Re: I'm already looking forward to all the movies' remakes (contains spoilers)

In article <139h2s6eg5jmka4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
dicconf@xxxxxxxxx (Richard Eney) wrote:

In article <f79gda$ipp$1@xxxxxxxx>,
Drusilla <gammanormids*erasethis*@gmail.com> wrote:

I have a teacher that made us read "The Fountainhead", a book he said
"it can changes people's lives", that he really liked ir too and that we
should consider as future architects. Anyway, I know many people dislike
the book, but as a book (not a philosophical guide) I liked it. And I
understand how a creator might get frustrated whenever others simply
think that have the right to change one's work for reasons that are a)
money, b) ego (not Rand's concept, but the fact they do it to boast:
"see, I have power, I can destroy your work because I can :P") c) fashion.

And then, I might fail this class because THE SAME professor wants me to
design in the way HE LIKES and wants the class to do everything HIS WAY.
They're kids (about 17 and 19), they are easily convinced, but I have
already had this class few years ago, so, I am soooo frustrated every
time he says I "can't design" because I don't do what he wants.

The class is about free creative expression, BTW.

That reminds me a little bit of when my sister was being taught
to sew. The teacher wanted her to make the sleeves of a blouse
in a very stupid way, that looked terrible. We told my sister
to do it the teacher's way, get the grade, then bring the blouse
home and we would take it apart and redo it the right way. So
that's what we did.

When I was seven years old, I had a teacher like that. My father
told me: "You don't have to believe what the teacher tells you;
just learn it, so you can answer the questions on the test."

That is still spot on advice and belongs in the category of things I
wish my father had told me.

In Germany, state board exams are usually oral with practical testing
where required. One soon learns that the professors often only know what
they themselves have published, be it 30 years ago, or have prepared
catalogs of questions that they still know the answers to.

It often becomes a matter of simply getting at the questions. The first
thing an honorable student does, after such an exam, is to go to the
cafeteria of his faculty where there is a list for him to record the
questions he was asked and the expected responses. Evaluating such lists
can be quite laborious as some professors have card catalogs with
hundreds of questions from which the candidate is required to draw a
certain number and respond. For other professors, there is a list of
their publications for recommended reading... no matter that they were
debunked days after release.

Accustomed to multiple choice from the States, I initially refused to
believe that this was so. Then, the day before my first exam, I realized
that I had only attended about 3 biology lectures. So I paid 10 Marks
for a dubious list of questions. Sure enough! The first question was to
name all animals that had "ant" in their name and tell a little about
them. The professor was happy to catch me cold when I couldn't ~recall~
the mating behavior of the male ~ant-fly~ (don't make me look it up) and
was more than glad to enthusiastically expound on the subject himself.
After that, I could do no wrong and walked out with the equivalent of an
~A~.

Same thing in pharmacology. The known lush (picture Slughorn) notices
that I was born in the States and starts off the session by asking me
whether alcohol can be used as a narcotic. I say "You bet your ass!" and
tell him a little about Galen and doses. He says "Damned straight! No
other way to get out all those bullets in the wild west." Once again,
after that, I could do no wrong and walked out with the equivalent of an
~A~.

There is a saying here to the effect that Germans know everything and do
nothing; Americans know nothing and do everything.

I do, however, recall a chemistry professor in the States who was
determined to prepare us for the future. He gave us an "open book" exam
which meant that any book from any library could be taken along as well
as any new-fangled pocket calculator. The exam was loaded with mass
spectrograms... his field. I got 13% right and it turned out to be a
~B~! <*** Peterson!>

Now that I have that out of my system and trying to get back OT, I sense
that many in this community, without necessarily realizing it, project
such images on our beloved Potions Master and conclude that he must be
"EVIL".

I will leave it at that as I am loathe to use spoiler space. ;P
--
Chris
.