December 10, 2004

Yeah, I'm marking. So?!?

Buyer beware! A lot of us get cranky when university classes are treated like consumer products. Here is the recent post from D.G. Jerz that leads to the contentious article by Ailee Slater. Clancy steps back and flags some of the porcine responses to the Slater's complaint — or rather, to Slater herself.

Matthew G. Kirschenbaum writes about what he calls "the Cecil B. DeMille Syndrome": you know, those essays that begin, "In today's society ... " Which reminds me of the other Miriam's post of last month, "Write No Evil": among her suggestions: don't write, "This novel has many ideas." And no emoticons! ;-P

Gerald Lucas posts about the opportunities online learning may present to avoid the strictures of educational conditioning.

The cyclical furor over "liberal bias/groupthink in academia" seems peculiarly American, though we north of the 49th parallel had best not get too complacent. See the recent posts by John Holbo at Crooked Timber.

And finally, two for the road: Online University Grants Cat a Master's, Gets Sued (via Kairosnews), and the University of Bums on Seats (thanks, Sharon!).