On Wed, 2007-06-13 at 11:59 -0700, piclist@mmendes.com wrote:
> > But is punishing a person so severely for a simple mistake like that on
> > an exam, where the student is under immense pressure to perform REALLY a
> > good idea?
> 
> Someone else used a good example as to why I think the punishment fits the
> mistake by citing the NASA Mars probe crash.  It's the same carelessness, lack
> of attention.  It was not intentional (at least I believe it was not), but the
> carelessness lead to the destruction of millions (if not billions, I don't
> recall the price tag on the mission).

Really? You've NEVER made an error on an exam? EVERY question was
perfect?

Come now, you'd can't expect perfection on something as artificial as an
exam. There is nothing in real life that approaches an exam in
"craziness", and to expect people to act perfectly on one is IMHO
unreasonable.

Do you REALLY think that "nailing" a student for one tiny error is a
good idea, from a society point of view? Don't you believe in "learning
from mistakes"? If every time a person made a small mistake they'd be
hammered into the ground I doubt anybody would be left at the end of the
year.

The example given of the Mars probe doesn't count. Humans make mistakes.
No matter HOW brutal a teacher is, humans will ALWAYS make mistakes.
It's impossible for humans to be perfect. The example is meaningless
since no matter HOW hard ass teachers are, there will ALWAYS be an
example of a human making a mistake that ends up costing alot of money.

Mistakes happen. To think that by punishing them with a sledge hammer
will eliminate them is IMHO unrealistic.

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