NSS: Beating up 4th graders

[ski]

... which is how I feel in my college Latin 1 class. I took 6 years of it in high school, and now as a senior in college, I decided to revisit it:

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/kedooley/images/latingrades.jpg

This is compared to my Electronics 2 class:

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/kedooley/images/elecgrades.jpg


The College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering have quite different grading standards :heh:

Anyway, I feel like I'm beating up 4th graders in my Latin class. Makes me feel like the big man I'm not! It's kind of like owning a little kid in any activity... false confidence :thumbup:

[ufcrusher]

Its not impressive until you can claim all of the following:
You correct the professor and your right.
The professor tells you that your attendance is optional because your making all the other students feel stupid.
The professor tells you that the TA for your discussion group has asked that you dont come because it makes her feel bad since you scored higher than her on the entrance exam/testing and can talk circles around her.
After skipping every class except for tests you have a perfect score without ever opening the book.


Yes......I can honestly say that all is true. I should elaborate that the professor said I was making a mockery out of the entry class because I should have been in an advanced class. The reason why I was in that class is that the school didnt allow people to place out of a language only place up. I didnt agree with this fact because I had already taken 6 years of language, on top of which my family spoke the language at home. So when I was forced to take a language against my will, I figured a guaranteed A would be better than having to work at it in the advanced class.

[ski]

Dude, I'd call that beating up kindergartners :eek:

[Merlin]

Took 2 years of Latin in high school. Wow was I bad at it. :disa:

[Cantacuzene]

Oddly enough, I found that people who had latin in high school were worse at it than people who had another language. I took two years of latin in college and I'd say the kids who took latin in high school in my classes were ahead of me for about the first week and a half of the first semester. One of my friends took 4 years of latin in high school and I knew more latin than she did after one semester of latin in college.

We'll see if you're still beating up 4th graders when you get to the subjunctive mood and you start doing gerundives. ;)

[Maarchk]

Oh man, i used to get my butt kicked in latin and spanish classes.... I think i would average b's and be one of the 5 "special" children to not get A's...

But then move on to chemistry and damn i could just see that stuff... After our first midterm my proffessor said "If we count Mark in the curve, you all get c's d's and F's. and he gets 100." If we don't count mark in the curve, you all get a's b's and c's, and mark gets 128. They elected option number two and i elected to lock my self in my dorm room so i was not the one getting the beating.

[ski]

Oddly enough, I found that people who had latin in high school were worse at it than people who had another language. I took two years of latin in college and I'd say the kids who took latin in high school in my classes were ahead of me for about the first week and a half of the first semester. One of my friends took 4 years of latin in high school and I knew more latin than she did after one semester of latin in college.

We'll see if you're still beating up 4th graders when you get to the subjunctive mood and you start doing gerundives. ;)
That's exactly what my professor said -- people who had 2 years of it in high school would start struggling. He apparently didn't want anyone who had taken over 2 years to be in the class so that people who wanted to learn it for the first time would have the opportunity (limited class size), but so many people dropped that I guess he's letting me stay.

I'd agree that it'll get harder, but the only form of English prowess I have is grammar and vocabulary. My reading comprehension is abhorrent, but learning all those things in AP Latin and the years before helped a TON!

Anyway, I just wanted to make a comparison to the "real" classes I have, how unrealistic the 90% = A becomes, and for my Comm Systems, class, I consistently get 50%'s on tests when the average is 40% :disa: whereas in language, history, and business classes the average grades are more on par (for underclassmen classes at the least, I imagine they get harder)



But then move on to chemistry and damn i could just see that stuff... After our first midterm my proffessor said "If we count Mark in the curve, you all get c's d's and F's. and he gets 100." If we don't count mark in the curve, you all get a's b's and c's, and mark gets 128. They elected option number two and i elected to lock my self in my dorm room so i was not the one getting the beating.
So you're THAT kid ;)

[Cantacuzene]

The discrepancy, I think, is that people who are history or language majors are that because they are passionate about that: I know for me personally, history is one of my great loves and it comes as no surprise to me that I can succeed at it with relatively little effort. I imagine if I hated history and wasnt interested I would be getting low grades. A lot of people in technical or sciences classes don't really care, their major is just the means to a big paycheck. They have no passion for chemistry or learning a new programming language. They definitly dont spend much of their free time pursuing it, like a history major often does. Its just not fair to compare them, gradewise that way.

[gear02]

The discrepancy, I think, is that people who are history or language majors are that because they are passionate about that: I know for me personally, history is one of my great loves and it comes as no surprise to me that I can succeed at it with relatively little effort. I imagine if I hated history and wasnt interested I would be getting low grades. A lot of people in technical or sciences classes don't really care, their major is just the means to a big paycheck. They have no passion for chemistry or learning a new programming language. They definitly dont spend much of their free time pursuing it, like a history major often does. Its just not fair to compare them, gradewise that way.

wow...you don't think people who do engineering can't have a passion for engineering?

[Grubbie]

Or the fact that some classes are much harder then others? In all my general elective there has been no curve, since one was not needed. Then in most of my classes they is a curve but not much. Then you get the classes that have a MAJOR curve, like what ski is saying avg of 40%. I had that in my physics 2 class, I had the 3rd highest grade outta 150ppl. Only 4 people scored aboive 70% on the midterm. Now the teacher could of passed only us 4 and maybe 10 others and failed 135ppl or so. Or he can curve the **** out of the class, which he had to do.

[Cantacuzene]

wow...you don't think people who do engineering can't have a passion for engineering?

I'm sure they do, but they don't necesarily had a passion for the advanced calc they are required to take, or the random chem class they have to do. Yes, their design classes I'm sure they love and fully get into, but I doubt they very much enjoy their pre-reqs.

[ski]

They definitly dont spend much of their free time pursuing it, like a history major often does. Its just not fair to compare them, gradewise that way.
Part of this is that there is hardly any free time in the 4-5 years it takes to get an engineering degree, ask anyone here ;) It's just a trade off in my eyes and has always been. I'm passionate about classical literature and music, but instead of majoring in it, I'll suck it up, go balls-to-the-wall for 4-5 years to get the degree, then have the rest of my life to appreciate finer things like the arts while being financially secure (hopefully). Will it work? The only way to know is to wait and see. I don't think there's anything wrong with people choosing a college major for something they are passionate about (Heaven knows I can't be passionate about dairy science, and I wouldn't expect someone in Ag to be passionate about Electrical Engineering), don't get me wrong... I'm also passionate about certain areas in Electrical Engineering, but the hate comes from the school work and projects that don't meet your certain interests.

[Airencracken]

This thread isn't nearly as interesting as the title led me to think. :(

[ski]

... and then after I took my test, I decided to beat up some fourth graders. We got it on video, will post this weekend :thumbup:

[Maarchk]

... and then after I took my test, I decided to beat up some fourth graders. We got it on video, will post this weekend :thumbup:

Haha that would soo rock.... Like that guy in the chain emails who rips on kindergarten drawings, wondering why people put them on the fridge and how he can do so much better. I think we had a thread about it but i am being dominated by laziness right now. :(

[Airencracken]

... and then after I took my test, I decided to beat up some fourth graders. We got it on video, will post this weekend :thumbup:

Whooo hooo! :thumbup: