Student has grade docked for using 'mankind' in English paper

[Dakine10 5,452]

1 hour ago, jg121783 said:

Just what we need. Some social justice warrior teacher teaching our kids to be politically correct. This is what is wrong with our public school system. That and common core.

    Really?  The student purposely used a term that the professor gave as an explicit example of a word not to use and people have a problem with that. The student is lucky she's still in an environment where you only lose a point for doing that. Better to learn that lesson in college than in the real world. Try testing your employer that way the next time they give a list of things you can't do and see how far you get.

[MacUK 983]

There's no hope left for mankind...

[jg121783 3,921]

To be honest I didn't actually read the article but was quickly responding to the title of the post when I was at work. My point still stands about political correctness and common core in public schools. My step son has been enrolled in a public school here in the US for about a month now and I can't believe how the common core math curriculum is designed. He had correct answers marked wrong on his math assignments apparently because he didn't explain how he got the answer and incorrect answers marked as correct because he explained how he got his answer. Talk about messing with children's heads. They are teaching them their answer is correct even if it is wrong as long as they can show how they got the answer. I am seriously considering putting my step son in a private school because of this. The math lessons he got in the Philippines were of better quality.

 

There is no grey area in math. Either you are right or wrong. I am a machinist and I wonder how my boss would react if I scrapped a bunch of parts because my math was wrong and I told him it's okay because I can explain how I did my math. Probably wouldn't go over too well. Sorry for my somewhat off topic rant. 

 

As far as the article goes which I now took some time to read I still think the professor is a social justice warrior type and this is all political correctness. Unfortunately this type of nonsense is taking over most universities these days.

[OriZ 3,165]

4 hours ago, Dakine10 said:

    Really?  The student purposely used a term that the professor gave as an explicit example of a word not to use and people have a problem with that. The student is lucky she's still in an environment where you only lose a point for doing that. Better to learn that lesson in college than in the real world. Try testing your employer that way the next time they give a list of things you can't do and see how far you get.

The question that should be asked is why is that word on the list to start with? Dumb. Just dumb.

[CaliCat 3,957]

4 hours ago, jg121783 said:

To be honest I didn't actually read the article but was quickly responding to the title of the post when I was at work. My point still stands about political correctness and common core in public schools. My step son has been enrolled in a public school here in the US for about a month now and I can't believe how the common core math curriculum is designed. He had correct answers marked wrong on his math assignments apparently because he didn't explain how he got the answer and incorrect answers marked as correct because he explained how he got his answer. Talk about messing with children's heads. They are teaching them their answer is correct even if it is wrong as long as they can show how they got the answer. I am seriously considering putting my step son in a private school because of this. The math lessons he got in the Philippines were of better quality.

 

There is no grey area in math. Either you are right or wrong. I am a machinist and I wonder how my boss would react if I scrapped a bunch of parts because my math was wrong and I told him it's okay because I can explain how I did my math. Probably wouldn't go over too well. Sorry for my somewhat off topic rant. 

 

As far as the article goes which I now took some time to read I still think the professor is a social justice warrior type and this is all political correctness. Unfortunately this type of nonsense is taking over most universities these days.

 

In all fairness, that is not something new. The purpose of math tests is to have the student show his or her ability to work through the problem. The answer is really not all that important. In some schools, you'll get close to full credit for a wrong question, provided you did your work correctly. Sometimes a minus sign gets dropped so something of the kind. In these cases, I agree with teachers that giving the right answer alone will not get you the points, unless you also show the work. At the academic level, every course has a syllabus outlining precisely and exactly what is expected of the students, down to style and fonts. So, it is very possible that the use of certain words is not permitted in certain courses.

 

[CaliCat 3,957]

2 hours ago, OriZ said:

The question that should be asked is why is that word on the list to start with? Dumb. Just dumb.

 

The word is on the list to highlight to students they should not use it. Think of the ineffable or unutterable name. If you don't teach people it should not be used, how will they know?

[OriZ 3,165]

4 minutes ago, CaliCat said:

 

The word is on the list to highlight to students they should not use it. Think of the ineffable or unutterable name. If you don't teach people it should not be used, how will they know?

I guess you didn't understand my question. I see no reason not to use it.

[CaliCat 3,957]

1 minute ago, OriZ said:

I guess you didn't understand my question. I see no reason not to use it.

 

But the reason not to use it is explained in the article. The students were directed to use a certain type of language. There is also no reason to use MLA instead of APA, but those were the requirements. The issue is not if we agree with the instructions or not, but if the student followed them.  

 

 

“After our first essay we were given a list of ‘do’s and don’ts’ based off of errors my professor found in our essays. Most of them make sense, just things like ‘make sure you’re numbering your pages’ and ‘cite in proper MLA format,’ but she said we had to be sure to use ‘gender-neutral language,’” Jeffers told Campus Reform. “Included with this rule were several examples of what was and wasn’t okay to use. In one of these examples she stated that we could not use the word ‘mankind.’ Instead, we should use ‘humankind.’ I thought this was absurd, and I wasn’t sure if she was serious.”

 

 

[smilesammich 10,727]

 

10 minutes ago, CaliCat said:

 

In all fairness, that is not something new. The purpose of math tests is to have the student show his or her ability to work through the problem. The answer is really not all that important. In some schools, you'll get close to full credit for a wrong question, provided you did your work correctly. Sometimes a minus sign gets dropped so something of the kind. In these cases, I agree with teachers that giving the right answer alone will not get you the points, unless you also show the work. At the academic level, every course has a syllabus outlining precisely and exactly what is expected of the students, down to style and fonts. So, it is very possible that the use of certain words is not permitted in certain courses.

 

i can't stand common core either, but it makes sense to me that if a teacher wants you to show your work on a math problem and it isn't carried out in the correct format, that the answer is marked wrong. i have to have this discussion with my son all the time, it's the whole you have to do what is asked by the teacher and not question the assignment. my son was allowed to use a calculator long before the rest of his class and he always wanted to skip straight to giving the answer and never wanted to write out how he got there. endless arguments.

but i wasn't taught under common core and i certainly remember getting points taken off a correct answer if i had an error in the work i had shown to get that answer.

 

[CaliCat 3,957]

1 minute ago, smilesammich said:

 

i can't stand common core either, but it makes sense to me that if a teacher wants you to show your work on a math problem and it isn't carried out in the correct format, that the answer is marked wrong. i have to have this discussion with my son all the time, it's the whole you have to do what is asked by the teacher and not question the assignment. my son was allowed to use a calculator long before the rest of his class and he always wanted to skip straight to giving the answer and never wanted to write out how he got there. endless arguments.

but i wasn't taught under common core and i certainly remember getting points taken off a correct answer if i had an error in the work i had shown to get that answer.

 

 

It makes sense especially with math, physics, chemistry, and other disciplines that rely on calculus. I understand that kids see it simply as giving the right answer and moving on, but the real purpose of these exercises is to get you to think and be able to work the numbers and formulas yourself. 

 

[smilesammich 10,727]

3 minutes ago, CaliCat said:

 

It makes sense especially with math, physics, chemistry, and other disciplines that rely on calculus. I understand that kids see it simply as giving the right answer and moving on, but the real purpose of these exercises is to get you to think and be able to work the numbers and formulas yourself. 

 

also, teaching to follow direction and produce as asked. the teacher explained the whole thing pretty well, imo. if this was my kid i'd tell them next to give the teacher exactly what they wanted, as assigned - and expect a higher grade. otherwise, this is all whining..the very sort of 'snowflake' behavior we used to talk about (back when we spoke of whiny kids being snowflakes and not 'liberals')..

[CaliCat 3,957]

1 minute ago, smilesammich said:

also, teaching to follow direction and produce as asked. the teacher explained the whole thing pretty well, imo. if this was my kid i'd tell them next to give the teacher exactly what they wanted, as assigned - and expect a higher grade. otherwise, this is all whining..the very sort of 'snowflake' behavior we used to talk about (back when we spoke of whiny kids being snowflakes and not 'liberals')..

 

They use of snowflakes to refer to liberals, because they don't know what the word means. It's like "irregardless," and "I could care less."  

[OriZ 3,165]

34 minutes ago, CaliCat said:

 

But the reason not to use it is explained in the article. The students were directed to use a certain type of language. There is also no reason to use MLA instead of APA, but those were the requirements. The issue is not if we agree with the instructions or not, but if the student followed them.  

 

 

“After our first essay we were given a list of ‘do’s and don’ts’ based off of errors my professor found in our essays. Most of them make sense, just things like ‘make sure you’re numbering your pages’ and ‘cite in proper MLA format,’ but she said we had to be sure to use ‘gender-neutral language,’” Jeffers told Campus Reform. “Included with this rule were several examples of what was and wasn’t okay to use. In one of these examples she stated that we could not use the word ‘mankind.’ Instead, we should use ‘humankind.’ I thought this was absurd, and I wasn’t sure if she was serious.”

 

 

Again, I didn't say anything about the grade. Maybe others did but I didn't. I did read the article and I just think the whole thing is dumb to start with.

[CaliCat 3,957]

20 minutes ago, OriZ said:

Again, I didn't say anything about the grade. Maybe others did but I didn't. I did read the article and I just think the whole thing is dumb to start with.

 

Dumb as it may be, it was spelled out in the syllabus, and it was conveyed to the student by the professor. I'd say dumb is not to follow instructions, or to complain when deliberately doing so. 

[IAMX 3,055]