On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 19:25:03 -0800, Paul Brandon wrote: >My policy was that I would only commend on things that I knew first hand. >So even if students wanted to give me autobiographical information I would not >accept it. That alternative would have been to do more fact checking than >would have been practical. >So, if my only contact with a student had been in the classroom, the letter >would be very short; I let them know this. Some wanted the letter anyway, >others took my advice to find people who knew them better.
If a student who has only taken a courses with me asks for a letter of reference, I tell them that all I can talk about is what they have done in class and that they can get stronger letters from people who have supervised them in research or fieldwork or clinical service and so on. We can only get thin slices of student behavior in classes and I think that it is not prudent to attempt to talk about characteristics of students outside of the contexts we work with them or to rely upon their own statements of what they have done. I have referred to the point made below on TiPS before but it is useful to keep it in mind. Here is a quote from Robert Keppel's book "The Riverman": |Trust Bandit | |Throughout Ted's life. he constantly stole everyone's trust. He |conned the best. One such person was Professor Ronald Smith of |the University of Washington's Psychology Department. Professor |Smith once wrote in Ted's behalf for law school admission: "Mr. |Bundy is undoubtedly one of the top undergraduate student's in our |department. ... He is exceedingly bright. personable. highly motivated. |and conscientious.... He has the capacity for hard work |and because of his intellectual curiosity is a pleasure to interact |with.... I recommend him to you without qualification:' Ted |proved that attending college full-time was not an impediment to |his murderous compulsions. | |Serial killers are very knowledgeable of the areas they operate |in. They literally kill in their own backyards or, as others have written. |they live and move about among their prey. (Page 422) This book is available on books.google.com; see: http://books.google.com/books?id=QtrLm4J6A9gC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22ted+bundy%22+letter+reference+%22university+of+washington%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VUu2UKi1FaS-0AGOg4DIDw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=professor&f=false Now, some teachers may suffer from extreme forms of hubris and arrogance in that they think that they "really, really" know who and what their students are like and what they can do. I have no doubt that Prof. Smith above thought he knew who and what Ted Bundy was but this is just another example of unjustified over-confidence in our judgment. Which, of course, Ted Bundy relied upon in order to get away with his murderous activities. So, while there is a low probability that you will write a letter of reference for a serial killer (but how one would know?) it probably best to base judgments on actual behaviors we have observed rather than our inferences of what a person is like or what they are likely to do in the future. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=21953 or send a blank email to leave-21953-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
