I Would Have Failed College…
January 14th, 2008
When people get scared and confused, they do some crazy ish sometimes. If I had a professor who banned her students from using Google or Wikipedia as sources of information or avenues for research, I would have dropped the class, no question. She’s have horrible ratings on ratemyprofessor.com and I doubt that many students would sign up for her class in the future.
So, I’m glad I didn’t go to this school or have this professor, because I would have failed. Big time. I’m that girl who went to the library twice throughout my entire stint in college. Come on, profs- embrace reality.
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4 Responses to “I Would Have Failed College…”
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I think it’s a great thing that teachers discourage students from citing Wikipedia use in academia, but not for the usual, reactionary reasons (”OMG! Anyone can edit it! Its unreliable!”).
Rather, students shouldn’t be citing Wikipedia because it’s billed as an online encyclopedia. University students shouldn’t be citing any encyclopedia at all including Encarta, Britannica, Wikipedia, etc. Encyclopedias paint a broad picture of a subject and can be used as a starting point in research, but they shouldn’t contain any original research and thus shouldn’t be used in academia, especially at the university level.
On the Google issue though, I really don’t understand what’s being “banned,” and judging by the reactionary nature of the post, I don’t think the author did, either. Google should be thought of in the same vain as a card catalog. Would /anyone/ cite a card catalog?
What Prof. Brabazon has ACTUALLY banned is the idea that anyone should take a single source, and quote it as if it were accurate without making any attempt to double-check whether it’s accurate.
If you’d taken the time to do some research, you’d have realised how badly that article from mashable got it.
So, should we ask professors to stick to standards, and insist that their students LEARN something, or should we rate them down and tell them to “get real” because if a single website says it, it must be true.
With this post as evidence, I think my point that I would have failed still stands. Clearly. Thanks for the additional insights, guys.
Sorry for the tone of my earlier comment, which was harsh
I have to hand it to the University of Brighton (I didn’t go there, but they are the University closest to my house) for trying to teach academic rigour and analysis in a world of instant gratification.