Re: Thinking out loud: thoughts on cropping, zooms & primes
johnvanr wrote:
My experience was in journalism school. We got used to being ripped apart. One professor kept a public list of losers, people who would amount to absolutely nothing, because they hadn’t turned in enough assignments. I was on that list several times. But then there was another list of winners, people whose pieces had been published in major newspapers. Luckily, I was on that list too, so not completely lost. But, yes, real journalism used to be pretty nonsense proof.
Off topic, but...
As a person who had a career was as a tenured college faculty member, I can't help but note my disgust with any academic colleague who would keep a list of "winners" and "losers." College is a time of testing and change and growth and figuring things out. It is a time when students, given the right circumstances, "catch fire" and become engaged. I saw this many times.
A story.
Among other things I taught a general education survey course in my subject. No surprise, the class included a lot of students who were motivated only by fulfilling a graduation requirement. One of my goals was to see how many I could inspire to something beyond that.
During one class session I happened to describe a technique that they could use for truly studying a text. It is not an easy approach, but it works really well.
One of those "loser" students with an unimpressive record of performance, a low level of commitment, and little native interest in my subject apparently was primed for change... and for some reason took this advice to heart.
I later found out that this student, to my surprise (and to the surprise of the student's parents, as I discovered later on) graduated with honors and transferred to a University of California campus to earn a masters degree, and to then completed a PhD in psychology (not my field) at the University of California Berkeley.
I shudder to think of how many students are thwarted by my (fortunately few) colleagues who think it is their job to tell students that they are losers.
Aug 19, 2025 at 12:42 PM
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