I am off to meet with Professor Noam Chomsky!

[kuuan]

Raid great of you to having brought along all these goodies!
and you make me, and sure not only me, very curious about the things you said about Iraq!

 

[Ranchu]

I just find your behavior entirely charming, Raid. You're a true gentleman.

🙂

 

[raid]

Raid great of you to having brought along all these goodies!
and you make me, and sure not only me, very curious about the things you said about Iraq!

I thought that this way he may remember the lunch, and maybe then remember who brought hi the lunch. 😀

 

[raid]

If you read my brief narrative on how I managed to leave Iraq to study in the US, you get a better understanding on some aspects of life in Iraq during the 1970's and 1980's. Almost anything was "forbidden", unless you were a member of the Baath Party.

The science publisher, Springer, started a week ago the program "Before the Abstract" by which some scientists who published articles in Springer and whose work was chosen at the time of publication as Springer Select articles ("for groundbreaking results"), they present a narrative of some aspect pf their lives to show what made them do research in a certain field, or they were recorded live. So the website had LISTEN for recorded videos and it has READ for written narratives. They chose my narrative to be the first one ever published by Springer. This is the narrative that I referred to earlier in this thread that I helped with connecting a Springer Manager and Chomsky's Assistant. Maybe Professor Chomsky can be persuaded to write such a narrative for Springer one day.


http://www.beforetheabstract.com/raid-amin/

 

[Thardy]

Thanks for the link to before the abstract. When I have time I'll listen to Dr. Elizabeth Frost.

 

[kuuan]

Raid thank you very much for the link and your interesting life story

 

[Thardy]

Raid, what a fantastic story of how you made it to the U.S. to study. If these stories were to told to our kids here in the U.S. they would realize how fortunate they are and take advantages of the opportunities that avail them.

 

[raid]

I shared it today with one graduate class. I hope that students get motivated to do better, after realizing that they really are lucky to have a good life.
I did not tell them that I left out the more sensitive information. What you can read about was censored first by me.

 

[kuuan]

Raid, what a fantastic story of how you made it to the U.S. to study. If these stories were to told to our kids here in the U.S. they would realize how fortunate they are and take advantages of the opportunities that avail them.

right..,so they also won't be aware of the millions, maybe a billion people that can't even imagine to have the possibilities, even though his circumstances had been so very difficult, that Raid has had?

 

[raid]

This is true, Kuuan. I am very fortunate to have lived within a middle class family in Baghdad. Even with this luck, I needed lots of careful planning and lots of extra luck to succeed. Many Iraqi young people went through very similar steps. Some had to go through more extreme steps, such as leaving on mule back through the northern part of Iraq to Turkey, risking their lives to strangers who could just push them off the mountain rims.

 

[Thardy]

right..,so they also won't be aware of the millions, maybe a billion people that can't even imagine to have the possibilities, even though his circumstances had been so very difficult, that Raid has had?

So you don't agree that kids in U.S. perform below what would be expected given the perceived advantages?

https://www.insidehighered.com/news...on-faring-poorly-educationally-compared-those

 

[raid]

It could very well be that people all over the world get used to the 'climate" that they live in, and they live accordingly. When would you meet a young person who tells you "I just found out that kids in Singapore do very well in Math, and therefore I will work harder than before"?

It does not happen often around me.

I once told a small class of undergraduate students that the educational system in the USA is very easy for students to go through. "You add each semester a few credit hours to your Piggy Bank", and so on. That semester I received the worst student evaluations I had ever received! Students may have felt being put down, or they wanted sympathy and not new challenges.

 

[Thardy]

Raid, I have friends who are Professors in the disciplines of Political Science, Physics, and Mathematics and they pretty much have said the same.

 

[raid]

I face this each week. In fact, I was grading exams yesterday and today, and a few students were not happy with my expectations.

 

[kuuan]

you misunderstood, my answer started with 'right', had second your notion by pointing out how very unawares of even more blatant facts these kids must be

So you don't agree that kids in U.S. perform below what would be expected given the perceived advantages?

I agree that the majority doesn't perform well, but I don't agree that, as things stand, one could expect them to perform better. Many that arrived in the US or Europe with may difficulties from countries with much less opportunities know that these don't come for granted and therefore will make better use of them. If the US kids were more aware of how unique their possibilities are one could expect them to do better, that's why I had agreed with your first statement

 

[rfaspen]

Such complex reasons why U.S. undergrads often seem to be underprepared and unmotivated when they arrive in my classes. Popular culture fails them greatest, but our education system plays a role as well. Regardless, I seem to get several outstanding students in each class that offset the duds.

I wish there was a way to counteract the Miley Cyrus effect. Its worth remembering that popular culture affects parents as well as young people. Its a formidable force, and it often does us harm. As a parent with a child who has just finished his first year at university, I can honestly say I've seen all of this firsthand. I could go on with specifics...

I've been a professor at two western U.S. universities for some years now. I have high expectations of my undergrad students, but I also outline my expectations very clearly. As a result, I seem to parse out the motivated (not necessarily the smartest) from the unmotivated very cleanly. And I consistently get nominated for "professor of the year", or some such thing, by these same students -- all of them. Go figure. I think my teaching style and obvious desire to be where I am contribute to this. I also choose my grad students very carefully. They must have a sense of humor and be prepared to use it when assisting with classes. (we're talking about math and statistics here, yes humor)

Chomsky's office is bigger than mine (either of them).

 

[Thardy]

you misunderstood, my answer started with 'right', had second your notion by pointing out how very unawares of even more blatant facts these kids must be



I agree that the majority doesn't perform well, but I don't agree that, as things stand, one could expect them to perform better. Many that arrived in the US or Europe with may difficulties from countries with much less opportunities know that these don't come for granted and therefore will make better use of them. If the US kids were more aware of how unique their possibilities are one could expect them to do better, that's why I had agreed with your first statement

Sorry, I did misunderstand. I did the same I accused my kids of doing (reading too quickly, not seeking clarification). Mea Culpa!

 

[kuuan]

Sorry, I did misunderstand. I did the same I accused my kids of doing (reading too quickly, not seeking clarification). Mea Culpa!

for bad wording and the unnecessary question mark 'mea culpa' just as much

I am Austrian and was an exchange student attending High School at an 'upper middle class' suburb of Portland, Oregon from 1979 to 80. Coming back to Vienna to enter University had been a very frustrating experience. The facilities, access to knowledge had been incomparably worse in the university back in Austria than at that High School. As exchange student I got to visit other schools too and should mention that schools in poor neighborhoods didn't compare neither.
In Austria I had to study hard to pass the necessary school and tests that made me eligible to go to university. In the High School in the US I just had a ball, pretty much never studied back home but it had been very easy to get high scores. I was amazed by the variety of classes offered, in particular art and craft classes. Btw. I took a photography class, learned how to develop B&W and colors film, do prints, also revers from slides. I also was amazed by how little knowledge most students had but also impressed by how very advanced the interested could become.

 

[raid]

It depends on the university in which you study. Some US universities are very thorough. This is especiallcially pronounced in doctorate studies. Many European universities give out doctorate degrees based entirely on research with one professor.

 

[paulfish4570]

my friend, what did you and your family speak at home in baghdad if not arabic?