]

I always had the impression that grad students were rgaded easier than anyone else. I got an A no matter how bad I thought a paper was. Maybe it did deserve an A every time but somehow I doubt it...

Still as long as the classes and teachers are interesting and you learn things, that's what's important, right?

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

True, although that's been pretty hit-and-miss.

David Wright (graphic novels) is a good teacher, and so was Maneesh Sharma (Sir Gawain). My first semester professors were good, too.

But the material is frequently dry. Postmodernism has pretty much taken over my department -- this bleak, soulless, amoral mathematics that adds up to nothing and disguises its utter uselessness with thick jargon. Postmodernists are vampires who suck the souls out of books.

As for the books, most of them have been pretty good. But so much of Grad studies is theory.

[jc2004.livejournal.com]

That was my objection to the pass-fail system in the Education Department at UBC. It pisses me off that I can get 98% or whatever and someone else can get 78% and we can both end up with a P.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

They only marked you as pass or fail? Nothing in between.

Reminds of an old joke:

What do you call the guy who graduates with the lowest marks from medical school?

Doctor.