What is your definition of ....

[JAC 0]

the meaning of life? Or what are your ideas? I recently had to write a paper about various words/ideas and one of them was "the meaning of life", "right & wrong", "religion", and quite a few others...

[rehmwa 2]

Sounds like you have a pretty lazy teacher. What with him/her throwing out subjective, generalized crap for assignments. Maybe you can talk him into showing Itchy and Scratchy cartoons for the class to discuss the social and political analogies written into the plot.

How much are you paying for that class? Maybe you can still transfer to a hard science or math course.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[shropshire 0]

Was it an English paper that you were asked to right write?

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Nightingale 0]

Plenty of teachers give open-ended assignments like that. I had a law school professor who gave us a research paper assignment that just had to be related to the subject matter in the course. Other than that, no topic guidelines were given. I learned so much writing that paper, and it allowed me the opportunity to explore an aspect of law that I otherwise wouldn't have.

If the class he's taking is a writing class, that assignment will probably be quite productive. If it's a writing class, they'll be focusing on structure and organization, which can be done with pretty much any topic.

However, I do hope they manage to teach him the difference between "right" and "write".

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the meaning of life? Or what are your ideas? I recently had to right a paper...

[Andy9o8 2]

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the meaning of life? Or what are your ideas? I recently had to right a paper about various words/ideas and one of them was "the meaning of life", "right & wrong", "religion", and quite a few others...

No offense, but if you write a paper for a graded class, I'd suggest you "write" it, because in this case, "right" is wrong.
Just trying to help.

And yes, I agree, this teacher sounds lazy.

Edit: Shrop & Nightingale downloaded my thoughts before I had the chance to type them. Plagiarists.

[unformed 0]

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Sounds like you have a pretty lazy teacher. What with him/her throwing out subjective, generalized crap for assignments. Maybe you can talk him into showing Itchy and Scratchy cartoons for the class to discuss the social and political analogies written into the plot.

How much are you paying for that class? Maybe you can still transfer to a hard science or math course.

you ever think, maybe it's a philosophy class? there are legitimate reasons to have a very open-ended essay question, possible to see how much the person can think for themselves.

This ad space for sale.

[rehmwa 2]

I knew you'd be the one to respond to that one. Your glass is always half full

I think people learn more if they are assigned to build a birdhouse in a shop class than trite self explorations in a writing class. Life is for self exploration, not some class. But then, some people do need practice expressing themselves coherently.

So with that, you might be write. or you might be rong.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[rehmwa 2]

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you ever think,

stop right there....


{the alternate response is if she's taking philosphy, let's all save her quickly from a life of pizza delivery and phone sales.... But that's just mean }

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[JAC 0]

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Was it an English paper that you were asked to right write?

Oops... apparently not.

[JAC 0]

It is a cultural diversity class. We could only write half a page on each topic.

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Sounds like you have a pretty lazy teacher. What with him/her throwing out subjective, generalized crap for assignments. Maybe you can talk him into showing Itchy and Scratchy cartoons for the class to discuss the social and political analogies written into the plot.

How much are you paying for that class? Maybe you can still transfer to a hard science or math course.

you ever think, maybe it's a philosophy class? there are legitimate reasons to have a very open-ended essay question, possible to see how much the person can think for themselves.

[Darius11 12]

I think the meaning of life is different for everyone. As long as you can be happy and not do harm to those who do not deserve it then I think you will have a good life.

It depends on how you view a productive life. I have a very close friend that since I have known him has wanted to be a dad and have a family. His dream is my nightmare. You know the 2.5 kid’s white fence and trip to Disney world with the kids. For me I just described hell but for him that is what gives his life meaning. Now that his daughter is born and he is haply married I have never seen him happier.

So I think we each have our own meaning to find.



Edit to add:Sorry I only answered your questions. I didn’t want to judge your teacher since I have never been in his/her class, and I also didn’t want to pretend like I know everything including the future of every philosophy major.

Then again I am not all seeing and all knowing

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[shropshire 0]

I'm sure you were 1st.... just network latency, that's all

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[shropshire 0]

de nada

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[rehmwa 2]

I'm still waiting on the Itchy and Scratchy curriculum.......

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[shropshire 0]

whoosh... I dont understand - sorry.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[rehmwa 2]

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whoosh... I dont understand - sorry.

no biggie, thanks for trying.

good ruck

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Nightingale 0]

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I'm still waiting on the Itchy and Scratchy curriculum.......

Well, if it's an animation class...




The issue with open ended assignments like the one above is that students get out of them what they put into them. With a structured assignment, most students will learn something whether they intend to or not. Open ended assignments can provide the opportunity to do some independant research (in the case above, I'd have looked for what some of the great philosophers said about life and contrasted it with my own opinions...I'd have learned about Plato and Socrates and probably would've picked up something about Aquinas and Loyola along the way and taken a good, solid look at my own thoughts and opinions in the light of what I'd learned). However, they can also result in a few pages of rambling about personal opinions without any learning taking place.

Some people like assignments with a lot of structure, because they are told what to do, what to learn, and how to do it. I find assignments like that very limiting, because sometimes my research will end up getting me interested in something that doesn't quite match with the assignment. I prefer open ended assignments, as they give me the opportunity to explore, but I enjoy learning and view classes and papers as an opportunity to do so. Honestly, it's probably the same reason I like debating in speaker's corner. I end up doing a lot of research to solidify and back up my opinions and I always learn something new in the process.

[warpedskydiver 0]

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the meaning of life? Or what are your ideas? I recently had to write a paper about various words/ideas and one of them was "the meaning of life", "right & wrong", "religion", and quite a few others...

The absence of death

[br0k3n 0]

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the meaning of life?

Come everyone knows the answer is "42"....

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--+ There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't.. --+

[Andy9o8 2]

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you ever think, maybe it's a philosophy class? there are legitimate reasons to have a very open-ended essay question, possible to see how much the person can think for themselves.

Yes; in fact, I halfway presumed it was a philosophy class. I took a lot of philosophy in college, so I had a lot of philosophy professors. Some were good, and some were lazy, using the "esoteric" nature of the discipline to basically slide. The diligent professors prepared well-thought out questions. The lazy ones asked crap like "What is reality?" - and of course, justified it by saying that it's a good way to get students to think.

One prof gave an essay exam. The question had one word to it: "Why?"
One Student turned in a 1-word essay: "Because."
For his grade, the professor wrote on the test paper:
"Brilliant! -- F ."

[idrankwhat 0]

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the meaning of life? Or what are your ideas? I recently had to write a paper about various words/ideas and one of them was "the meaning of life", "right & wrong", "religion", and quite a few others...

The meaning of life is what you what you make of yours. Hope this is a short paper

[rehmwa 2]

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Some people like assignments with a lot of structure, because they are told what to do, what to learn, and how to do it. I find assignments like that very limiting, because sometimes my research will end up getting me interested in something that doesn't quite match with the assignment. I prefer open ended assignments,.....

You have a very negative stereotype of structured thinkers. I think that's very unwarranted. The desire to find structure and create structure is hallmark of great inventors and thinkers. In fact, the most 'creative' minds in history are extemely structured and find 'new' and better ways to delivere a 'required' product.

Most people with structured minds have a positive connotation - ie insist on the requirements of an essay question (real world read 'fully understand the product performance specification') allows them to 'answer the question', (real world - deliver the product better and faster). It's not telling them what to do and how to do it, but it certainly should clearly define what to learn and when it's due. Your free thinkers will learn additional stuff regardless of the 'structure' or lack thereof of the assignment.

The only negative connotation to structure is the lazy mind that wants to be told what to do, but doesn't want to risk getting a 'wrong' answer - guidance without having to provide a return - which is very compatible with being given an assignment with no real defined goal. With a structured assignment goal, no one says you have to stop research once you answer the explicit question - that's a choice by the student. So then who really is demanding unnecessary structure here?

So an obtuse way to say this is: Enjoying open ended assignments implies someone that considers themselves 'open minded', but not a self starter, motivated, productive, or enterprising. (that's an unfair extrapolation but to a lesser extent how I view it).

Really, if the implication is someone who is 'free minded', then why do they wait for someone to 'Assign' the problem to them?

I find your responses very 'structured' with focus and clear intent. In my world that's a compliment.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants