Responding to student questions
See the related comments regarding how to repond to student questions.
posted from CPRR Discussion Group at 7:36 AM
Sunday, December 03, 2006
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11 Comments:
From: "John Snyder" johnsnyder@onetel.com
How did it "effect" trade. The proper question is how did it AFFECT trade? I don't have time for those who should know the language better.
—John Snyder
From: "Glenn Willumson" Gwillumson@arts.ufl.edu
I'm not sure John's response deserves a comment, but just in case Claire is monitoring this site hoping for a response to her questions, I feel someone should respond to him.
As I understand it, National History Day is an event for students in grades 6 to 12, roughly ages 11-18. I don't think it's reasonable to expect an 11 year-old consistently to use "effect" and "affect" correctly. I can tell you that many of my college students don't understand the difference. Does that make it acceptable? Absolutely not. What it does offer is an opportunity to teach. Denigrating the writer, I suppose it can be argued, is a form of instruction but not in my book. If John doesn't feel that he wants to correspond with someone who uses "effect" or "affect" (or any grammatical construction) incorrectly, that's perfectly fine with me. I do object to his publishing that opinion on the list, and I am afraid that if those who feel as I do remain silent that it will appear that we agree with him. I do not. Rather, I would like to applaud the writer for wanting to do such a good job that she contacted experts in the field that she is studying. I think that's admirable, and I would like to congratulate, not censure, her.
I am sorry that I cannot answer Claire's questions, but I'm sure that there are others on this list who can and will.
—Glenn Willumson
Thanks for voicing your concern. Only the historical information has been forwarded to the students.
From: "Don Snoddy" ddsnoddy@cox.net
I couldn't have said it better myself.
—Don
The student wrote:
Thank you for answering our question. We know they are very broad but if you know any other answers it would greatly benefit us if you answered them for us. (we basically know all the answers but are looking for other views, and it is also a requirement for our project to have an interview)
Thank you so much for your time it is greatly appreciated
From: "Chris Graves" caliron@cwnet.com
As I feared when this first surfaced, the following correspondence tells the story – "We basically know all the answers ... "
Sounds as though Stephen Ambrose lives on ...
—gjg
From: "John Snyder" johnsnyder@onetel.com
Apologies to all. It's a pet peeve, and I just got caught in a grumpy old man moment.
—John Snyder
From: "Don Snoddy" ddsnoddy@cox.net
You know we should almost have a "canned" response for history day, because no matter the subject, there is always a way to connect it to the construction of the railroads.
—Don
Heartily agree, although it's difficult as what – it seems – they really want to know often has no answer, for example, due to the lack of any 19th century writing by the Chinese workers, or of comprehensive statistics regarding death rates by cause and race.
See related.
Students: Also see homework and history day questions.
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