Comments on: Extra Credit

By: John Burgess

John Burgess — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 18:55:24 +0000

Tim: Certainly an improvement from when I was in school and some professors threatened to flunk you if you didn't attend a peace demonstration. And others threatened to flunk you if you did.

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 06:29:55 +0000

A friend of mine is a professor in the Political Science department of a university in Maryland. He offers students in his various classes a wide variety of extra credit opportunities, which include attending some of the many lectures, meetings, and panel discussions on various topics that occur in the DC area, the occasional field trip to visit a foreign embassy for briefings or Q&A about that country, and attending legislative sessions or committee hearings in Congress or the Maryland legislature.

As he explains it, he's using extra credit as a way to get his young students to broaden their horizons and get more on a particular topic than they would get just from his lecture. He certainly couldn't require his students to attend most of these events which occur outside the scheduled classroom time, so extra credit usually fits the bill.

By: Grewgills

Grewgills — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:46:37 +0000

I've never let extra credit count for more than about 1% of the final grade. If someone is near the line and is willing to put in extra effort on something pertinent to the subject, I am willing to let it bump them from just under the line to just above. I can't see letting it go beyond that.

By: Alex Knapp

Alex Knapp — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:55:50 +0000

er... I mean why WE lawyers look down upon... well, crap...

By: Alex Knapp

Alex Knapp — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:55:10 +0000

This is why us lawyers look down upon other academic types. Most law school courses that I took had a course syllabus that looked something like this:

There will be one final exam, which shall encompass 100% of your final grade.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:28:24 +0000

scratch their bottoms? Ahhh the couth of our youth! Horrible to think they will be in the work force soon, if they ever graduate.

And how is studying for an exam difficult and mysterious?!? Um, you study. You pay attention in class and do the assignments, then take the test. Students have been doing it for hundreds of years. Where did you graduate from, a refrigeration trade school?