The ability to do well in school is a function of ability, usable time*, and drive. obviously changing the exact grading system will change the relative importance of these factors, but money only really effects the second variable.

* Usable time excludes theoretically available time that is lost to disorganization, procrastination, social, fiscal, and biological needs, and the internet.

I hadn’t! Heh.

Long tests…I’ve had day-long exams (both take-home, open book, and in-class, closed book) before, and they were brain-expanding learning experiences. I do think they were better tests of my thinking than simpler problems on a shorter test would have been. But I was privileged enough to be able to attend a private college, majoring in science with a course schedule that made regular work impossible, and fortunate enough to have parental support and an insanely flexible job.

I also had a chem professor who always did 4-question problems sets and exams (very similar), with multi-part questions. We usually got an hour and a half for tests and 3 for finals, which was normal, and it was tough to finish in that time, but they were definitely the fairest, most thought-provoking short tests I’ve ever taken. So you can give students that experience in a normal timespan, I think.

I suspect school, no matter how it’s structured, will always be hardest for those with least money and smallest support systems. I don’t know what we can do about it, though.

As a technician, of course, the short and dirty exam is entirely appropriate. After all, when the Hauptprofessor walks into lab, peers down his nose at the jumble of electronics that used to be a mass spectrometer, and asks, in his most withering voice, “So, should I come back before lunch, or after?”, he isn’t interested in a three-day project. It is no surprise that my best-ever result on a takehome was a C-.

Prashant - u r a shame.

If my aging memory is correct, it came to my mind because of the annoying tendency of the sillier liberal faculty to occasionally make inappropriate political comments in class. Then the campus conservatives argue that most faculty are imposing their liberal biases on the innocent students, and should be muzzled.

So faculty should do the right thing, namely only claim expertise where we are truly experts.

Maybe I was subconsciously nervous about posting on non-seismological topics at all, given a lack of anonymity and claim to several titles.

1. The trade-off between accommodating diverse life-styles and striving to have the most capable scientists can be difficult. Some physical and social handicaps really are a permanent impediment to achievement, and should count against the people who have them in hiring and tenure decisions. Other alternate lifestyles are disciminated against for no good reason, and should be protected by affirmative action.

2. More controversially, when one is on the pedestal of an academic at a recognized institution, it is tempting to offer opinions on matters such as politics. We can express our opinion on the current adminstration, for example, and I have, but it should be as a citizen, not from our titled position as a scientific expert, nor implying the consensus of our organizations behind our point of view.

My original argument was poorly stated, but I really didn’t mean to imply that a lack of family life is a disadvantage, just that: 1. caretaking obligations don’t necessarily prevent someone from having a productive career and 2. lots of academics (myself included) have bad time management skills and might overestimate the importance of take-home-exam-style work-bursts. You’re starting to convince me on the 2nd point, though.

I still think, though, that this style of exam is probably one of many small factors contributing to a lack of diversity in science. To the extent that we care about this, it makes sense to reduce whatever hardships we can. Grad students also write proposals, collaborate, and do last-minute work for AGU, so if their outside obligations really prevent them from doing science it will be apparent soon enough.