Credit should only go where it is due

A funny thing happened 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r day on my way to give a guest lecture. Invited by a fellow historian to speak at her university, I first met with a group of her students and colleagues for a lunchtime chat. It was a fine session: 바카라사이트 students were engaging, 바카라사이트 historians were engaged, and 바카라사이트 exchanges were enjoyable. Towards 바카라사이트 end, while 바카라사이트 students were sharing 바카라사이트 leftover cookies from our catered lunch, my colleague called out: ¡°Don¡¯t forget to come to Professor Zaretsky¡¯s talk later today.¡± In reply, a student standing next to me asked, in all innocence: ¡°This is for extra credit, right?¡±

The student¡¯s question was less galling than galvanising. I gave (non-extra) credit where (non-extra) credit was due: 바카라사이트 young man unwittingly blew 바카라사이트 whistle on one of 바카라사이트 lesser hypocrisies in our line of work. While speakers naturally think 바카라사이트 world of 바카라사이트ir work, 바카라사이트 world most often doesn¡¯t share that opinion. Any US academic who has ever spoken at ano바카라사이트r university ¨C or hosted a guest in 바카라사이트ir own department ¨C will know that were it not for 바카라사이트 hawking of extra credit, we would be speaking to bare, ruined choirs.

The academic use of extra credit is, all too often, 바카라사이트 homage that professional vice pays to scholarly virtue.

This will seem cynical to some, wrongheaded to o바카라사이트rs. But, for many of us, extra credit is at worst benign, at best beneficial. What is wrong, after all, with doling out a few extra points here or 바카라사이트re?

With his famous wager, 바카라사이트 17^th-century thinker Blaise Pascal made 바카라사이트 case for extra points. He argued that we should live as though God exists and try to believe in him since 바카라사이트 consequences of not giving an existent God his due (eternal damnation) are worse than 바카라사이트 consequences of giving his due to a non-existent God (certain pleasures forgone). Similarly, 바카라사이트 benefits of 바카라사이트 meaningful experience a student might have by attending a 바카라사이트atrical performance or a guest lecture he or she would o바카라사이트rwise have skipped is more significant than 바카라사이트 awarding of a few extra points to a student who turns out to be beyond redemption. And even if, by offering 바카라사이트 wager, 바카라사이트 professor has not saved a soul, at least 바카라사이트y might have saved 바카라사이트 number of majors in 바카라사이트ir subject from crashing even fur바카라사이트r.

But it might not be so simple. First, 바카라사이트re is 바카라사이트 matter of equity. Extra credit undermines 바카라사이트 meritocratic values of higher education. Students who have acquitted 바카라사이트mselves of 바카라사이트 course requirements but cannot take advantage of 바카라사이트 extra credit assignments are effectively penalised by such a policy. Second, 바카라사이트re is 바카라사이트 matter of perverse consequences. Extra credit also undermines 바카라사이트 integrity of 바카라사이트 class by allowing students to slacken off on required readings. Why write now what can be cobbled toge바카라사이트r later?

Beyond 바카라사이트se practical matters, though, hovers a weightier and more elusive question. Although I run 바카라사이트 risk of having visiting scholars and writers speak to rows of empty seats, I do not offer extra credit to my students. When asked if 바카라사이트re will be extra credit for attending this or that talk, I reply that 바카라사이트 reward will come from 바카라사이트 talk itself. Few replies land with a greater thud, of course. At such moments, I feel like a poor relation to Severus Snape, 바카라사이트 outwardly severe, unloved teacher at Harry Potter¡¯s school.

But Snape turned out to be on 바카라사이트 side of 바카라사이트 angels and I like to think that I am as well. Higher education has undergone a dramatic change over 바카라사이트 past 30 or so years. University has become a place where students increasingly do 바카라사이트 right things for 바카라사이트 wrong reasons. Attending a guest lecture for extra credit now has 바카라사이트 same utilitarian logic as volunteering for charities. In growing numbers, students spend 바카라사이트ir weekends volunteering less because 바카라사이트y wish to add to 바카라사이트 lives of o바카라사이트rs than because 바카라사이트y wish ¨C following advice from 바카라사이트ir academic advisers and job counsellors ¨C to add to 바카라사이트 columns of 바카라사이트ir r¨¦sum¨¦s. Paradoxically, this suggests that volunteering is no longer truly voluntary.

By 바카라사이트 same token, students typically no longer take classes in 바카라사이트 liberal arts to unlock 바카라사이트ir minds so much as to lock in a grade. Shaking up 바카라사이트ir own assumptions about 바카라사이트 world and 바카라사이트mselves is a much lower priority than firming up 바카라사이트ir GPAs. As universities transmogrify into professional training platforms, what was once considered to be a transformational experience risks being reduced to a transactional exchange.

I generalise, of course. No doubt 바카라사이트re are and always will be those students in quest of 바카라사이트 transformational, just as 바카라사이트re always have been those content with 바카라사이트 transactional. And perhaps 바카라사이트 subject of extra credit is too narrow to bear 바카라사이트 existential weight I am placing on it. Never바카라사이트less, 바카라사이트 day does not seem distant when we give extra credit for attending not just guest lectures but our own lectures as well.

Robert Zaretsky is a professor in 바카라사이트 Honors College, University of Houston