The Curmudgeon Speaks

I just realized that in the last month I have had several unique experiences. After all these years, there is still the opportunity to encounter something for the first time.

First, there was the opportunity to spend the night in the original KOA. Then, there was the opportunity to walk past the first Starbucks (Pike’s Place, Seattle). I know I have walked past this site several times, but not while knowing it had a special distinction. I can’t say that I had a coffee at this store because so many folks were interested in that opportunity that the line was too long.

Now, I wonder what could possibly be next. Perhaps the U.S. may default on the debt it owes. It may end up to be quite a month.

The U just switched to the BPOS (Microsoft) mail system. This is true for the entire higher ed system in the state. It clearly was not designed for Mac users.

When my system was installed, the technician set a generic password so I needed to change my password today. On a Mac, when you use your User Name (firstname.lastname@ad.ndus.edu) and web access to request a change in your password, BPOS automatically enters the username you used to login for username in the password change dialog box. This actually makes some sense since it would have to be your actual  username or you would not have been able to login successfully in the first place. However, it turns out that they really don’t mean your username as required to login (I know this is getting confusing), they mean firstname.lastname. Since the system enters the full name and address and not the reduced name automatically and does not allow this field to be modified, it is impossible to change your password because BPOS expects something else and does not think you are authentic.

I have the best minds in the state working on this as we speak. I probably could go into the lab and use a windows machine, but what fun would that me. There is an important principle at stake here. This is about supporting diversity and creativity.  The first suggestion from the expert I was asked to contact was that I use Internet Explorer (hence the title for this post).

I am not impressed with the new system so far.

I have been reading Academically Adrift – a book that I would describe as critical of what should be expected of the years undergraduates spend in college. The core complaint in the book is that so many students show little growth in what the researcher/authors regard as a major goal of higher education – critical thinking. I have some issues with the assumption that higher level skills are discipline neutral and that the general measure used in the study should show change, but that would be a research-based analysis for another time. The point here is that the authors see the failure of growth in capabilities as a collaborative by-product of students wanting to focus their time on nonacademic issues and instructors lowering standards so that their instructional efforts are regarded more positively by students.

So, in the context of attempting to sort through what I think of the arguments in “Academically Adrift”, I encounter this new information about drastic differences in grading patterns across academic programs. The various accounts I have read are particularly critical of Colleges of Education because it appears that courses in education are far easier (or at least are graded far more leniently) than courses in other departments.

Just for the record, my academic home is a department of psychology, but I do teach graduate courses taken by education students. In the report, Psychology is claimed to be one of the more difficult programs (again based on the average grade awarded in psych courses). I must say that I was surprised by the categorization of Psychology and my initial reaction was focused more on some methodological issues in the research. I know for example that many students become Psych majors when they do not find success in other programs. It occurred to me that this might account for the lower GPA in Psych. A scan of the original study used as the basis for some of the commentary, seems to indicate that the GPA is really not the gpa of majors, but the average grade awarded in courses (seems strange to use the term GPA then because I think it implies something else). A second issue that occurred to me regarding Psych courses is that many students from many majors take large survey courses in Psych and grades in these courses are probably lower than in upper division courses taken by majors only. This would not be the case for Education students (few service courses) and probably relatively so for programs like Chemistry. Again, a possible confounding in the interpretation of the data (I always may students that it is important to consider both the statistics and the methodology when interpreting what a study means).

Whatever the department means mean (I mean research is often a matter of carefully understanding the variables that are involved and sometimes not carefully identified – too many uses of “means” here), the fact that the average grade is pretty much an A in some programs is an issue I think should concern academics. One factor that I am always amazed by in my own classes is just how variable student performance is. A consideration that occurs to me given this reality is that I would be not doing my job if I ignored this wide range in performance and awarded grades over a narrow range. Taking this position does not make you popular, but in my opinion you are doing a disservice to those at the top of the distribution if you award students performing at a substantially lower level the same grade. I think this is similar to at least one of the arguments made in Academically Adrift. I am not even certain what to call this – having high standards sounds too elitist. I am not certain this is really about standards – I would describe it as having the guts to be willing to recognize the levels of performance that are there.

Curmudgeonly or not – I think things were different in the old days.

Saturday at the office. I just completed one of my more important Spring tasks – the installation and duct taping of the air conditioner.

We academics get a bad rap. We are considered elitist and impractical. Not me – I can accomplish manly tasks with the best of them. Today I have already changed a tire and used duct tape. What can be more practical?

Duct taping in your air conditioner is not officially sanctioned by the University of North Dakota. The official position is that your air conditioner should be installed permanently. If you use duct tape, you are to use the tape to cover your air conditioner with plastic in the winter to keep out the draft. These are solutions proposed by the folks who go home at 4, don’t work Saturdays, and have offices in the administrative building with central air. We manly types would prefer to be able to see out our window for a few months of the year and we must figure out a way to install a $129 air conditioner we must keep for 5 plus years. Multiple installations and removals are evidently not typical for such equipment and the expandable wings that allow an inexpensive air conditioner to fit any window seem to have a life span of a year or two. Hence, the duct tape. I think if you stand back ten yards or more it looks OK.

It must be a slow time for administrators. They have been sending out notices to faculty, twice so far today, concerning instructor obligations should they assign content that requires an eBook reader. The notice itself offered no specifics (I bite my tongue), but I did locate the federal document (pdf) which appears to have been initially released a year ago. Evidently, we have discovered a concern or maybe no one used an ebook last year.

What is wrong with ebooks/ebook readers? It occurs to me, based on my experience with the Kindle, that ebooks can be more flexible than a traditional book. For example, the Kindle will read the text to me. Perhaps this is not the case with all readers. The document identifies other issues that may require accommodations. Some students have difficulty learning from written material even if they have adequate vision and may require additional assistance.

Part of my confusion regarding the sudden interest of local administrators in ebooks is that I did not receive a similar message indicating that I should be aware of the limitations of conventional text books – the books that cannot read themselves to you and may also be difficult for some students to understand. Maybe when things really slow down we will receive information regarding the limitations of books.

I rerun this previous post as a service to all of the students who follow my blog.

The end of the semester is drawing near. The college book store has contacted me to determine if I am going to assign the same textbooks next year. Now is the time to explain the “beer money ploy”.

I am not certain just who should benefit from understanding the beer money ploy. Knowledge of this ploy might be applied in offensive or defensive mode. My lot is not to take sides, but to educate. The beer money ploy offers an opportunity for students to generate a little extra spending money as the semester ends. This is useful at a time when money tends to be tight, but the ploy must be executed strategically. Apply this strategy too early and your GPA may suffer. Apply the strategy too late and all your buddies will have left for home and you will have no one to party with. The beer money ploy is based on the differential between the initial cost of textbooks and the price the book store will pay you to sell your books back. Say you have a book that costs $100. Think of this as an investment – in your education and in your beer fund. If you rely on help in purchasing your books, it is important that the full detail of this ploy remain somewhat hidden. It helps if you complain a lot about the high cost of textbooks. At the strategic time, after you have studied for your finals and before your friends have left, you head to the bookstore and sell your book back for $50. Like magic – $50 beer money.

Follow this site – from time to time I will offer other helpful financial tips. Next – borrowing money from your roommate.

The curmudgeon has been quiet lately – nothing to complain about. Then, the fire marshal visited my office. He claims I am a hazard and need to mend my ways. It is my aquarium. Evidently, plugging a 50 watt thermostatically controlled heater and a power head (to pull water through the under gravel filter) into a power strip attached to an extension cord is a violation that endangers my colleagues and the building in which I work. Thirty plus years I have worked here keeping company with various fish along the way and all at once WE are a fire hazard.

Here is the dilemma – unplug or fight the power. I am arguing that logic should play a role – this is not situational ethics. My computer, monitor, two backup external hard drives, powered speakers, printer, etc. are plugged into a couple of power strips. I think the max is 5 cords leading to one power strip. Evidently, work related power consumption is not a hazard, but simple pleasures like keeping fish must be denied. This is all I have left from my undergraduate biology major. The fish keep me company on weekends and evenings when no one else will. Curmudgeons need love too.

I can’t help it if Psychologists get the leftovers when it comes to campus buildings and the power grid from 40 years ago is assumed good enough. I think I will run two extension cords – one to each device my fish need and in good conscience sign the form indicating I have fixed the problem by removing the power strip. The curmudgeon always finds a way as long as he can carefully chose his words.

This post from a CNN correspondent nicely summarizes the debate over the role of government and what the budget needs to cover:

To take just one example, as recently as 1962 the federal government spent only $29 billion on programs for poor and low-income Americans; in 2010 the federal government spent $789 billion on these and similar programs, a 27-fold increase. This example could be multiplied, especially with reference to retirement programs, health programs, education programs and federal regulations.

Liberals regard this outpouring of spending and expansion of government authority as a triumph; conservatives and libertarians regard both as excessive. Worse, they think the programs give too many people what they should work for themselves, thereby reducing individual initiative and down-sizing the American vision.

Like so many half-full, half empty issues in life what is the example you use to understand this issue – an individual who lives in poverty and does not have reasonable opportunities to escape or the individual who has learned to play the system. While I understand the cost, I don’t see how cutting the budget provides solutions to poverty, health care, or education. I guess I must be a liberal, but I don’t see the value in describing spending money to meet genuine needs as a triumph. I would describe it as a responsibility. How are the important equity needs of the country going to be met? The deficit is a problem because of the refusal to generate a reasonable tax structure. It is not a problem without a solution.

Maybe some folks just don’t care – I have mine and that is all that matters. Is that really all there is to the explanation?

This falls under the heading of one of the things I think everyone else thinks, but are afraid to say. Perhaps they worry it may make them appear elitist. I admit I have thought this – Why Iowa?

The question is why Iowa and New Hampshire become the early focus of Presidential politics. Since someone from CNN has raised the question, I now feel I am allowed to weigh in. Just for the record, I was born and educated in Iowa. I like Iowa. I know people who live in Iowa. I was just in Iowa. etc.  What about Iowa and New Hampshire (I have visited, but can claim no connection with New Hampshire) should put these people in such a unique position. These people are probably not typical and I would think no better informed than others. The process of the primaries and caucuses (whatever they are) rolling out over time makes some sense to me. This sequential process allows issues to be raised, responses to be offered, and public sentiment to be sampled. However, don’t we want issues of national import to be the focus and how can this happen when the process begins with Iowa and New Hampshire? (Note to relatives – I understand you are well informed and educated.  I am talking about those other people who may not understand problems like the endemic poverty in large urban areas or unions and labor/management issues! I too am concerned about the price of corn, but frankly I think wheat is healthier and the use of corn syrup in so many food products is the source of many of our health problems.)

We need a better political process and a system of government not so biased by wealth. Perhaps we could start with some of the smaller and simpler issues like the primaries. How about a few more states claiming the same early date for their primaries? How about a rotation of some sort?

Why Iowa?