Final Exams and the Playoffs

An idea struck me as the MLA faculty discussed various end-of-semester events over lunch this week. We noted that some students begin the semester in a lackadaisical fashion (failing to turn in assignments, skipping class, and performing poorly on exams), and then try to turn things around late in the semester by studying intensely, asking for extra credit work, etc. The funny thing is that many of these students are confident that they can get their desired grade by this last-minute outburst of energy, as though what happened earlier in the term is irrelevant to the final outcome.

I wonder if these expectations stem in part from our sports-saturated culture. In the age of the soundbite and diminished attention spans, some sports leagues at the college and professional levels have responded by instituting end-of-season playoffs or tournaments to determine the league champion. What is so silly about the process is that often the standards for admission to these events are laughably low. For example, wildcard teams in the NFL sometimes get into the post-season with an 8-8 record. NBA teams with .500 records can get into the playoffs as well.

What this does is to make the regular season in these sports almost meaningless. Every mediocre team conceivably has a shot of making it into the post-season, and a hot streak at that time could give that team the league championship.

Is this the mentality that university students bring into the last couple of weeks of the semester, that any grade is possible no matter what has transpired over the first fifteen weeks of the term? Many of my students over the years have been sadly disabused of this notion. When the final exam is 30% of the course grade, even a 100% on that exam will not bring a student up to a B average if he has been performing at a D level the whole semester. Competent work over the entire semester is necessary to achieve good grades.

Another Blow to Modernism?

The growing field of geomythology.

"'If you had asked me 10 years ago if there was value in local myths I would have said "not a lot",' added Nunn. 'Since then I have had a Pauline conversion.'"

Christianity and Architecture

As a contrast to the earlier post regarding the architecture of the mega-church, here's a review of a book describing the subtleties used by Huguenot architects who had been employed by Catholic nobility and royalty to build churches. In protest against the persecution of Huguenots, they inserted Calvinist stuff into the structures. For example: "Scripture verses would often be included on the interior of a building. Calvinists did not expect Catholics to complain about the verses because it would be a complaint against the Bible itself. However, Calvinists were careful to use verses that reflected their perspective. Fellow Calvinists walking into the building would recognize that a Huguenot had built that structure."

Structural modifications were made as well to put forward the Huguenot point of view. Art means something!