Hoisted from the archives: The students strike back!!
UPDATE: This contest was posted two weeks ago…. and frankly, I’ve been disappointed with the student response. My crack intelligence network at Fletcher tell me that some of the student body was rankled by my “Bad Student Writing contest” from last month — yet I see no attempt by the Fletcher student body to step ...
UPDATE: This contest was posted two weeks ago.... and frankly, I've been disappointed with the student response. My crack intelligence network at Fletcher tell me that some of the student body was rankled by my "Bad Student Writing contest" from last month -- yet I see no attempt by the Fletcher student body to step up to the plate. So, I'm reposting this comment, and triple-dog-daring the students of the American academy to "Post, in the comments, the most confusing, badly-written or long-winded sentence a professor of yours has written in a published article." Just to make things interesting, I add two additional qualifiers: 1) Judith Butler entries will not be accepted. Booooring. And it's been done to death. 2) Extra-special bonus points if you can find a God-awful sentence written by the author of this blog. C'mon, students of mine -- I've assigned a fair amount of my own crap work. If you can't find a bad sentence in my published oeuvre, you ain't trying hard enough. Get to it, students -- or the professors of the world will be able to claim that students can't even procrastinate as efficiently as the professoriate! The Bad Student Writing Contest was a great success -- but it came at the expense of students. Already, commenters are concluding that this is emblematic of the sorry state of American education, which suffers from a wee bit of the ol' selection bias. So, students, your time for revenge has come. Why procrastinate during the spring semester when you can procrastinate today? Here is your opportunity to (anonymously) thumb your nose at the guardians of your grades. I give you.... The Bad Professor Writing Contest: Post, in the comments, the most confusing, badly-written or long-winded sentence a professor of yours has written in a published article.Bonus points if you can provide an active hyperlink to the article. Winners will receive a prize of unspecified but clearly inestimable value. Good luck!!
UPDATE: This contest was posted two weeks ago…. and frankly, I’ve been disappointed with the student response. My crack intelligence network at Fletcher tell me that some of the student body was rankled by my “Bad Student Writing contest” from last month — yet I see no attempt by the Fletcher student body to step up to the plate. So, I’m reposting this comment, and triple-dog-daring the students of the American academy to “Post, in the comments, the most confusing, badly-written or long-winded sentence a professor of yours has written in a published article.” Just to make things interesting, I add two additional qualifiers:
1) Judith Butler entries will not be accepted. Booooring. And it’s been done to death. 2) Extra-special bonus points if you can find a God-awful sentence written by the author of this blog. C’mon, students of mine — I’ve assigned a fair amount of my own
crapwork. If you can’t find a bad sentence in my published oeuvre, you ain’t trying hard enough.
Get to it, students — or the professors of the world will be able to claim that students can’t even procrastinate as efficiently as the professoriate! The Bad Student Writing Contest was a great success — but it came at the expense of students. Already, commenters are concluding that this is emblematic of the sorry state of American education, which suffers from a wee bit of the ol’ selection bias. So, students, your time for revenge has come. Why procrastinate during the spring semester when you can procrastinate today? Here is your opportunity to (anonymously) thumb your nose at the guardians of your grades. I give you…. The Bad Professor Writing Contest:
Post, in the comments, the most confusing, badly-written or long-winded sentence a professor of yours has written in a published article.
Bonus points if you can provide an active hyperlink to the article. Winners will receive a prize of unspecified but clearly inestimable value. Good luck!!
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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