Finally. Someone has studied the relationship between exams and mortality in student's immediate families. Exams are unhealthy for granny, that's for sure.
Posted by robe0419 at January 6, 2005 11:40 AM | TrackBackFascinating stuff. I've been a lab TA going on 6 years now. I've TA'ed 6 different courses in 2 departments. I don't know about deaths and other emergenicies in terms of proximity in time to exams. But the grade dependence rarely fails. I've taught hundreds of undergrads and had probably 10 who had some emergency during the semester that caused them to repeatedly miss class or turn in assignments late or not at all. Of those 10, I'd say 8 of them were failing or nearly failing the course anyway (this just from memory). Furthermore, it seems that such emergencies do not strike randomly. I've had at least 2 students that I remember who have had 3 or more emergencies during the same semester. Both students were, needless to say, far from exemplary scholars before the various calamities struck.
Posted by: Jim at January 6, 2005 12:03 PM