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Re: grades, pass/fail etc.

At 09:33 AM 10/1/02, John Mallinckrodt, you wrote:

Those following this thread might be amused/inspired/revolted or
otherwise moved by an excerpt from Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art
of Motorcycle Maintenance" that I offer to students on my web site.

http://www.csupomona

I quote from Pirsig:
"In a true experiment you keep constant every cause you can think of except
one, and then see what the effects are of varying that one cause. In the
classroom you can never do this. Student knowledge, student attitude,
teacher attitude, all change from all kinds of causes which are
uncontrollable and mostly unknowable. "

Holding all factors constant save one, is a way to design an experiment,
but only one of several.



Brian Whatcott
Altus OK Eureka!

This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.