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| Borromean knot |
"The Real Is The Impossible" Jacques Lacan
"The greatest achievement of the human brain is its ability
to imagine objects and episodes that do not exist in the realm of the real, and
it is this ability that allows us to think about the future." Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness
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:“In order to get beyond racism, we must first
take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some
persons equally, we must treat them differently.”
Comment on this quote.
Do you agree with it?
Does it make sense?
Extra Credit: Without Googling, do you know who said this?
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Read the following passage:
Arcidiacono, Aucejo, and Spenner have done
exemplary research here. Their data are accurate, and other experts tell
me that their analysis is correct on every point. Importantly, they
have demonstrated that race itself does not affect outcomes at Duke,
validating our efforts to create an environment where discrimination is
either absent altogether or so minimal as not to affect academic performance.
But they have also
demonstrated that relative levels of academic preparation do matter, not
for every individual but in a way that is somewhat predictable when we
look across large numbers of students. They matter not only for grades
but perhaps for learning itself, and apparently they have an influence
on one’s choice of major and chances of successfully sticking with that
major.
This merits further research, but assuming these findings hold
up, they suggest three things that we in the administration should be
doing.
First, we should provide academic support counseling for students
who wish to pursue STEM fields but enter Duke with lower-than-average
levels of academic preparation. Through careful and rigorously evaluated support
efforts, we may be able to improve successful persistence in these
fields.
Second, we should work with our sister institutions to evaluate how students who struggle at Duke would have fared at other schools, and we should all pool data to evaluate postgraduate outcomes so that we better understand how the tradeoffs that students encounter at Duke affect their long-term success and career goals.
Second, we should work with our sister institutions to evaluate how students who struggle at Duke would have fared at other schools, and we should all pool data to evaluate postgraduate outcomes so that we better understand how the tradeoffs that students encounter at Duke affect their long-term success and career goals.
And third, as we learn
more, we should make those findings transparent to our applicants. If a
high school senior we choose to admit hopes to become a physicist, we
should help that student have the best possible information about his
actual prospects at Duke so that she can weigh the advantages and
disadvantages of
coming here rather than some other school.
This transparency is not only fairer to our students, but I can think of
no better way of maintaining accountability among Duke’s administrators
and faculty.
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Do you agree with the speaker's 3 point plan? Why or why not?
Do you think other colleges and universities should join in this effort at transparency and data sharing?
Extra Credit: Who said this?
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"If you sacralize these groups, it makes you, it binds you together to fight for them. So the sacralization had to happen, the sacralization of victim groups had to happen to bring the left together to fight what was a truly altruistic and heroic battle. And they won, and things are now better in this country because of that. But, follow the sacredness. Once you’ve sacralized something, you become blind to evidence" Jonathan Haidt
Does elevating an idea or a person or a group to the level of the sacred transcend the need for evidence and data?
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Feel free to discuss these questions. Your answers, however, must be your own. A high grade will be awarded to those who can marshal specific evidence, write clearly and cogently, and who can address the issues in a way that will be useful to all members of the class.
Your must turn in your exams the day after Thanksgiving if you hope to receive a grade before the end of the semester.
If you have questions, post them here, or contact me via email:
parkemuth@gmail.com.
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| Groucho Marx |
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