Grade Inflation Trends in US American Colleges and Universities

I find this fascinating as we just submitted grades for this semester and are bracing ourselves for grade appeals even though the grades were more than fair this semester. 

This guy from this site has been tracking trends since the 1920s in private and public institutions.  Gives an example of what a grade actually means these days. 

I have seen this in many places my last 5 years of teaching - teachers and administrators nervous about angry parents, grade appeals, and getting fired based on the option to grade honestly.  Many senior teachers I have worked with put together rubrics at the beginning of the year/semester and try their best to communicate those expectations to their students.  Only one teacher in 5 years that I have worked with has truly stuck to their rubric and skillfully helped the students take responsibility for their work, whether it was A work or C work.

The inherent subjectivity in grading is undeniable.  But, if a good teacher is able to create rubrics and hold students accountable, then it does add some piece of objectivity to the mess.  And anyway, if they are hiring you to give the grades, then someone trusts that you will know what is good and what is awful, right?  Isn't that why we've all spent so much time in school? 

Hegemony

Italian activist/thinker Antonio Gramsci (1891 - 1937) introduced concept of cultural hegemony.  He was one of the most important Marxist thinkers of the 20th century.  He died at age 46 after being released from a prison sentence in conjunction with the accusation of an attempted assassination of Mussolini.
Gramsci expanded upon Lenin's ideals about hegemony with a thorough analysis of why the Marxist revolution of the proletariat had not yet happened despite the prediction of it

Need to read more about this.  Read Prison Notebooks. 

Relevance to FSS - Edward Said quotes Gramsci extensively in his introduction to Orientalism (1978).  Here, Said discusses Gramsci's theory of cultural hegemony (a process of moral and intellectual leadership through which both dominant and subordinate classes consent to their respective roles as opposed to being forced or coerced into that role) as a way to discuss the structure of the West's need to understand/dominate that which they view as Oriental. 

Seems to me that Said's use of Gramsci is a bit radical.  Especially because he is speaking about Orientalism as a construct of the West, and western thought/literature/imagery, that continues to perpetuate and inform the West's understanding of the Orient.  This relationship does not seem to be one where both parties are informed about their role and consenting.  In fact, Said expounds that this is not the case at all - that the occupants of the Orient in the eyes of the West fully created and controlled by Western observations as a fulfillment of some fantasy that defines the West as significant and powerful. 

Need to read more.

The Slowest Horse

I don't think I've ever heard a better explanation of myself - horse #4.  There is no Question at all.  I bet there are many ways I can use this analogy for teaching... connected with EN's xeroxed world analogy - that experiencing things first person rather than second or third person is the only way we learn, and also the only way we are able to speak honesty and authentically about anything.  Experience is essential.

"The Buddha's compassion is the basis for the parable of the four horses that he preached when he resided at the Kalandaka Grove. The first horse, he explained, runs swiftly the instant he sees the shadow of a whip. The next horse will run fast the moment his skin feels the whip. The third horse runs when the whip cuts into his flesh. The slowest horse will run only after repeated lashings.

The scripture uses the parable of the four horses in order to describe four kinds of people on the path of Buddhism. The first kind awakens and moves forward on the path of the Four Noble Truths the instant they hear about the sufferings caused by old age, illness, and death. The second kind moves when they actually see sufferings with their own eyes. The third kind is not affected by the sufferings of others, but when a family member experiences sufferings, they move forward on the path. And the fourth kind is not distressed at all by seeing old age, illness, and death in others or even among family members, but they are pushed forward on the path when they personally experience these sufferings.

The sympathy of the Buddha identifies with the slowest horse, this last group of people that includes most of us."

- Taitetsu Unno, "Number One Fool," (Spring 2008)

The Danger of a Single Story