Final Grades. A Teacher's Thoughts on the Last Day

 

Final Grades
A Teacher's Thoughts on the Last Day

 

One dark December afternoon several years ago, while others were hanging mistletoe and holly and buying last minute gifts, Prof. Josephine K. was meeting with students. The very last student to arrive was Brett, a white athlete from a comfortable suburb.

 

"This is not a research paper."

 

"You told us to write a research paper."

 

"Yes, yes I did. And I told you what a research paper is – "

 

"This is my research paper!"

How to Write a Research Paper

"How to Write a Research Paper" is a handout I prepared for my students. Someone asked me to post the handout on the web. Here it is. 

I wrote this handout over the course of ten years. Initially I copied from another professor's handout. As the years went by, I saw that my students had specific needs and I lengthened the handout from a couple of pages to many pages. I added and subtracted according to what my students needed. 

At the end of this process, my students who followed this handout produced spectacular papers and they said that they enjoyed the process. 

Since I was teaching classes in folklore and mythology, and also in education, my examples come from those fields. 

Trans Extremism Part Two: How We Got Here; How We Get Out of Here

 

What Leftists Are Saying About Trans Extremism Part 2
How We Got Here; How We Might Get Out of Here

 

Part one of this two-part article is here.

 

Trans extremism has made extraordinary advances in a short period of time. Powerful decision-makers in education, medicine, law, politics, media, religion, and entertainment enforce trans demands that would have seemed bizarre or merely comical in the recent past. In spite of trans extremism's rapid advance, its days may be numbered. Trans extremist ideology is the great-grandchild of Marxist ideology, but it conflicts with classical Marxism. Too, more conventional leftists are increasingly voicing resistance to trans extremism.

 

Trans Extremism

 What Leftists Are Saying about Trans Extremism
Part One: What is Trans Extremism, and What Is It Doing?

Trans extremism is a new phenomenon whose rise has been fueled by another new phenomenon, the internet. Trans extremism has exerted considerable pressure; through that pressure, it has rapidly advanced real-world gains. Indeed, short of a military invasion and occupation, it is difficult to imagine another movement advancing as quickly and changing society as thoroughly. This movement is associated with the left, but even leftists are questioning trans extremism. Leftist questioning occurs, inter alia, in the comments sections of liberal publications. This questioning suggests that though trans extremism has successfully exerted great force, from public shaming, to economic boycotts, to intense manipulation of family members and friends, to physical violence (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, etc.) all with the end of compelling ideological purity and suppressing questioning, frank statements, even basic, objective facts, or even mere words that reference objective reality, trans extremism has, so far, been unable to win all hearts and minds, even on the left, and its days may be numbered.