Posted on 03/23/2018 1:18:27 PM PDT by reaganaut1
‘Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away,” observed― Philip K. Dick in “I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon.”
Somewhere deep in a file drawer, or on a computer server humming away in a basement, are thousands upon thousands of numbers, with names and identities attached. They’re called grades. They represent an objective reality, which exists independent of what people want reality to be. They sit silently, completely indifferent to indignation, angry petitions, irritable gestures, teachers’ removal from classrooms—all the furor and clamor of institutional politics.
Those numbers are now solely within the control of the individual students who earn them and the educational institutions that generate them—powerful entities ruled by bureaucracies that serve as gatekeepers to privileged positions in our society. They are jealously guarded, protected by cloaks of confidentiality and secrecy. But they are what they are. Hiding facts is not the same as changing them.
Of course the numbers can be ignored. When it comes to grades—which measure students’ knowledge, proficiency and achievement—we can declare they don’t matter and that complete nondisclosure is therefore a wise course.
The problem is that students, including law students, go out into the real world. They are hired, paid and expected to perform, and their actions have real consequences for others. Whether we like it or not, grades help predict future performance. Some social actors acknowledge this, implicitly or overtly. As a law professor, I observe, for example, that federal judges unapologetically select clerks based on academic record and rank, and that elite law firms are also highly grade-conscious.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Good article. If there’s one thing that scares the heck out of postmodern leftists, ranging from academics to the current pope, it’s facts.
‘Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away”
I don’t think that advice always work for a schizophrenic.
They insist on controlling the information flow.
They insist on calling their construct reality, and ignoring any facts that contradict it.
“The background is that Amy Wax, a professor at the U Penn law school, said that black students are rarely in the top half of the class.”
Not to worry, that will be mandated soon, just like they did with the problem of there not being enough blacks getting Oscars.
They fail at controlling reality, so they try to control the symbols we use to represent reality.
How about Ben Carson and his brother--does the home environment not make a difference?
How "black" does one have to be that makes utter failure in intellectual ventures inevitable? Eh?
“Black” now depends as much on political correctness as on melanin content.
Clarence Thomas is not “authentically black” because he does not tow the Progessive line.
Elizabeth Warren was authentically Native American because she was politically correct.
Ping to an article by the Penn law professer discussed earlier today. Cheers!
Or, tragically, in Florida, too many criminal black students being punished for their criminality in school. So -- (for 0b0z0 grant $$$$) criminality was accepted and hidden.
Seventeen deaths and "dozens" of injuries -- just to get "better" libtard "Optics"... :-(
Ring that bell!
As an aside, the phrase is "toe the line":
http://grammarist.com/usage/toe-the-line/
More detailed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toe_the_line
I'm only saying this, not to embarrass or offend you, but because I've seen this phrase misspelled so many times now on FR that I can't resist the temptation to correct it. If this were in a story you were writing for publication, the editor would correct it instantly.
If you think the spoken phrase suggests pulling a burden, a boat, along behind with a rope, that is not what was intended as an idiomatic expression.
But as far as Amy the Professette's contention is concerned, she may have been right statistically (properly qualified as to "blackness"), but injudiciously blunt in the current academic atmosphere.
Of course you are correct.
Thank you for the correction.
A lot of university classes are completely subjective.
Students who sign onto the professors’ positions get good grades.
If you click on my name I lead with my favorite PKD quote—the guy had a lot of important things to say.
‘As an aside, the phrase is “toe the line”:’
well, you know, I could care less...
It’s a FRee country, so they say. “Free” means the cost vs benefits consequences for exercising it, eh?
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