grade on the curve

[Jonathan Lighter]

She came in second to the Ideal.

  That's not perverse. That's Platonic!

  JL

Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Doug Harris
Subject: Re: grade on the curve
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Speaking of perverse:

Woman runner-up in one-horse race
Jenny Brown was the only entrant to the cake competition
A grandmother won second prize in a cake-baking contest at a fete, only to
discover she was the only entrant.
Jenny Brown, 62, entered her Victoria Sponge into the competition and was
initially pleased to have come second.
But she was left shocked when a friend revealed to her that she was the only
person to take part.
The contest was organised by the Wimblington Sports Committee and judges
marked down the cake because it had indentations from a wire rack.




Another perverse academic conception: My students sometimes ask me if I'm
going to assign grades on the basis of "improvement" (as other--presumably
superior--teachers are alleged to do). Then I have to point out that, on
such a basis, a student who starts out performing at the "A" level would
have to receive an "F" (or less) for the course.

--Charlie

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