This is me over at SN:
Teaching as a discipline is one of many social sciences,
but since it's not a true science, there is no pressure to
create quantitative measures for any of their components.
No rigor, no quant, and you leave it up to individual motivations
as the driving forces.
Result, as the article states, easier classes mean higher grades.
Higher grades means better teacher evaluations.
Better evaluations means easier job and more money.
Result - grade inflation.
It seems obvious now, so we shouldn't be surprised.
The real question should be this: when can we expect the bubble to burst?
There was a time, before we all lost our minds to Pong, Asteroids and Zelda (yes, I go way back) where we also spent time taking our world apart and figuring out how to make it better.
Oona rocks! She should be rewarded somehow.
BTW - the end of the article finally explains how a megahertz signal found its way onto the audio track.
Here's a must see link for us weather nerds...
make sure to tune into the 10 hPa setting and watch the polar vortex do its thing.
Thank you supercomputer...
...
who couldn't think worth a dyne,
he accused the one Mann,
who has Truth in his plan,
and we hope the court rules him a slime.
It's the best I can do on short notice - but there's not much else we can do as long as long as his advertisers keep making money.
Why do we keep the poor guy? He's had a great insight.
Now, let's get all scientific on his ass. Get a bottle, fill it with the right and
MAKE SOME LIFE!
... is doomed to repeat it.
Does anyone else get the impression that we're on the downside of civilization?
Have we all forgotten how to use paper, pen, envelope and stamp? Just leave off your return address - and don't sign it!
Watson isn't about organizing information, it's about thinking enough to arrive at a conclusion.
Even today, my 84 year old father has learned how to gather information off the web. A child learns to do it in minutes. Imagine what Watson will be able to glean in seconds.
Finally, imagine Watson as a programmer. Optimum code - self debugging - as much documentation as you want - and perhaps the biggest asset - the ability to adjust the scope every time the customer changes their mind, without complaining.
Skynet? No, I'm thinking more like Colossus, the Forbin Project.
Where there's a will, there's a relative.