Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Random Reading

They got what they wanted.

Hundreds of Al Sharpton’s #MillionsMarchNYC chanted for the murder of police officers and that’s exactly what they got when one of their own murdered two NYPD officers execution-style Saturday in Brooklyn.

They marched in the streets of the Murray Hill neighborhood chanting “What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want them? Now!”

Al Sharpton’s Group Got Exactly What They Demanded: Dead Cops

I thought the race debate reached a new low when Gummy Bear maker Haribo was accused of racism for making African mask Gummies, but what happened at UCLA this week makes that look sane. 25 University of California Los Angeles students participated in a sit-in protest because, get this, one of their professors had the gall to correct grammar and spelling issues on some black students’ papers.

Val Rust, a professor of education and information, was the target of the protestors for what they feel was racial insensitivity. Describing themselves as “aggrieved minority students,” they claim that the professor was wrong to correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar in the papers of black students.

Professor Called Racist For Correcting Black Student’s Grammar And Punctuation

When Columbia Law School let Black students postpone their final exams because they might be “traumatized” by recent protests, they really let the cat out of the bag.

Now students at Oberlin College, one of the most liberal college in the country are demanding African-American students be completely exempt from failing this semester because they’re so deeply affected in “times like this.”

So far, the Ohio college has said they will allow professors to exercise “flexibility” in “emergency incomplete requests,” but has not given a flat out “pass” to all Black students.

This is making students really whiny. In a poorly written petition to Oberlin President Marvin Krislov – that has more than 1,300 signatures – the students lay out their “demands:”

Petition for Marvin Krislov to Suspend Standard Grading System
I would really like to see the normal grading system suspended for this semester and replaced with a no-fail mercy period. Administrators should require professors to exercise complete flexibility in what students are saying they can produce academically. Require that every professor listen to what their students are saying and if that means rather than writing a paper students instead meet with their professor to simply discuss in groups their paper topics or if tests are taken collectively with professors there are ways to make sure we are learning what we are supposed to be learning in ways that are not so taxing in times like this. Students in this moment should have complete access to alternative modes of learning while we process what’s happening. Basically, no student especially black students and students of color should be failing a class this semester. A “C” should be the lowest grade students can receive this semester. Professors should be required to work with students, who would otherwise be at risk of failing, to create alternate means of accessing knowledge. This is a – Petition for Marvin Krislov to Suspend Standard Grading System – sign if you agree!

Giving a free pass to Black students while requiring the standard academic rigor for everyone else? No, that doesn’t sound racist at all, does it?

Petition Demanding Black Students Be Exempt From Failing Grades Has 1,300 Signatures

 

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