CB>   RM> I think that students would be more motivated to take the
CB>   RM> best courses, rather than simply worrying about grades..
CB>  Hmmm, so there is a list of the "best" courses? Just wondering.
There always will be, I imagine, a list of "easy" courses, a list of
"best" or "challenging" courses, etc...
A short time ago I was in the Math Study Room at Cal Poly Pomona,
reviewing for my final exam in Queueing Theory. (The exam was a scant
hour away.) Also in the room were some undergrads, apparently enrolled
in some course in the first year Calculus sequence. At some point they
began to discuss instructors, and who was an "easy" instructor, etc..
They didn't seem concerned that they learn anything, necessarily, just
that they be able to get a good grade in the course.
I mentioned this at the dinner table at Thanksgiving. My brother, who
is in his second year of community college coursework thought that this
is quite natural. After, he says, we aren't really interested in learning
right now. We just want to get our degree and get out of school.
I can appreciate and understand this. Seems to me that system and the
grades and all that are responsible for students having this type of
motivation (grades over learning). But, unless we can require and somehow
enforce that all instructors of a particular course cover the exact
same curriculum to the exact same expectations and standards, there will
always be "easy" and "hard" and "waste of time" and "best" courses.
......
CB>   RM> Sure?  No, can't say I'm sure, but NY has a pretty good
CB>   RM> track record; especially considering the population density
CB>   RM> and poverty levels within the state.  For a state which is
CB>   RM> close to 50% urban population, our kids fare pretty well in
CB>   RM> comparisons with other states...
CB>  Great--but then the scores your students are achieving are not due to
CB>  the test being there, they are due to the education they have
CB>  received, no?
Yes, but the education may have been partially motivated by the test.
As Dan has recently given a good explanation, the STUDENTS must do the
actual learning. They must engage their minds and spend time mulling over
the concepts and ideas. Maybe knowing that a test loomed at the end of
the course motivated some of the students to expend this time and effort
where they might not have if the test hadn't been there.
Sheila
 * SLMR 2.1a *
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