I feel guilty, but . . .

[wagegoth]

I really do dislike most of the students in my current course (only one this semester).

I'm taking the class online, so at least I don't have to deal with them in person, but in some ways it's worse. My instructor likes a lot of discussion. Each week he sets up a forum with discussion questions. We're required to make a minimum number of posts, both original posts and comments to other threads. This means that I have to read all the other posts. I now hate almost everyone in my class because they make my head hurt with their lack of spelling and grammar skills. Most of them cannot seem to post anything original; many comments seem to be regurgitated from the book with a maximum of dumbing down. If we were in a classroom I'm sure most of them would be unable to put an original comment together.

This is a course for paralegals. Paralegals work with lawyers. Writing well is one of the top skills necessary for a paralegal. My ten-year-old has better skills than most of these clowns.

The topper: they try to correct me.

I only wish they were in range of my freezing death glare.

[Chanlin]

In all of my online courses my instructors graded on spelling and grammar in course discussions posts. Just look on the bright side. At least karma will probably bite them in the arse on this one.

Then again if your instructor isn't grading on spelling and grammar in discussions posts.... they need to be shot.

[Buglady]

I feel your pain. I had to do the same thing (posting in discussion forums) for Biological Psychology last year. The instructor would post a news article having to do with current topics or research in biopsych and we were supposed to comment. It was AWFUL.

One of the articles talked about some new research in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome that showed how alcohol affects neuron growth in the brain - rat brains in the study, but people brains work the same way. (It's actually really interesting, the neurons are supposed to grow a certain length and then stop and join up with others. Exposure to alcohol makes the neurons grow too far and then they can't reach the others. Depending on when the exposure takes place, different parts of the brain can be affected - and also, this shows why not every baby before now is born with FAS! It's all about the timing of the alcohol consumption and the neuron growth phase - sometimes only a half hour window!). All of the comments were along the lines of "that's awful! Pregnant women shouldn't be allowed to drink! It should be against the law! Those skanks!!" and they completely refused to think about any wider implications (like, what if a woman does not know she is pregnant? Should I have to pee on a stick before I can order a beer? Where does personal responsibility end and social control start? Does the role of chance change how we view FAS? That was what the instructor asked us...).

Yeah... it went downhill from there. (One discussion was on medications for ADHD. I have ADD. I take meds. Was ready to start smacking people after that...)

[Greenday]

For my criminal justice class, we have a discussion board where we have to respond to different articles he posts. So far, every single one has been people just replying to the first person who posts, agreeing with everything they say. No one will post opposing views or anything and there is no intelligent debate.

[Eric the Grey]

Frankly, I don't see anything for you to feel guilty of.

Luckily, the discussions on my current online class, a math class (the other one starts later this month) is also regurgitated from the book, but since we are suppose to post problems out of the book, they tend to be word for word, by design. Responses are mathematical responses, so there is not much dumbing down of the responses.

We'll see how my next one goes...



:cool: Eric the Grey

[lupo pazzesco]

I wouldn't feel bad, wagegoth. I'm taking 3 classes online right now, and every single one is exactly as you described. Granted, they're undergraduate classes, but they're still upper level junior/senior classes. One would think there may be original thoughts floating around in people's heads, but alas, no such luck.

I think, in large part, it's people not wanting to express opinions that differ greatly from the prof's, at least in my case. the prof wrote both books we're using, so he MUST be right. It's also the fact that, just from my experience, people don't want to put effort into their work anymore. It's sad, and rather frustrating, too.

I mean, it hasn't even been a month into the semester, and already I've noted many classmates who either show up late to class (20 minutes into a 50 minute class! Grr!), or who just don't show up at all. And then there are the whiners that bitch and moan about how much work they have to do, and the stupids who show up to class but just don't care.

I realize your original post was about grammer and spelling or whatnot...sorry for the threadjack.

No more attempting to respond logically and intelligently when medicated for Lupo...sowies... :(

[AdminAssistant]

I just gave a very open-ended quiz (Basically, 'in your own words, what is theatre?') One of those - 'there is no wrong answer, there's only your answer' type things. I haven't read them yet...I'm a little scared. It should be a pretty good indicator as to the level of writing in the group. *sigh*

[blas]

I have this....nervous twitch that goes off when I see the incorrect use of you're/your and there/their/they're and all other kinds of things, but at the same time, I know I just set myself up to see stuff like that. People at my work who are way higher up than me and make more in a few months than I make in a year appear to have the reading/writing comprehension of 1st graders. It's pathetic.

I'm sure if the economy gets any worse, this will probably get me fired one day....but every time a read and sign goes around the room and something is spelled wrong, I HAVE to fix it. If you're higher up than me and making more money, you damn well better be more intelligent and have a better grasp on basic English than I have.

[wagegoth]

I realize your original post was about grammer and spelling or whatnot...sorry for the threadjack.

No more attempting to respond logically and intelligently when medicated for Lupo...sowies... :(

Eh, don't worry about it. It's nice to know it's not just because it's the school I'm attending.

I try to avoid being a grammar nazi, but sometimes, when the stupid is especially strong, I am tempted to not only explain all the reasons the poster is wrong, but also red pencil the entire post.

[Giggle Goose]

Don't feel guilty, WG! You're actually at an advantage because they can't see you roll your eyes. :lol: I took a Shakespearean lit class online in my undergrad (:doh: for me) and was turned off by both the horrible writing skills (in an ENGLISH class, mind you) and the teacher's pompousness when correcting posts and papers.

I just dropped a grad school class I was taking at night because I couldn't stand the "kids." I'm going to try again next fall at a school that's more geared towards working adults. I just had to drop it like a hot potato so I could get a full refund of tuition!

Best of luck to you!