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From: duncan@geppetto.ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Student preparedness
Message-ID: <13224@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Date: 6 Jan 89 11:29:02 GMT
References: <4893@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <6435@killer.DALLAS.TX.US> <5237@pdn.UUCP> <2145@faline.bellcore.com> <13160@bellcore.bellcore.com> <9342@ihlpb.ATT.COM>
Sender: news@bellcore.bellcore.com
Reply-To: duncan@geppetto.UUCP (Scott Duncan)
Organization: Computer Technology Transfer, Bellcore
Lines: 25

In article <9342@ihlpb.ATT.COM> nevin1@ihlpb.UUCP (55528-Liber,N.J.) writes:
>
>I expect from my teachers the same sorts of things they expect from me.
>If they expect me to memorize the book for a test, I expect them to know
>the book inside and out.  If they are more reasonable, I don't really
>mind it they can't answer a question right away.  I find that my good
>teachers are usually interested in trying to find the answer to a
>question that they don't know right off the bat.

Agreed...fair is fair.  I was thinking more along the lines of things that the
book (whatever text is being used for whatever class) doesn't cover and that
may take research on *someone's* part to clarify.  I have not had lots of pos-
itive experiences setting up the expectation that more than just what is in the
book is important to the subject matter of the course.  (And holding people
responsible in any way for such material when it is presented in class was not
accepted very graciously, to say the least.  In the two cases I am thinking of,
some people were not in class when we discussed the answer to the question and
it provoked some good ideas.  I asked about it on a test and two people went
to the department head complaining.)


Speaking only for myself, of course, I am...
Scott P. Duncan (duncan@ctt.bellcore.com OR ...!bellcore!ctt!duncan)
                (Bellcore, 444 Hoes Lane  RRC 1H-210, Piscataway, NJ  08854)
                (201-699-3910 (w)   201-463-3683 (h))