Having thought about this a little more, I need to add something....
This reminds me of one of those "Geography Surveys" we see occasionally, You know, the "85 percent of highschool students couldn't find Africa on a map..." type of thing. When I see those, I just have to shake my head - how can that possibly be.....even though I know from experience that the reports are true...
Most of the bloopers we see here on TIPs are NOT of this sort - they are typically humorous malapropisms - funny, but not really indicative of tremendous educational failures....
My blooper was no malapropism - it was a failure to put a few facts together and see a simple and obvious conclusion i.e., the golden age of Greece started 500 or so years before Christ, Protestantism is a Christian religion, hence the protestant reformation could not have influenced the golden age of Greece. I guess I am just amazed that the students didn't see this, the same way I am amazed that students can't find Africa on a map.
Perhaps you think I am being too hard on the students - that they shouldn't have been expected to figure this out - but these are students at a highly selective private college - I really do expect they should know more.
What is worse, I know exactly how they made the mistake. I lectured that the golden age of Greece was much like the Renaissance - influenced in part by the decline of traditional religions much in the way the renaissance was influenced by the decline in power of the Catholic church brought on by the reformation. Obviously, they got confused - but the fact they were unable to see the obvious falsehood of what they wrote still amazes me....
-- Jim
At 03:26 PM 2/21/2003 -0500, you wrote:
So, Jim, rising to the bait, why did you share this blooper belittling students.
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis Schmier www.therandomthoughts.com Department of History www.halcyon.com/arborhts/louis.html Valdosta State University Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /~\ /\ /\ (229-333-5947) /^\ / \ / /~ \ /~\__/\ / \__/ \/ / /\ /~ \ /\/\-/ /^\___\______\_______/__/_______/^\ -_~ / "If you want to climb mountains, \ /^\ _ _ / don't practice on mole hills" -\____
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