STAR TREK

[Berkut]

I think there might be some difference between grading in chinese classes and infantry combat.

[grumbler]

Bullshit. That would be funny if an Army Lieutenant got promoted because he began to get less of his men killed compared to another lieutenant that always achieved the mission with no casualties.

If the first mission was assaulting enemy-held hilltops and the other was washing dishes, it wouldn't be funny to promote the first lieutenant ahead of the second one.   

[Darth Wagtaros]

I think there might be some difference between grading in chinese classes and infantry combat.

Probably fewer than you think. 

[BuddhaRhubarb]

I've never had a teacher do that. Any that gave tests that easy were fine with passing out A's like candy.

I would guess that 80% of my students get 100% grades on the geography tests, so I still end up passing out As like candy.

This is heartening to hear that a big percentage of kids do well on Geography. I know a lot of young people who barely know where anyplace is anywhaere.

[Sheilbh]

I was speaking to a teacher in SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) who said that in their classes it's often the people with no experience who do best because they work harder, they often have little experience of the written language and they have less ingrained grammatical errors (if you speak Bengali at home you may not be speaking proper Bengali for example). 

He said a lot of native speakers are just that, they aren't able to write or read well in the language and they don't know the grammar but they can speak and talk very well.

[Sheilbh]

The whole British "First Class," "Second Class," etc system is the one I find hardest to fit into it.

At my uni a 3rd is over 40%, a 2:2 is over 50%, a 2:1 is over 60% and a first is 70%.  One of my tutors said he once gave someone's essay a 90, which is the highest mark he'd ever given, and recommended they send it to a journal.  It was published in the Dickens Quaterly Review.

[Malthus]

For example, I once took Chinese language in university (bizzare idea I know, but I wanted a challenge). My class was filled with people who obviously knew at least some Chinese already (many of them premeds hoping for an easy mark). In terms of performance, they would easily score straight A's while I would work long hard hours to scrape even a passing grade - yet I consistently got better marks (much to their dismay): the teacher marked based on improvement, and since I started from nothing my improvement was vast compared to the others.

Bullshit. That would be funny if an Army Lieutenant got promoted because he began to get less of his men killed compared to another lieutenant that always achieved the mission with no casualties.

What if the first guy was leading a team composed entirely of deaf dumb and blind parapalegic children, and the second was leading a team of experienced US Marines? 

[grumbler]

The whole British "First Class," "Second Class," etc system is the one I find hardest to fit into it.

At my uni a 3rd is over 40%, a 2:2 is over 50%, a 2:1 is over 60% and a first is 70%.  One of my tutors said he once gave someone's essay a 90, which is the highest mark he'd ever given, and recommended they send it to a journal.  It was published in the Dickens Quaterly Review.

Yes, but 55% of what?  And how does that what compare to the what that gets and 80% (and therefor a B-, perhaps) in ECTS-speak?  If a school looks at a student with a 2:2 and one with a B- who are academically competing for a position, which student has performed better?

[Phillip V]

I think there might be some difference between grading in chinese classes and infantry combat.

M'kay. You hire two salesmen. One sells the maximum $100 in goods by the second week, having sold $90 the first week. A second only sells $70 in goods, but started off selling only $40. You promote the second salesman.

[grumbler]

M'kay. You hire two salesmen. One sells the maximum $100 in goods by the second week, having sold $90 the first week. A second only sells $70 in goods, but started off selling only $40. You promote the second salesman.

Why?

[Phillip V]

M'kay. You hire two salesmen. One sells the maximum $100 in goods by the second week, having sold $90 the first week. A second only sells $70 in goods, but started off selling only $40. You promote the second salesman.

Why?

Because, according to Malthus's teacher, the latter salesman showed the most "improvement".

[Malthus]

I think there might be some difference between grading in chinese classes and infantry combat.

M'kay. You hire two salesmen. One sells the maximum $100 in goods by the second week, having sold $90 the first week. A second only sells $70 in goods, but started off selling only $40. You promote the second salesman.

Actually - in a business way, I've seen exactly that happen.

Reason was - salesman #1's assigned territory was much more lucrative to begin with. Salesman #2 was assigned a difficult territory, to groom it. Salesman #2 therefore had the better achievement. 

[grumbler]

M'kay. You hire two salesmen. One sells the maximum $100 in goods by the second week, having sold $90 the first week. A second only sells $70 in goods, but started off selling only $40. You promote the second salesman.

Why?

Because, according to Malthus's teacher, the latter salesman showed the most "improvement".

Nope.  It depends on too many other factors.

Suppose the salesman who sells $90 the first week and $100 the second week is simply selling to his relatives and expending little or no effort.  The salesman who sold $40 the first week and $70 the seond week is making cold calls.

An opening appears for a salesman in a new city.  Which salesman are you gonna send, Kemosabe?

[Josquius]

The whole British "First Class," "Second Class," etc system is the one I find hardest to fit into it.

At my uni a 3rd is over 40%, a 2:2 is over 50%, a 2:1 is over 60% and a first is 70%.  One of my tutors said he once gave someone's essay a 90, which is the highest mark he'd ever given, and recommended they send it to a journal.  It was published in the Dickens Quaterly Review.

Same at Newcastle. The highest I ever got was 86% and that was in a fairly basic maths course (i.e. there was definate right and wrong answers). 100% is probally only attainable if you cure all the world's problems with your work.

[Eddie Teach]

I'm curious to what grumbler's geography quizzes entail. In my geography class we had blank maps where we had to label the countries and their capitals and there were a lot of students who couldn't get 80% and maybe 4 or 5 students would get hundreds.