From a Chinese student's final exam: "French people always lose wars, so they must resort to terrorism."
So true.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The smartest people in the world
As everybody knows, academics are the smartest people in the world. Obviously. It is always surprising, then, to discover how dumb they can be.
Let us take the case of Professor M, an eminent scholar who has made significant contributions to several fields, and whose many writings fill the most arcane technical journals as well as any number of popular magazines and newspapers. He has advised political leaders on at least four continents.
Professor M's appointments this week included giving two tests: my general oral exam, and the written exam for the undergraduate class he teaches, which I assist with. How did he do on these tasks?
The night before my oral exam I email Professor M on an unrelated matter. I receive an out-of-office reply informing me that Professor M is out of the country until the following afternoon. I quickly reply by telling him that this is most inconvenient, seeing as how my exam is scheduled for 9:00 in the morning. He pleads ignorance, but to his credit makes it back in time, arriving only a few minutes late.
That left the undergraduate exam, scheduled for 1:oo this afternoon. When this hour arrives, I find myself confronting an exam hall of 80 increasingly agitated 18 year-olds. The minutes tick by. Calls to Professor M's office, house, and mobile go unanswered. The students become increasingly rebellious. Fearing they might turn violent, I decide to run down the hall, print off 80 copies of the exam, and administer it myself. An hour or so later, Professor M finally responds to my messages. Again, ignorance is feigned. You mean I actually have to administer the exams, he asks? I thought I just sent it off to the registrar and they took care of it. This man has taught here for six years.
Maybe it's time to install a clock or two on the Ivory Tower.
Let us take the case of Professor M, an eminent scholar who has made significant contributions to several fields, and whose many writings fill the most arcane technical journals as well as any number of popular magazines and newspapers. He has advised political leaders on at least four continents.
Professor M's appointments this week included giving two tests: my general oral exam, and the written exam for the undergraduate class he teaches, which I assist with. How did he do on these tasks?
The night before my oral exam I email Professor M on an unrelated matter. I receive an out-of-office reply informing me that Professor M is out of the country until the following afternoon. I quickly reply by telling him that this is most inconvenient, seeing as how my exam is scheduled for 9:00 in the morning. He pleads ignorance, but to his credit makes it back in time, arriving only a few minutes late.
That left the undergraduate exam, scheduled for 1:oo this afternoon. When this hour arrives, I find myself confronting an exam hall of 80 increasingly agitated 18 year-olds. The minutes tick by. Calls to Professor M's office, house, and mobile go unanswered. The students become increasingly rebellious. Fearing they might turn violent, I decide to run down the hall, print off 80 copies of the exam, and administer it myself. An hour or so later, Professor M finally responds to my messages. Again, ignorance is feigned. You mean I actually have to administer the exams, he asks? I thought I just sent it off to the registrar and they took care of it. This man has taught here for six years.
Maybe it's time to install a clock or two on the Ivory Tower.
Monday, May 11, 2009
And...........relax
On Thursday I finished the long-anticipated general exams, or at least the written components. There is still the oral exam this week, as well as a few papers to finish up, but I am now basically done with phase one of the PhD. I think they give me a(nother) master's degree now.
However, these last bits of work were put on hold for the weekend when A was here visiting. Plenty of time spent eating, death-marching, film-viewing, basking in surprisingly abundant sunshine. And for the first time in a very long time, not a single thought of work was entertained.
Best movie seen in a long time: Star Trek on the IMAX
Worst movie seen in a long time: the Wolverine one
Best new bar: Orde Rathe Bar
Worst new bar: Hudson Terrace (steel drums, velvet rope, weak drinks, nice view)
Random wandering success: Txikito
Random wandering failure: Tribeca
Most efficient consumerism: Broadway in Soho
Most efficient use of space: 'KRAZY!' at the Japan Society
Video game triumph: A, Pacman
Video game defeat: A, Mario Bros
Funniest thing: Margaret Cho
Least funny thing: Okinawa
However, these last bits of work were put on hold for the weekend when A was here visiting. Plenty of time spent eating, death-marching, film-viewing, basking in surprisingly abundant sunshine. And for the first time in a very long time, not a single thought of work was entertained.
Best movie seen in a long time: Star Trek on the IMAX
Worst movie seen in a long time: the Wolverine one
Best new bar: Orde Rathe Bar
Worst new bar: Hudson Terrace (steel drums, velvet rope, weak drinks, nice view)
Random wandering success: Txikito
Random wandering failure: Tribeca
Most efficient consumerism: Broadway in Soho
Most efficient use of space: 'KRAZY!' at the Japan Society
Video game triumph: A, Pacman
Video game defeat: A, Mario Bros
Funniest thing: Margaret Cho
Least funny thing: Okinawa
The weekend in Asian food
First some of this...
Then some of this...
Topped off with a bit of this.
That's one way to know you've had a good weekend.
Then some of this...
Topped off with a bit of this.
That's one way to know you've had a good weekend.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tick!
One of my favorite things in life is checking items off my Outlook task list. There are few pleasures like writing out what you have to do and then, as you do it, methodically removing items from the list. Today marked a major milestone. Because we are approaching the end of the semester, I can now see all the tasks on a single screen. No need to scroll down! Oh, how sweet is the digital recording of methodical achievement!
Less happily, several of the remaining items are daunting. The week after next I will take the last, most expansive exams of my life (I Hope). 11.5 hours of written and oral political scientific joy covering a) politics between countries and b) politics within countries. That about covers it.
In case you're wondering, yes, this is the most exciting thing I can report at the moment. I promise MORE and BETTER in a fortnight.
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