I’m scrambling to finish my paper before tomorrow’s deadline. My ever ambitious Appendix C might not be happening. Nervous e-mails are being exchanged with fellow tardy writers. “Are you done? I’m not. I’m so dead.” “No, I’m deader. I haven’t even finished my introduction.”
This paper has sucked up every weekend and evening this summer, and I’m sick of it. I’m giving myself a vacation when it’s over. I’m going to paint the bedroom a lovely shade of grey and pulling the wall paper off the bathroom — a month of girlie home decorating. Might even take in an episode of Dr. Phil.
Some random interesting tidbits that I stumbled across in the Times today:
Beyond that, Congress needs to grasp the obvious, which is that the quality of the teacher corps is more crucial to school reform than anything else. The original law required states to provide highly qualified teachers in core subject areas by this year. But the Education Department simply failed to enforce the rule, partly because of back-channel interference by lawmakers who talked like ardent reformers while covering up for state officials clinging to the bad old status quo.
Joe Kernan, the morning anchorman of the business cable channel CNBC, confused many in the news media when he jokingly reported that first weekend grosses for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel had broken the record set by “Aquaman,” a fictional film starring Vincent Chase.
Just why anyone would be interested in pages and pages about this unhappy relationship or the self-important and self-promoting contents of Mr. Franzen’s mind remains something of a mystery.
You know nothing is more painful than plugging in citations in a bibliography. Sharp pencils in my eyes are baby taps.
The big question of the day. Is it possible to write a title for an academic paper without a colon? I say no. One half of the colon allows the author to make some ill advised attempt at humor, even letting him take that very wrong turn into pun land, because on the other half of the colon the author can use a theoretical phrase or obscure jargon to establish seriousness. Thus, creating that unsettling image of the nerdy professor who’s hip to that MTV stuff.
Apt. 11d 
The original law required states to provide highly qualified teachers in core subject areas by this year.
That’s true, but it’s VERY important to note that Education bureaucracies have idiosyncratic definitions of “highly qualified.” In VA, “highly qualified” means a Master’s in Education and certification in your subject–period. Demonstrated ability in the classroom, thorough knowledge of your subject, Master’s in your subject–none of those things count.
So rural schools were facing a complete lack of “highly qualified” teachers, because many of their good teachers had years of experience, but only a BA.
Don’t get me wrong–highly qualified teachers are important, but highly qualified and a Master’s in Education aren’t the same thing.
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The Colon: Repository for Wit, or Just for Sh!t?
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
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Note that the truly hip academics put the jokey title AFTER the colon. Those who put the joke first are just posers.
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“Note that the truly hip academics put the jokey title AFTER the colon. Those who put the joke first are just posers.”
real boldness is making the whole paper a joke. I fear I may be exceedingly bold this time around …
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You don’t have to dive into writing paper titles with no colons at all. That would be too hard.
The first step is to try to make up a title that doesn’t follow the format of
“(Vague Obscure Quote I Found Doing Research): (Random Noun), (Random Noun) and (Phrase That Should Actually Be The Entire Title).”
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snort, Cryptic Ned. My lame assed title uses that exact formula. I’m too drained of creativity to do better.
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Turn the title-making chore over to the lazy web. Somebody’s bound to help…
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Regarding quality teacher corps: How do you develop a great teaching core or rather how do I as an outsider who wants better teachers in my local schools help this to happen?
Couple of questions: is tenure the reason for teachers not living up to expectations becasuethey worked hard for afew years and now have job security? Is it lack of funding/need for more $ when it comes to salariest hat will attract better teachers not just more?
Personally, I like tenure in that I want teachers to feel the job security that everyone shoudl . However, I feel that it really has mutated into a monster of mediocrity. Why should academics have tenure when otehr profesions don;t and inspire a competitive market. Again, I’m jsut an outsider on the subject but would like to hear more as to why itsa good idea.
If we pay teachers more to start, would that attract mreo? I think with the future pension bail out that’s going to have to happen in the next 5 or 6 years we need to start aggresibvly moving teachers into seperate penion retirement plans. Pensions are an antiquated solution and soemthign that when they were released the long term idea was they provided for 10 years of livign expenses. You could have 26 years of teaching experience at 50 and still live another 27 years in this day and age. So how do you then attract teachers if you torpedo the pension plan with a 401K?
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Doug — What an excellent idea. I could offer a prize or something. Next year I’ll have the first annual “Name My APSA Paper.” First prize — a box of frozen burritos.
Kip — Really good questions. When I get back, I’ll think about how to turn one of your questions into a post and get some feedback from the peeps. BTW, our neice dislocated her elbow at my house today. Don’t worry. Alls well.
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