h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*on monitor*
Chris, hallo there! I hear you've been ever so busy with school work and all. And you are just at the stage to be dwelling on the consequences and benefits of all the years you've put in. But our experience of you tells us that you're a very high achiever who has gone to extremely good schools, and this is bound to colour your outlook. Which universities have you set your sights on?

It's an interesting question, particularly for England with its still strong class connotations bound up in school names. Could a home-schooler get into Cambridge?

On a different topic, I must congratulate *your* new Governor, MR. Gray Davis signed four important bills into law, and thus is a very brave, very good man.

MR, in case you didn't know:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0913/p02s01-uspo.html

I did know (only because I caught the news this afternoon). Say what you want about the man, but he really does come off pretty well in my book. And yes, he is *very* brave, isn't he? I must say that being in a state with a progressive government is something I rather like about California. Now, if we could only get a good government in Montana.....

three weeks of work:
http://www.asterlil.com/Gallery/3D/dtemple.htm

{[caer csd] <chick}

[Amy] - I've heard of a headless chicken, but a bracketless chicken...?

Magical picture Lil - do I see what I think I'm seeing behind those pillars?

OOOOH. I like.

Very nice, Lil. I caught myself averting my eyes so as not to look directly into the sun

Positively my last comment (I promise) on the subject of education and its role in the stratification of society is on the subject of exams.

British exams, anyway. I wonder if American ones are like this? Anyway, I got onto this topic cos I was having terrible trouble with an exam: knew the stuff, couldn't do the exam. A colleague pointed out that this particular one was an excellent example of English exam culture, which is all about seperating the elite (those in the know) from the masses of the unwashed. This is his example of a typical question for such an exam. Have a quick think about what you would write:

'Marriage is good.' Discuss.














Now, this friend pointed out that most people would probably hammer out an essay listing the good points of marriage and the bad points, with some kind of conclusion as to weather the good points outweigh the bad points.

Wrong.

What you are supposed to do is start off something like 'Marriage. What is marriage? Marriage is a union of two people.... Good. Let us first define good...' It's designed, in short, to only be passable by someone educated in the particular style called for, and to be completely opaque to anyone who isn't.

With this in mind, I went away and learned the exam. I figured out what the examiners meant when they asked 'find five examples of comparison and contrast in the text' (the translation is 'find at least five examples, at least two of which must be structural and two of which must be lexical, and group them. In fact, we'd much prefer it if you find five groups, with different examples for each. Also, don't forget to analyse them for structure, meaning, use and possible problems. Then we might pass you. If you find seven (groups) then we'll think about giving you a distinction.').

A freind of mine failed the coursework componant of that course, having got distinctions everywhere else, because she had failed to interpret correctly one of the (many) things on the checklist of things to do/not to do. Which, it seems may also be the problem with the new AS level thing, as they ruled last week that it wasn't the examiners' fault, but (oh yes) the teachers': they had failed to understand the task...

It does have to be said that I spend an awful lot of my time, on English (and I say English cos it's a real oxford and cambridge thing this) written exams, teaching the exam. The course lasts nine monthes. The course for the American produced test of (sort of) comparable level takes 2. The problem is: the English exam is quite a good one, and the American one is pants. Still, in terms of effort...

Great picture, too! What a fantasticly real sun effect.

I have two pictures on the front page today . Global domination is within my grasp!

{[Caer csd] You need one of sheep to ensure total World domination, Amy. Anyone who has been to Wales knows that

Excellent images though, Amy and Lil.

*goes back to dispensing shampoo, conditioner and shower foam into plastic travel bottles*}

Beautiful picture, Lil

[WM]

*dreading election day in NJ Senate race*

*on monitor*

Amy can dominate the world if she likes. I just want to paint.

Sol, as regards British and American exams, I have taken both for degree work in both countries, and there's no doubt about it, Amercian exams suck out loud. They only want to find out whether you learned the stuff in the curriculum the way the curriculum dispensed it, and to that end they tend to be true/false or multiple choice.

That marriage example sounds exactly like something off one of my epistemology or ethics exams in England, with the emphasis on knowing the meaning of meanings, the careful extraction of sunbeams from cucumbers... intended less to measure your acquired knowledge by the spoonful and more to see whether you have learned to reason in the approved manner.

[H,zen>] Beauitiful painting, Lil.

*lurking about, enjoying the public vs private vs home school debate*

*wondering if she should let herself be offended by the American exams vs British exams discussion*

*decides that since she has had no experience with British exams, there is no point in finding offense. She has the best education Uncle Sam (no relation) could pay for & it serves her needs for employment and exploration*

*decides that typing ones thoughts in the third person can be extremely tiresome for those reading, should probably just say....

Hello, everyone!! How I have missed these discussions!!

Fantastic picture, Lil! May I print it & enlarge it for my wall (in my room)? I'll credit you as the artist, of course.

Fantastic picture Lil. In fact it is likely to become my computer wallpaper shortly, with your permission of course.

*waves at Luna from the monitor in the library*