NationStates Jolt Archive

Question: What is social contract theory?

Answer: "...It can result in the formation of the commonwealth. Where everyone in the community has relatively the same wealth."

Question: What is social contract theory?

Answer: "...It can result in the formation of the commonwealth. Where everyone in the community has relatively the same wealth."

Surely that deserves an A for being fucking hilarious?

*sighs* I just have to know: was the answer intentional or not?

In any case, just write "O RLY" in the margin and you've won.

Surely that deserves an A for being fucking hilarious?

i'm sorta leaning that way - at least for that question.

part of an answer to a different question also seen while grading tonight:

"We should not. Because it would to be realistic way for which our world would be able to revolve."

it kinda looks like english...

*sighs* I just have to know: was the answer intentional or not?

one would hope. but based on the rest of the test, probably not.

"We should not. Because it would to be realistic way for which our world would be able to revolve."

"Because it wouldn't be a realistic way for our world to be able to revolve"?

Sounds like somebody tried to put the answer that came to mind into formal language, and failed miserably.

"Because it wouldn't be a realistic way for our world to be able to revolve"?

Sounds like somebody tried to put the answer that came to mind into formal language, and failed miserably.

maybe. now why would the world be revolving in a question about the categorical imperative?

now why would the world be revolving in a question about the categorical imperative?

I assume it has something to do with the unfortunate implications of universalizing a maxim, but you're right that "revolve" is a weird way to put it.

one would hope. but based on the rest of the test, probably not.

Poor kid.

maybe. now why would the world be revolving in a question about the categorical imperative?

Because the world is always revovling. Duh.

I assume it has something to do with the unfortunate implications of universalizing a maxim, but you're right that "revolve" is a weird way to put it.

i can't even give them the benefit of the doubt here - that is essentially the entire substantive part of their answer.

i can't even give them the benefit of the doubt here - that is essentially the entire substantive part of their answer.

Sounds like he's faking it with half-remembered fragments, then.

Which might also explain the weird phrasing.

not nearly as bad, but apparently hume believes that "knowledge isn't required to know right and wrong." that's really just a word choice problem, but it looked funny on the page.

Because the world is always revovling. Duh.

not according to S's translation of that answer. apparently if we tried to universalize this particular maxim, the world revolving would be unrealistic.

not according to S's translation of that answer. apparently if we tried to universalize this particular maxim, the world revolving would be unrealistic.

I don't know how else to read it.

"Would to" sounds like someone tried to uncontractionize "wouldn't" without thinking, or perhaps was just being overly careless.

And it doesn't make any sense to say that we shouldn't do it, because only through it would our world be capable of revolving.

you know what scares me most about this? these kids are in a university. my university! it makes me feel less awesome by association. i clearly tried way too hard back in high school.

you know what scares me most about this? these kids are in a university. my university! it makes me feel less awesome by association. i clearly tried way too hard back in high school.

Don't sweat it. Nature takes out the trash, one way or another.

Question: What is social contract theory?

Answer: "...It can result in the formation of the commonwealth. Where everyone in the community has relatively the same wealth."

I'm SO glad I'm not a teacher...it would depress me too much to deal with these types of answers on a regular basis.

I think you should give the person a nice sparkly sticker on their paper for trying. :)

Free Soviets: Please don't feel you tried to hard in High School, just because other people don't try hard at all. I mean, you don't want to measure yourself against the least common denominator, or resemble the people you hold contempt for.

Besides, you will have the satisfaction of knowing you attained university education through academics, while some of these other people got there by having good hair, or being able to lie a lot.

Educated people tend to get more intelligent. People with good hair tend to lose it, and people who lie a lot tend to lie their way out of their league eventually.

Or into public office, one or the other.

When I was in high school, I started to get annoyed because some of the other students liked to copy off my test papers instead of studying. And they weren't even discreet. If I ratted them out, I was a rat, and if I didn't rat them out, I was helping them cheat.

So, I started putting _way_ ridiculous answers down. Like, George Washington was our third president before being assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, there were originally 30 states before the revolutionary war, but Hawaii joined in 1792, bringing the total to 31. Stuff like that.

So the teacher calls me up to the front after class, and asks me what's up with these answers. She figures there's a real problem and that I'm "acting out." So I told her she should really look for the _other_ papers that have the same answers. She thought that was very funny, and did. Two people actually copied those answers from me, and one person tried to copy from them, and got even more ridiculous versions.

Almighty America: My concern is that nature usually takes out the trash through internal processes... like... too many predators, and they starve themselves. Too few predators, and the herbivores eat everything and starve.

My concern is that nature will handle these people through the process of them drowning under their own trash, and I'm afraid I'll get covered with their trash too. ; )

My point being that you don't necessarily want to let nature take it's course, when there's a guy standing two feet away, holding a stick of dynamite, and saying "Ey Bubba! Watch this!" I'd rather be far from that course of nature.

Coyote

We don't have a choice. The momentum of all stupid human actions to this point can't be overcome except through cataclysm.

Could be worse. I just graded an information report on koalas, where the description was "it looks like a koala".

D'oh!

Could be worse. I just graded an information report on koalas, where the description was "it looks like a koala".

That's awesome. Give that kid an A.

politics runs on emotion

fortunately we live in a universe, that beyond the infintisimal and nonessential role in it played by human society, does not run on politics, (nor, hopefully, any other sentient directed absurdity)

=^^=
.../\...

http://sa.zector.co.uk/slave/files/74/747e8dd17a785a4d6f8fc867acadf9e75d9e343d.jpg


Find X.

That's awesome. Give that kid an A.Lol. Well, the answer doesn't appear to be wrong, so the student should at least get partial credit.

This is why affirmative action sucks - all the stupid kids are getting higher education just because they're stupid and not because they've actually shown they can comprehend basic high school material.

This is why affirmative action sucks - all the stupid kids are getting higher education just because they're stupid and not because they've actually shown they can comprehend basic high school material.Holy unsubstantiated comment, Batman!

You have two options:

Give them an A for "AmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing"

or

Take them out back and beat them witha 12 foot pole for being "reawwy speshul"

http://sa.zector.co.uk/slave/files/74/747e8dd17a785a4d6f8fc867acadf9e75d9e343d.jpg


Find X.

Do you mean
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/NuGo1988/blondgeometryanswerjx0.jpg

Looks at the commonwealth answer...

HHAHAHAHAHA!

I don't know what is happening in the schools today, but it certainly isn't learning.

*edit
Now notices the "find X" problem...

ROFLMFAO!! PWN3D! 1111111111111! 1337!!!

My brain hurts now, too much 1337 5p34|< :cool:

Lol. Well, the answer doesn't appear to be wrong, so the student should at least get partial credit.

But it is wrong...

Do you mean
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/NuGo1988/blondgeometryanswerjx0.jpg

It's 5. </jackass>

But it is wrong...Koalas don't look like koalas?

Koalas don't look like koalas?

Sorry, thought your post referred to the OP...

It's 5. </jackass>

We all know that.

Do you mean
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y239/NuGo1988/blondgeometryanswerjx0.jpg

Hey! I'm blond and I represent that!



If you think I'm serious in my anger, and that I'm sufficiently dumb to use the word represent in the place fo resent, I will beat you with a twelve foot pole

Stupidity is potentially a capital crime with immediate punishment from which there is no appeal.

But stupidity can also have consequences that are long delayed, or sometimes even be rewarded.


Please resist the temptation to reward the stupid behavior, no matter how much you might feel compassion for the perpetrator. Well-intended effort, no matter how vigorous, should count for nothing unless at least some of the effort results in movement toward the goal, in this case an academically correct answer.


It is well to let nature handle stupidity in its own way, but it still remains true that stupid people in large groups are dangerous.

Holy unsubstantiated comment, Batman!
YAY! I've been called out on a completely pointless comment! HURRAY!

YAY! I've been called out on a completely pointless comment! HURRAY!If it was pointless, then why did you post it?

I think this is more laziness than stupidity.

I was helping a friend who is a Language Arts teacher grade short stories, the only requirement is that they be a minimum of 3 pages long and employ foreshadowing, so I am reading them for her double checking grammar (which is checked on every paper in her room) and I get to the story written by this kid, really great story, 3/4 of the way down the third page is the sentence

"Then some really interesting stuff happened"

which followed with him wrapping up the story, which lasted right until the second to the last line on the page, where he stopped mid-sentence and wrote on the last line

"the end"

:rolleyes:

I think this is more laziness than stupidity.

I was helping a friend who is a Language Arts teacher grade short stories, the only requirement is that they be a minimum of 3 pages long and employ foreshadowing, so I am reading them for her double checking grammar (which is checked on every paper in her room) and I get to the story written by this kid, really great story, 3/4 of the way down the third page is the sentence

"Then some really interesting stuff happened"

which followed with him wrapping up the story, which lasted right until the second to the last line on the page, where he stopped mid-sentence and wrote on the last line

"the end"

:rolleyes:

I blame writer's block

If it was pointless, then why did you post it?

I had to break the ice for the inevitable event that this thread, like many other popular ones will go very offtopic.

I blame writer's block
'Writer's block' is simply an excuse for not wanting to write.

I had to break the ice for the inevitable event that this thread, like many other popular ones will go very offtopic.Oh...lol. Well, then, we'll come back to this later. ;)

I blame writer's block

I am actually suffering from writers block right now........and that ain't it.

:p

a paper from the same student on a reading comprehension test

"why do you think that Sarah was afraid of her brother?"

"objection calls on the witness to speculate!"

I almost wanted to leave a note for the kid on his paper.......

I am actually suffering from writers block right now........and that ain't it.

:p

a paper from the same student on a reading comprehension test

"why do you think that Sarah was afraid of her brother?"

"objection calls on the witness to speculate!"

I almost wanted to leave a note for the kid on his paper.......

That kid needs to get an A for being teh funneh.

I am actually suffering from writers block right now........and that ain't it.

:p

a paper from the same student on a reading comprehension test

"why do you think that Sarah was afraid of her brother?"

"objection calls on the witness to speculate!"

I almost wanted to leave a note for the kid on his paper.......

You should have written the URL of NSG. That kid sounds like he has an understanding of the giant joke that is education, or at the very least a sense of humour.

See I think it is important to draw the distinction between stupidity, incompetence, apathy, and Intelligence when it comes to marking obviously incorrect papers. The latter two are usually comorbid in occurence and should be rewarded with a witty comment demonstrrating your empathy for their plight, the grade is irrelevant as they probably don't care. The former two should not only be punished with poor grades, but also subliminal emasculation and erosion of their self-esteem via belittling comments and/or punishments.

I think this is more laziness than stupidity.

I was helping a friend who is a Language Arts teacher grade short stories, the only requirement is that they be a minimum of 3 pages long and employ foreshadowing, so I am reading them for her double checking grammar (which is checked on every paper in her room) and I get to the story written by this kid, really great story, 3/4 of the way down the third page is the sentence

"Then some really interesting stuff happened"

which followed with him wrapping up the story, which lasted right until the second to the last line on the page, where he stopped mid-sentence and wrote on the last line

"the end"

:rolleyes:
If only some commercial writers/directors were as courteous these days. Babel would have been five times better if, as soon as Cate Blanchett was shot, they had just flashed up a white card reading "Then some really boring, but meaningful stuff happened" for a few minutes before running the credits.

This thread reminds me of High School physics, where I once blamed an irregularity in one of my experiments on "Physics Gnomes." Good times, good times.

Free Soviets: Please don't feel you tried to hard in High School, just because other people don't try hard at all. I mean, you don't want to measure yourself against the least common denominator, or resemble the people you hold contempt for.

well, i wouldn't say contempt. i just find it hard to read this stuff because it's so bad. as people they all seem fine.

and i barely did any work in high school as it was. apparently i could have skipped out on being able to write coherently and still gotten in to college, so clearly my minimal work was not minimal enough.

I think this is more laziness than stupidity.

I was helping a friend who is a Language Arts teacher grade short stories, the only requirement is that they be a minimum of 3 pages long and employ foreshadowing, so I am reading them for her double checking grammar (which is checked on every paper in her room) and I get to the story written by this kid, really great story, 3/4 of the way down the third page is the sentence

"Then some really interesting stuff happened"

which followed with him wrapping up the story, which lasted right until the second to the last line on the page, where he stopped mid-sentence and wrote on the last line

"the end"

:rolleyes:

Yup, I've seen that sort of thing grading papers for friends and family. (I hang out with a lot of teachers.) Between the kids who end their papers one sentence into the last required page, the kids who use REALLY BIG FONTS and think that somehow their teachers will be too stupid to notice (I kid you not, I once graded a three-page paper three sentences long. Three sentences long! Bet you can guess what grade it got!), and, of course, the kids who include as much extraneous information as possible on page 1, leading to papers which begin thus:

Mary Smith
Grade Nine
Thus-and-Such High School
12345 Something Street
Cityville, MO, 00000
United States of America
Planet Earth
(123) 867-5309
Third row of desks
Ms. Somebody's Class
3rd Hour
Paper
Topic: "Whatever the Topic Was"
November 15th
2006

...you'd really think it'd be easier just to write the damn paper, wouldn't you? :p

Oh, and speaking of student humor, perhaps the funniest response I've ever seen was on a short music history paper in which students had to write a short biography of a composer of their choice. One girl apparently had a wee bit of trouble remembering to go back and edit her paper before she turned it in, and so it featured this (approximated, as it's been a few years since I read the original) gem of a line: "Beethoven wrote lots of things, including SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING and Fur Elise."

One girl apparently had a wee bit of trouble remembering to go back and edit her paper before she turned it in, and so it featured this (approximated, as it's been a few years since I read the original) gem of a line: "Beethoven wrote lots of things, including SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING and Fur Elise."
What's wrong with that, don't you like Beethoven's Third SOMETHING?

Oh, yeah, its supposed to be Für Elise, of course.

What's wrong with that, don't you like Beethoven's Third SOMETHING?


Nah - his Third SOMETHING is nice, but I've always preferred the Sixth SOMETHING SOMETHING. ;)

"capatizum economy"
capatizum economy!?

and they did it three times!

The "find x" thing was the funniest thing I'd read in a while until the "SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING and Fur Elise" line. I almost snorted fried rice out my nose at that one.

In college, I took a class on World War I where the professor had chronicled all the hilarious lines from past students, most of which were intending to be comedic of some kind. So my best friend, who was in the class with me, decided to take that to an extreme, referring to an early battle between the Germans and French in which the French tried to power the Germans back using "élan" or fighting spirit and dressing up in bright blue jackets and red pants and trying to awe the Germans with it. As he put it, the German drove the French back "and would have driven them back faster if they hadn't been laughing too hard to fight." That kind of bluntness isn't usually appreciated in history classes.

Then again, I am also reminded of my semi-insane high school physics teacher, who would put joke answers on multiple-choice exams. One question had five possible answers, four of which were legitimate and the last was "I have no idea and I should have taken underwater basket weaving instead of physics" and another asked about the angle at which a magnet would drop or something...it asked if it would drop at zero degrees, 45, 90, or 180 degrees, or "Gee, if I were a magnet, would I really care?"

Nothing as good as circling "x" on a right triangle and writing "Here it is," though.

my question is what grade are you teaching when you introduce social contract theory....

I think this is more laziness than stupidity.

I was helping a friend who is a Language Arts teacher grade short stories, the only requirement is that they be a minimum of 3 pages long and employ foreshadowing, so I am reading them for her double checking grammar (which is checked on every paper in her room) and I get to the story written by this kid, really great story, 3/4 of the way down the third page is the sentence

"Then some really interesting stuff happened"

which followed with him wrapping up the story, which lasted right until the second to the last line on the page, where he stopped mid-sentence and wrote on the last line

"the end"

:rolleyes:

You'd hate my stories then. I could never figure out how to end them, so I would just drop a gigantic asteroid on the characters or something similar.

my question is what grade are you teaching when you introduce social contract theory....

philosophy 103. college intro level ethics.

maybe. now why would the world be revolving in a question about the categorical imperative?It must be "evolve," and somehow the answer relates to formulations of the categorical imperative in terms of consistency in the will... which are usually badly misinterpreted as Kant's rejecting certain actions because universalizing them would be disastrous?

I love trying to interpret crazy student comments. Too bad the rest of grading sucks so bad.

you know what scares me most about this? these kids are in a university. my university! it makes me feel less awesome by association. i clearly tried way too hard back in high school.

What?! From reading your first post, I would have thought 8th grade history or social studies at best.

This makes me sad. Very sad. I think I might cry.

philosophy 103. college intro level ethics.

wait....wait.

This is COLLEGE? These are COLLEGE students?

Oh god help us.

What?! From reading your first post, I would have thought 8th grade history or social studies at best.

Who teaches social contract theory in eighth grade?

Question: What is social contract theory?

Answer: "...It can result in the formation of the commonwealth. Where everyone in the community has relatively the same wealth."

Stupid little punks like this grow up to be the ignorant audience of the liberal media and try to end the war in Iraq.

These were college kids? Oh my! How did people like this get into college in the first place?

wait....wait.

This is COLLEGE? These are COLLEGE students?

Oh god help us.

yup. some of them have even been here for a while before taking this class - though i really hope that those ones aren't the ones doing quite so badly. otherwise it would say terrible things about the business dept. or wherever they've been hanging out here.

I'm SO glad I'm not a teacher...it would depress me too much to deal with these types of answers on a regular basis.

Don't need to be a teacher. Just proofread one's peer's papers in an upper-division writing course.

**watches sense of accomplishment at having achieved admission to his university slowly deflate**

(edit: and the people who insist on setting off the fire alarm in the Library by walking through the doors clearly marked "EMERGENCY EXIT. ALARM WILL SOUND." don't help much either. Or the people who fight with the outside book return drop with the "This book drop closed during business hours" sign right above it. Or people who idle in the "NO PARKING" area when a traffic cop is sitting right there with ticket book ready. <insert headache/oh-dear-lord emoticon here>)

Who teaches social contract theory in eighth grade?

Who teaches anything in eighth grade?

**is not a fan of K-12 education :D**

Who teaches anything in eighth grade?

i remember learning that the des plaines river is really disgusting in my 8th grade science class. but we were the accelerated class, so maybe that's not a good example.

Who teaches anything in eighth grade?

Well, I recall learning a bit of Talmud, and just how much of an asshole King David was.

But not much of use in non-religious contexts, no.

Well, I recall learning a bit of Talmud, and just how much of an asshole King David was.

:D

i remember learning that the des plaines river is really disgusting in my 8th grade science class. but we were the accelerated class, so maybe that's not a good example.



Well, I recall learning a bit of Talmud, and just how much of an asshole King David was.

But not much of use in non-religious contexts, no.


I remember learning from one of my "teachers" what kind of "garbage" I and my work were. As you can see, such treatment by an authority figure has had absolutely no effect on me whatsoever. (http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/page=display_nation/nation=dissonant%20cognition) :D

I remember learning from one of my "teachers" what kind of "garbage" I and my work were. As you can see, such treatment by an authority figure has had absolutely no effect on me whatsoever. (http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/page=display_nation/nation=dissonant%20cognition) :D

oh, i learned that one back in 6th grade. i got two Ds on my report card because i lost a couple already graded assignments that were supposed to be kept in a portfolio thing until the end of the quarter. i remember being upset by it at the time, but i now consider it one of the most liberating experiences of my life.

Who teaches social contract theory in eighth grade?

We went over it quite vaguely. Not indepth, but at least the basic underlying principle.

But the answer is what threw me more than anything. It just seemed so... horrible, to say the least.

oh, i learned that one back in 6th grade. i got two Ds on my report card because i lost a couple already graded assignments that were supposed to be kept in a portfolio thing until the end of the quarter. i remember being upset by it at the time, but i now consider it one of the most liberating experiences of my life.

I know the feeling. Except in my case it was almost not graduating from high school, but then spending 4 years at junior college getting accepted to one of my state's best universities anyway. No standardized testing, or advanced placement, or any of that other totally "crucial" or "vital" bullshit either. :D (edit: well, except for the ACT, which I think was required by the junior college. But it seemed like half the points were for knowing how to breathe, so...getting C's, D's and F's in classes, while getting high marks "with honors" on the bureaucrat's assessment tests. It would be funny if I hadn't felt like I was wasting years of my life.)

Stupid little punks like this grow up to be the ignorant audience of the liberal media and try to end the war in Iraq.

Or become the ignorant audience of the conservative media and believe everything is honkey-dorey in Iraq.

Really, it goes both ways.

We went over it quite vaguely. Not indepth, but at least the basic underlying principle.

In what context?

http://sa.zector.co.uk/slave/files/74/747e8dd17a785a4d6f8fc867acadf9e75d9e343d.jpg


Find X.

I hope it isnt an answer from a real test? or maybe the guy actually gave the right answer but had a sense of humour as well;)

Reminds me of a few years ago, we got a question like that, all my class (top set) knew it was pythagoros (sp?) but had no idea how to do it, so nearly all of us got it wrong
And then all of second set just drew a scale diagram in the back and measured it...:(

Oh well, im sure i'll get something even worse back from my Business studies test i took the other day... undoubtedly i've mixed something up really badly and my teacher will hit me with a book:D

Question: What is social contract theory?

Answer: "...It can result in the formation of the commonwealth. Where everyone in the community has relatively the same wealth."

That really doesn't surprise me. I took Philosophy 101 (Intro to Philosophy) at my university, and most of the class did not pass, and for good reason. It was like watching 8th graders try to reason effectively, seeing the class discussion. And their writing was atrocious. I almost felt sorry for my professor, but given his rather ineffective approach to teaching and test-writing, I couldn't quite manage it.

That really doesn't surprise me. I took Philosophy 101 (Intro to Philosophy) at my university, and most of the class did not pass, and for good reason. It was like watching 8th graders try to reason effectively, seeing the class discussion. And their writing was atrocious. I almost felt sorry for my professor, but given his rather ineffective approach to teaching and test-writing, I couldn't quite manage it.

Oy, I remember that class. The worst was this particular discussion:

Professor: Alright, say that a group of sailors goes out for many years on a ship. Now, through the years, they replace every piece of the ship with new material, and store the old pieces in the cargo hull of the ship. When they get back home, they rebuild the ship from the old pieces so that it is a complete replica of the original ship. Now, they take the current ship they are sailing and the replica ship out to sea, and they both start to sink. Now, if you were the captain of the crew, and had to choose a ship to go down with, which would it be?

Dumbass Answer 1: I wouldn't sink with the ship, I'd take a life raft.
Dumbass Answer 2: I'd strap the two ships together and sink with them both.
Dumbass Answer 3: I'd sail them back to land before they sink!

After about 15 minutes of pointless discussion, my professor(now frustrated) decided on a different analogy, that went just as well:

Professor: Alright, say we have two coins here. *pulls out two quarters* Now, these two coins are worth the same amount, they have the same exact molecular structure(hypothetically speaking), and are structural exactly alike. Are they the same coin?

Dumbasses Return 1: Well, what's the dates on them?
Dumbasses Return 2: Well, the George Washington face on this one is a tad different than the other one.
Dumbasses Return 3: This one was printed in a different state than the other one.

After this, my professor gave up. And these people were all completely serious with their answers. Dumb people make me sad.

After this, my professor gave up. And these people were all completely serious with their answers. Dumb people make me sad.
I am made more sad by professors who persist in asking unbelievably stupid questions in an attempt to prove unbelievably stupid points and impress the unbelievably stupid people.

And the captain goes down on whichever ship he happens to be standing on when he goes below sea-level (moreover, he deserves to go down for making an entire ship out of parts that were no longer considered seaworthy), while the quarters are not the same because I can destroy one while leaving the other intact.