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I don’t get it
Then you haven’t spent enough time in a university lecture/classroom. It is so true!
at least 24 semesters, actually; that’s not it
… i don’t understand the combination of axes and what the resultant field should represent, much as Arg points out below
You spent 12 years in college? No wonder you don’t get it.
Meh… I’m also in my 24th semester and I still got it, so maybe generalizing it like this is going a bit too far…
I’m afraid you and medicat are borderline retarded if you can’t manage to get through college in TWELVE YEARS. And extremely retarded if you can’t piece together the meaning of this painfully simple to understand graph (speaking about medicat, of course).
Did they even mention what field they were majoring in? Some fields do require quite a bit of course work, especially if they are grad students. Besides, if they were “retarded” I doubt they would have been accepted into a university. Try to think out your insults a little more carefully.
Not to mention that some schools go by trimesters, or even quarters.
THANK you! semester = half a school year.
Maybe they meant 24 semesters of grade school?
Or 3 years if you count both summer semesters.
trying to sound smart doesn’t make anyone sympathetic.
surprisingly, a lot of retards are accepted into college. trust me. i seen it.
Oh you seen it? So you’ve been looking a mirror, have you? When insulting someone about their intelligence you should probably try and use the english language correctly. Just a suggestion.
I think you should review Jay’s comment again, this time keeping in mind that sarcasm is a thing
Technically, “try and…” is inappropriate. One should say “try to…”
It’s English, with a capital E. Anyways, the graph’s funny and a lot of
idiots get into college.
I’m usually incredible at not getting suckered into these things, however I have had absolutely nothing to do all day so:
-Corey, you failed to use quotes in your first sentence; Rita already pointed out your error in using “try and”, and your last sentence is not even a complete one.
-Rita, “‘try and…’ is inappropriate.” is the stupidest way of using the word inappropriate I have ever seen. There is a huge difference between inappropriate and wrong; if he’s wrong, tell him he’s wrong, or if you’re loving the prefix ‘in’ there is always incorrect. There is absolutely nothing inappropriate about “try and.” Also, one should never say one unless he is counting or trying desperately to come off as an insipid prick.
-Natalie, as much as I love the fact that you simply want to prove this guy to be as human as the next guy and move on, nor do you come of nearly as pretentious as the rest of these blow hards, the fact that you said anything at all forces me to point out that the ‘it’ in “It’s English” is incredibly vague and all around unacceptable as a pronoun in this instance.
Finally, the point being, you don’t have to be flawless yourself to know how much other people suck, and just because a guy makes a few errors in his comment does not make his point any less valid, maybe a little bit ironic and silly, but still true. Further more, every one of these comments was completely comprehensible before any of these corrections were pointed out. So, if you are going to point out someone’s flaws, that weren’t so big in the first place, only to expose your own for others to point out, maybe your time would be better spent not sounding like a jack ass.
Immediately after the question an incorrect answer wouldn’t be appreciated but after an uncomfortable silence, giving any answer to end the silence would be more important than giving the right answer.
This graph doesn’t work. It imlpies the guestion gets more (or less) important as time goes on. In the case of the red line, the question starts off as important, but becomes less important over time (awkard silence) until the the correct answer is given, at which point the question isn’t important any more?
That makes no sense.
Similarly, an unimportant question gains importance over time until any answer is given?
I think the axis may need to be relabeled. Or perhaps the whole concept presented in a different way, for this to make sense (and be accurate).
uhm if you could read the graph correctly… its not the importance of the question… its the importance of the answer… the longer the silence is, any answer to the question becomes more important than the correct answer… learn to read graphs.
I did misread it first and thought it said ‘question’. I still think the graph doesn’t work quite right, though.
If anything, the y-axis should just say “Importance”. Because the ‘data lines’ are ‘any answer’ or ‘the right answer’. For example, one line would read:
“The importance of the answer of ‘any answer’ increases over time”.
I get what it is INTENDING but I dont’ think it’s executed correctly.
It makes sense to me. The longer the awkward silence (following the question), the more the prof (and the rest of the class!) will be relieved that someone has said something. At that point, any answer will promptly be followed by an explanation of the correct answer and the reasons.
It makes me happy when people understand things.
While that is what was intended, and it is quite obvious, that’s not what is actually portrayed. I’m pretty sure that the right answer goes into the “any answer” category, and therefore the right answer is both import and unimportant at the same time. It’s a bit of a paradox.
It’s pretty dumb to point these things out, though. It’s just a joke.
Nah, brah, it’s not a paradox. It’s saying that the important thing isn’t whether or not the answer is correct, it’s whether or not an answer is given. The graph shows that the importance of answering a question correctly is inversely proportional to the importance of answering the question. The correct answer itself is not losing importance, but the attribute of accuracy is.
No see the questions’ importance doesn’t vary, it’s the importance of the answer that are correlated.
Right answer short amount of time-good
Right answer long amount of time-not quite as good.
Wrong answer short amount of time- not quite good
Wrong answer long amount of time- good
Though I would have to disagree with the whole thing because I would rather have the right answer regardless of time, awkwardness notwithstanding.
Basically profs need to TEACH and not ASK QUESTIONS.
Never go to law school.
then how else are the proffs supposed to know the students are paying attention?
The funny thing is that most decent educators TEACH by engaging their students, most often through asking questions….
Anti-Platonian.
It’s a proven fact that students learn more through Q&A and group work than through LECTURE. You can start with Socrates and work up to modern pedagogical theory. If someone’s just lecturing at you, you’re not internalizing it, and you’re not doing anything. Q&A at least asks you to engage. There are better modes, but learn something about teaching before you spout off.
Obviously you have never heard of the socratic method??
I once had a professor that would combat the awkward silence by reading what people’s shirts said out loud while he was waiting.
HA! Oh my God, I have to try that… that’s awesome.
And trust me, if you’ve ever had to stand in front of a group of students and try to teach something, you totally get this graph. I don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to yell out, “Just say something! ANYTHING! Put any combination of sounds together!!”
One of my professors makes us all put nametags on our desk, and they seem to ask me the first question every class without fail, no idea why, I’m paying attention… it’s brutal.
It took me a while too, but now I get it. Really clever.
In response to the “Basically profs need to TEACH and not ASK QUESTIONS,” asking questions is a teaching technique. I learned to do it as a tutor. It just makes sure they are paying attention and not blindly taking notes.
First, you ask a question regarding what you talked about for the last few minutes. If they can’t answer in 10 seconds, you usually give the answer. This way, by having these “checks,” the students will be like “o crap, I’d better write this down.” Even if the student answers wrong, the prof will give the right answer and everybody will write it down and will more likely remember it.
That makes my brain hurt. On Friday with 30 minutes left til I go home? Yes. No thinking, pls.
I’ll join in with the crowd who doesn’t get it. How does time change the importance of an answer? And why is “any answer” more important than “right answer”? Maybe I just don’t get it because I went to a college where we had intelligent students who actually answered the questions the profs asked.
I think it would make more sense if it was titled “Probability of correct answer depending on time passed” and the Y axis was probability but I’m only a sophomore in college so who knows
I would maybe have “the right answer” curve start lower, and then get higher, and then get back low again, since answers blurted out immediately after a question can be dumb.
omg all of u are FREAKS
Comments: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAH
Actual topic (the picture): BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I think everyone might be taking this graph a little too seriously. Just throwin that out there.
As a trig professor, I’m getting a kick out of these comments.
It is also my first year in college but I still get the graph. School hasn’t totally destroyed my sense of humor and turned me into a complete analytical freak. For as many years of school as I plan to attend, which is a lot, I hope to never let my critical thinking side completely annihilate my “good for a laugh” side. I dig the joke because I have observed it many times in class.
The comments to this are way funnier than the actual post
Haha, this graph totally represents my environmental ethics class!
Just to contribute to these hilariously out-of-touch comments: I read the “importance” of the answer to mean the urgency with which someone needs to answer in order to break the awkward silence. But what the graph also points out is that the longer time goes before someone completes the important task of breaking the awkward silence by giving an answer, the more likely it is that the answer given is incorrect/any answer.
Freaking math nerds…
This graph would make sense if there were no red line.
Good graph..certainly represents my students anyway
Most of you will not benefit from further education.
Judging by the comments most of you have never answered a question correctly in your lives.
The graph is funny and accurate, though.
Im in highschool and i get it :\
Haha that’s exactly what I thought too!!
ok for people who don’t get it, but when a teacher asks you a question and you don’t know the answer you get nervous and think it’s the most important thing in the world, while as when you have a right answer the teacher moves on and the answer is no longer important as time passes on.
haha i thought this was funny, i’m in my second semester, and i can relate.
i don’t understand why everyone is reading so much into this, its supposed to be a damn joke, look at it, laugh and move on with your life.
also, the people that don’t understand, are taking it to literally, teachers want answers, preferably correct answers, but when students just sit there with blank faces the professor tends to get angry, thinking that no one is listening.. which is why any answer would work at that point, to show that one was at least paying attention…its funny.
This is so true! There are a lot of profs that just love to watch students squirm. Very funny!
Bad graph, just ask Tufte!
I hate it when commenting is allowed.
photoshopped!
this isn’t even hard to understand, and i’m not even going to college.
lol this is so true.
Im one of the best english students in my class; and it is really fun to wait until you raise your hand xD
IRONY FAIL.
good example of why students don’t understand satire.
I wish the x-axis had units and hash marks.
Good points , rather than importance of answer, need for answer is more exact and correct! but this is very true. give thumb up on su!!
this is so true…