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On December 16 2009 11:48 Mekhami wrote:Show nested quote +On December 16 2009 11:46 AwarE-- wrote:
You're what's wrong with the college system today.
Grade inflation, etc.
If you truly are an artist and you're more concerned with the creative side of things then you shouldn't be so fucking worried about your grades, and it seems that you're not, as you're slacking off THIS BADLY.
I still can't fathom that you're close to failing a course that has online work. Those are complete bullshit courses. Also, it's a lit class. You can sleep through a lit class and get A's. I know, I do it regularly.
Suck it up and grow up. LOL? It has nothing to do with people like me, it's a broken system designed to teach tests and advance university standing at the cost of education. Please, you talk out your ass. This was not a complete bullshit course, it was a very difficult course made more difficult by inept TA's and a rather inept professor. I knew more about Dante than she did, and she's got a fucking doctorate. Everyone in this thread jumps to these amazing assumptions about how I'm such a slacker, I'm 'that guy'. I'm especially amused by the guy that said 'go buy a style guide' LAWL. I'd love to read your 'style guide' influenced writings... And re: the one typo, I noticed it and fixed it before I sent it.
Rofl, it wont fucking matter what kind of writing he has because YOU will fail out of college and he will continue. The "broken" system is gonna kick you in the ass with failing a class not ONCE, but TWICE!
We are not jumping to conclusions; you failed it twice and haven't learned. It could only mean two things, you are a complete retard who can't seem to realize the standards of the course, or you are a lazy fuck who doesn't bother to turn in papers online. And frankly, it looks like both. To make yourself seem like the triangle that doesn't fit into the square is so cliche that if your professor really went through school to get a doctorate, she would vomit at the thought of having to read crap like your email. Have you even calculated your grade to see how far off you are from a D? Or how many papers you missed causing you to have an F? Instead of trying to sway her with your majestic prose, why not as for an extention on one of your late essays. But i guess it's the end of the quarter now and too late. Either way, if you manage to pull a D from this consider yourself very very lucky that she's a nice woman.
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On December 16 2009 12:00 b0lt wrote:Show nested quote +On December 16 2009 11:57 Mekhami wrote:
... Actually she, being half-retarded, said, 'While that's certainly an idea, I think the Newton thing was a myth!' well NO SHIT SHERLOCK. She had no idea that Newton published post-death of Milton. She's unbelievably stupid. And the apple story is actually quite clever if it worked... the theory of gravity and newton's influence in that day paralleled with the fruit of the tree of knowledge? THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE? It's completely applicable, if inaccurate. If the dates were different, I think I could make a strong case for it.
You're defending an argument that is literally objectively wrong, and you're calling your professor retarded for calling you out on it?
I'm saying she DIDN'T call me out on it, she disagreed with it based on a non-related idea which is stupidly obvious. My argument is wrong but not for any reason she could come up with. In fact I think she even said 'That idea is once that's been discussed at some length..' which is obviously not true based on the dates.
She's an imbecile, but the power is the power...
You're all reading this very very wrong lol, you're reading this as a desperation attempt to get a grade I didn't earn, but I wrote it as a persuasive essay to get a grade I think I did earn. I'm not asking for a B, haha, just a little D...
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On December 16 2009 12:00 Straylight wrote:
Hahaha this guy has to be a troll.
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If I can't read it in one sitting when I am bored, I doubt your professor would too. I'd condense it and get straight to the point.
Also, if you sent the file to your TA, it should be in your sent-box.
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8751 Posts
Papers aren't as flexible as you think. Effectiveness at communicating your ideas, grammar, conciseness and coherence can all be evaluated objectively. While style can vary, some styles, probably including yours, are more difficult to competently use. Competence here refers to academic standards.
The way you describe your papers leads me to believe that your writing is too idiosyncratic. While the line of thought presented by your paper may flow beautifully in your mind, that flow is likely dependent on connections that you have made but not expressed in your paper. For every paper you dismiss TA feedback, you miss a chance to develop a skill that you'll likely never learn on your own.
Things like attendance, meeting deadlines, doing every assignment and keeping a backup copy are responsibilities that make up a minimum standard for conduct. The world would suck if people could not rely on other people to do these kinds of things. The only way the world can get rid of the annoyance and inefficiency caused by people failing this standard is to take a hard line with them. Yeah, people can compensate for failures here and there, and that often happens in informal situations, but for real business civilized people have standards. Make the world a better place by meeting them from now on, all the time.
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This totally isn't going to work. I actually wrote a note like this for a high school english teacher, pleading him to show mercy on my pitiful paper. It really wasn't that bad a paper, but I was lazy and didn't have enough sources and citations.
I think that by begging for mercy I actually got a worse grade on that paper. By begging for mercy/forgiveness, you are just showing your teacher, I failed, here and here...and here. Don't do this. EVER. Of course, this was the 3rd semester or my senior year of high school, so the grade didn't really mean that much anyways. However, my point still stands: Hide your weaknesses, capitalize your strengths, and never beg for mercy.
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On December 16 2009 12:02 Creationism wrote:Show nested quote +On December 16 2009 11:48 Mekhami wrote:On December 16 2009 11:46 AwarE-- wrote:
You're what's wrong with the college system today.
Grade inflation, etc.
If you truly are an artist and you're more concerned with the creative side of things then you shouldn't be so fucking worried about your grades, and it seems that you're not, as you're slacking off THIS BADLY.
I still can't fathom that you're close to failing a course that has online work. Those are complete bullshit courses. Also, it's a lit class. You can sleep through a lit class and get A's. I know, I do it regularly.
Suck it up and grow up. LOL? It has nothing to do with people like me, it's a broken system designed to teach tests and advance university standing at the cost of education. Please, you talk out your ass. This was not a complete bullshit course, it was a very difficult course made more difficult by inept TA's and a rather inept professor. I knew more about Dante than she did, and she's got a fucking doctorate. Everyone in this thread jumps to these amazing assumptions about how I'm such a slacker, I'm 'that guy'. I'm especially amused by the guy that said 'go buy a style guide' LAWL. I'd love to read your 'style guide' influenced writings... And re: the one typo, I noticed it and fixed it before I sent it. Rofl, it wont fucking matter what kind of writing he has because YOU will fail out of college and he will continue. The "broken" system is gonna kick you in the ass with failing a class not ONCE, but TWICE! We are not jumping to conclusions; you failed it twice and haven't learned. It could only mean two things, you are a complete retard who can't seem to realize the standards of the course, or you are a lazy fuck who doesn't bother to turn in papers online. And frankly, it looks like both. To make yourself seem like the triangle that doesn't fit into the square is so cliche that if your professor really went through school to get a doctorate, she would vomit at the thought of having to read crap like your email. Have you even calculated your grade to see how far off you are from a D? Or how many papers you missed causing you to have an F? Instead of trying to sway her with your majestic prose, why not as for an extention on one of your late essays. But i guess it's the end of the quarter now and too late. Either way, if you manage to pull a D from this consider yourself very very lucky that she's a nice woman.
Despite the fact that your assumptions are very off base, which I lol at because nerds like you think you know EVERYTHING, lol, I am not far off from a D at all, I'm very close, and depending on my grade on the final today which I think I did alright on, I could very well be in D territory, but if it's really close I'm just hoping for discretion.
lol@you will fail out of college... no, I highly highly doubt it. I am one of the best cellists at my school which is a very well-known music school, and I'm a great asset to the university. That's all they need to know. If it comes to it, I can talk to the next level and stay in school. Don't assume things, it makes you look like an ass.
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On December 16 2009 11:59 Mekhami wrote:Show nested quote +On December 16 2009 11:54 DoctorHelvetica wrote:
Fighting the power isn't the way to go. if you want to pass the class you have to conform to whatever writing style your professor expects of you.
You really just sound like an arrogant lazy douche and whether or not that is the case isn't relevant. If everyone here perceives it that way, chances are your professor will too. Remember that time you made a thread in a strategy forum and came off as an egotistical jackass and then got super mad when people called you out on it?
This is a pretty similar situation right now. Lol you're a huge douche and anything you say is immediately filtered by me. Thanks anyway. And really, your opinions of me aren't ... valid? ... I'm not really concerned with how a bunch of nerds feel about me... you can tell me the email was too thick and I'll believe it, or that it won't work and I'll think you're probably right, but your opinion of me is rather useless because you're looking through your own eyes which are most likely filled with stupid.
calm down
u gotta skate
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I recently got an A in a class that I didn't do any work for the entire semester. However, I did this by busting my ass and actually DOING all the work, doing MORE than the work required and organizing it in such a way that it easy as possible for the professor to navigate. I wrote a letter explaining what I did, signed it, and put it on the front of the neatly organized binder full of assignments. I'm pretty sure he liked that because I was dead honest, and students usually aren't--what you're trying to do. I know I've heard other professors talking and one of them was telling a story about how a student raised their hand in the middle of class and said, "I have no idea what you're talking about. Could you
What I did bring up was how he said his goal for the class was for the students to understand the subject matter. I made the binder to show him that I did in fact understand the subject matter and was waiting outside his office early in the morning to hand it to him personally a week before everybody else would typically turn all their late assignments in.
What I DIDN'T bring up was almost just important:
-I didn't do any work the entire semester
-Personal situations. Even ones he knew I had from earlier in the semester
-Other excuses
I gave the professor a favorable frame to view my work from and didn't bring give excuses.
That's what worked for me. That in consideration, I don't suggest sending them an longass e-mail saying "I think my papers are written beautifully." Especially not a long one around finals time. Furthermore, the way you're going about this means that HE has to do work. You've provided one example of how you deserve whatever grade you get. Put some work into it to show him you care. Don't send him an e-mail that says "let me know if you want to talk to me," YOU need to set up the meeting with him. It's not his job to make sure you get a good grade, he doesn't care.
What you should do:
For every assignment you possibly can, make make an outline explaining
-goal of the assignment
-why your assignment meets these criteria
-what you got out of class that you wouldn't have before it
if the assignment sucked and you know it, redo it. make it good.
Make your assignments neat, easy to read, easy to grade. If you can, do it as soon as possible. Be honest, earnest and don't kiss ass. Be willing, accepting, and leave the judging to whoever gets paid to do it. Walk in and demonstrate you deserve what you want.
Set up a meeting. Explain your situation by saying "The TA's didn't agree with my writing style. I looked over everything and I think I achieved the goal of the class. I was hoping you could take a look at this." Then hand him the pristine binder with every single little detail in order explaining WHY you deserve what you want.
Most students don't make the right gestures. You can be one of the students that does. They don't show professors they care. Show him that you do with your presence and your effort. You know how many office hours professors spend alone? Even just dropping by to ask "hows it going" will make them really happy.
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oh since its a she change all those "he's" in your brain.
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Osaka27176 Posts
On December 16 2009 11:45 Scooge wrote:
Go buy a style guide. You have no idea how to write. This is the sort of e-mail college professors forward to the whole department to laugh about.
haha, harsh but true.
Being a music major does not exempt you from learning standard academic practices. Considering you already failed the class for attendance + Show Spoiler + I can imagine the professor would think you would have made a better effort than "I didn't turn in my work on time, and I deleted the assignments I did complete immediately after submitting them".
Blaming TA's for your own failings is pretty weak, and unlikely to win you any help. Sometimes I am glad my kids don't speak English.
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On December 16 2009 12:05 Liquid`NonY wrote:
Papers aren't as flexible as you think. Effectiveness at communicating your ideas, grammar, conciseness and coherence can all be evaluated objectively. While style can vary, some styles, probably including yours, are more difficult to competently use. Competence here refers to academic standards.
The way you describe your papers leads me to believe that your writing is too idiosyncratic. While the line of thought presented by your paper may flow beautifully in your mind, that flow is likely dependent on connections that you have made but not expressed in your paper. For every paper you dismiss TA feedback, you miss a chance to develop a skill that you'll likely never learn on your own.
Things like attendance, meeting deadlines, doing every assignment and keeping a backup copy are responsibilities that make up a minimum standard for conduct. The world would suck if people could not rely on other people to do these kinds of things. The only way the world can get rid of the annoyance and inefficiency caused by people failing this standard is to take a hard line with them. Yeah, people can compensate for failures here and there, and that often happens in informal situations, but for real business civilized people have standards. Make the world a better place by meeting them from now on, all the time.
I mean I'm in a far-off profession from English... thank you for this feedback, truly, but I don't need these academic standards, they don't help me at all. They provide nothing to my education, truly. I made mistakes re: deadlines, assignments, backups... this is because I don't have a background where this has every been an issue, I'm a musician, all of my courses in my university have been music-centric and my mindset fits perfectly there; in fact my music-only GPA is 3.6. I'm very good at what I do, it just doesn't translate into this other required course.
I'm not saying I earned an A+ here, though. I plan on using this experience to improve, and I implemented strategies half-way through the semester (upon realizing the severity of the situation and my own failures) that helped me improve my grade through the last half of the course. I have learned a lot from the situation, but don't you think that the educator's discretion is important? Do you think my failure in this course is worth me losing the rest of my education and my career? the other 2 classes I failed in that first semester I passed this semester; my GPA will, in all likelihood, be completely fine, I just wanted to cover my bases here. But I think discretion is important for an educator and if she chooses to exercise it, I'll be much better off. Discretion will pass me the course, or, if I'm lucky and did exceptionally on the final today, maybe I actually earned my passing grade.
This is a tough situation for me, because I learned a bit late how to get done what had to get done. I just wholeheartedly believe that those small failures are heavily outweighed by my great successes in the rest of my academic and musical life.
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Keep it short and honest. I would fail you after reading that, you come off as lazy, unwilling to follow guidelines and arrogant (thinking the professor will buy all the bullshit about his wonderful course). The way you describe your writing style also sounds like it deserves what the tutor's are giving it.
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I'm reading through this thread and I feel I have to emphasize something: Whatever you do, you're gonna have to do the work. Even if its late, even if its bullshit, don't shirk it. Conform to their writing style or whatever
you gotta do it. you gotta skate
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Osaka27176 Posts
Despite the fact that your assumptions are very off base, which I lol at because nerds like you think you know EVERYTHING, lol, I am not far off from a D at all, I'm very close, and depending on my grade on the final today which I think I did alright on, I could very well be in D territory, but if it's really close I'm just hoping for discretion.
lol@you will fail out of college... no, I highly highly doubt it. I am one of the best cellists at my school which is a very well-known music school, and I'm a great asset to the university. That's all they need to know. If it comes to it, I can talk to the next level and stay in school. Don't assume things, it makes you look like an ass.
This one was a bit too much. A music nerd complaining on a StarCraft forum about not being able to save computer files. See you later.
+ Show Spoiler +
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You're honestly gonna use the sentence 'now bear with me' in an email to your prof? loool
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haah no way when I read your original letter I thought "this guy sounds like one of those guys on classical music radio"
rofl
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Awww shit . . . this thread was so entertaining.
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Like others have said, this is an email to a professor, he doesn't want to spend time reading through bullshit, just get to the point. I also disagree with what you're arguing and I am sure your professor will too.
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and the troll is now slain, GJ TL admins.
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EPT
