2). Use an example from everyday life: Describe a vague sentence or ambiguous sentence you have heard recently. Where did you hear this sentence? An advertisement? Was it a conversation with a friend? What qualified the sentence as vague or ambiguous?
While walking on campus the other day I overheard a conversation between two students. They were discussing their class schedules and how they went about selecting each class based on the specific instructor. As they spoke one student went on to say to the other, “I decided not to add that course, because I heard the homework was brutal”. I walked away wondering how the initial student and the one holding the conversation had come to that conclusion.
This statement is vague and subject to questioning. Who initially told the student that the homework was ‘brutal’? What is each student’s definition of brutal homework? What was each student’s schedule at the time of taking the course? What type of homework was required for this course? How does each student study or make time for homework? Did other students who were enrolled in the same course consider the homework to be ‘brutal’ as well? Were the students looking for an easier course or instructor?
Each student should provide detailed explanation on why they thought the homework was brutal.
Since I started college, I've heard statements like these all the time. I lived on campus last year and once it came time to sign up for classes, all my dorm friends would get together and try to get the easiest schedule with the easiest teachers out there. A lot of them were trying to give "advice" to others about how bad a certain teacher was, or that homework/essays/midterms/finals were "brutal" in another class.
ReplyDeleteNone of them ever would give info about if they ever paid attention in class, why they specifically thought certain assignments/tests were hard, how many hours outside of class did they study, were they asking questions or using the teachers office hours for extra help, or anything like that. It's easy to see why a person would think a certain professor/class is hard when they spend so much of their free time either asleep, playing video games, or partying.
I have also heard countless comments like that from other students. I agree with both you and Anthony. A class may be brutal to one student but it may be the simplest class to another. It is hard to say how the homework assignments are brutal. Is it because it is time consuming or because he or she felt like it was an overload? Perhaps it was the difficulty level and the material is too hard. All of these play a factor as to why it is brutal. If any of our questions were answered and stated in the comment then it would not be considered a vague statement.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to these two students because when i first started at San Jose State I was in the similar boat. I wanted to find the easiest professor and the way to find this out was to look at www.ratemyprofessor.com. The reviews heres were sometimes helpful but also contained many vague sentences which left me in confusion. For example, some reviews simply stated that the professor is tough and gives hard homework. I agree with you when you state that they should provide more information about, " Why is the homework hard?" By doing this, their statements would become more clear and less vague.
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