> Students are, IMHO, like your own kids: they're capable of genius from
> time to time, and much of what they do does have a sort of design behind
> it, but sometimes they're just mean little s***s who do stuff just to see
> if they can get away with it and for purely selfish interest. It's not
> fair to assume that your kids always do everything out of
> selfishness, and it's not smart to assume the opposite, either. Same
> for students, I think.
I agree with almost all of what you're saying. Students are like your own
kids because kids are remarkably alike (I base this on having recently had
the "opportunity" to read 22,400 student essays written by kids 8th-12th
grade, rural-urban, poor-rich and I think that's a broad enough sample
upon which to base my generalization).
I would also say, though, that those kid students are remarkably like
adult students (say grad students, for example) who operate from a similar
array of motives. I mean is there anyone on this list who can say with a
straight face that he's never played "the school game"?
Beth Baldwin