Comments on: Ending the Uncomfortable Silence after a Professor Asks a Question

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:22:13 +0000

I’m usually incredible at not getting suckered into these things, however I have had absolutely nothing to do all day so:
-Corey, you failed to use quotes in your first sentence; Rita already pointed out your error in using “try and”, and your last sentence is not even a complete one.
-Rita, “‘try and…’ is inappropriate.” is the stupidest way of using the word inappropriate I have ever seen. There is a huge difference between inappropriate and wrong; if he’s wrong, tell him he’s wrong, or if you’re loving the prefix ‘in’ there is always incorrect. There is absolutely nothing inappropriate about “try and.” Also, one should never say one unless he is counting or trying desperately to come off as an insipid prick.
-Natalie, as much as I love the fact that you simply want to prove this guy to be as human as the next guy and move on, nor do you come of nearly as pretentious as the rest of these blow hards, the fact that you said anything at all forces me to point out that the ‘it’ in “It’s English” is incredibly vague and all around unacceptable as a pronoun in this instance.

Finally, the point being, you don’t have to be flawless yourself to know how much other people suck, and just because a guy makes a few errors in his comment does not make his point any less valid, maybe a little bit ironic and silly, but still true. Further more, every one of these comments was completely comprehensible before any of these corrections were pointed out. So, if you are going to point out someone’s flaws, that weren’t so big in the first place, only to expose your own for others to point out, maybe your time would be better spent not sounding like a jack ass.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:24:04 +0000

It’s English, with a capital E. Anyways, the graph’s funny and a lot of
idiots get into college.

By: Rita

Rita — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 04:30:51 +0000

Technically, “try and…” is inappropriate. One should say “try to…”

By: aidan

aidan — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:51:53 +0000

this is so true…

By: apmusicservices

apmusicservices — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:25:09 +0000

Good points , rather than importance of answer, need for answer is more exact and correct! but this is very true. give thumb up on su!!

By: GBro

GBro — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 23:33:19 +0000

I think you should review Jay’s comment again, this time keeping in mind that sarcasm is a thing

By: seriously

seriously — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:36:17 +0000

IRONY FAIL.

By: mac

mac — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:32:36 +0000

I wish the x-axis had units and hash marks.

By: joanne banarer

joanne banarer — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 05:58:57 +0000

good example of why students don’t understand satire.

By: benny

benny — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:06:54 +0000

lol this is so true.
Im one of the best english students in my class; and it is really fun to wait until you raise your hand xD

By: randi

randi — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:32:01 +0000

this isn’t even hard to understand, and i’m not even going to college.

By: ANON

ANON — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:14:24 +0000

photoshopped!

By: John

John — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 01:55:06 +0000

Immediately after the question an incorrect answer wouldn’t be appreciated but after an uncomfortable silence, giving any answer to end the silence would be more important than giving the right answer.

By: pissedoff

pissedoff — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:44:24 +0000

Or 3 years if you count both summer semesters.

By: aerodynamic kitty

aerodynamic kitty — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:39:08 +0000

I hate it when commenting is allowed.

By: asinomasimple

asinomasimple — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:58:15 +0000

Bad graph, just ask Tufte!

By: Corey

Corey — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:53:00 +0000

Oh you seen it? So you’ve been looking a mirror, have you? When insulting someone about their intelligence you should probably try and use the english language correctly. Just a suggestion.

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:44:41 +0000

surprisingly, a lot of retards are accepted into college. trust me. i seen it.

By: Utah Rick

Utah Rick — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:14:46 +0000

This is so true! There are a lot of profs that just love to watch students squirm. Very funny!

By: Sondra

Sondra — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:32:58 +0000

Haha that’s exactly what I thought too!!

By: D-chi

D-chi — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:50:51 +0000

THANK you! semester = half a school year.
Maybe they meant 24 semesters of grade school?

By: Katie

Katie — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:42:44 +0000

haha i thought this was funny, i’m in my second semester, and i can relate.

i don’t understand why everyone is reading so much into this, its supposed to be a damn joke, look at it, laugh and move on with your life.

also, the people that don’t understand, are taking it to literally, teachers want answers, preferably correct answers, but when students just sit there with blank faces the professor tends to get angry, thinking that no one is listening.. which is why any answer would work at that point, to show that one was at least paying attention…its funny.

By: Kid

Kid — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:25:31 +0000

ok for people who don’t get it, but when a teacher asks you a question and you don’t know the answer you get nervous and think it’s the most important thing in the world, while as when you have a right answer the teacher moves on and the answer is no longer important as time passes on.

By: hrvatica

hrvatica — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:24:44 +0000

Im in highschool and i get it :\

By: a bowl of water

a bowl of water — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:08:57 +0000

Judging by the comments most of you have never answered a question correctly in your lives.

The graph is funny and accurate, though.

By: Porkstick

Porkstick — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:43:31 +0000

Most of you will not benefit from further education.

By: cormac

cormac — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:20:19 +0000

Good graph..certainly represents my students anyway

By: Rach

Rach — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 08:42:41 +0000

This graph would make sense if there were no red line.

By: Asorae

Asorae — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 08:03:47 +0000

Not to mention that some schools go by trimesters, or even quarters.

By: lucille86

lucille86 — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 07:25:40 +0000

Haha, this graph totally represents my environmental ethics class!

Just to contribute to these hilariously out-of-touch comments: I read the “importance” of the answer to mean the urgency with which someone needs to answer in order to break the awkward silence. But what the graph also points out is that the longer time goes before someone completes the important task of breaking the awkward silence by giving an answer, the more likely it is that the answer given is incorrect/any answer.

Freaking math nerds…

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 04:04:47 +0000

Did they even mention what field they were majoring in? Some fields do require quite a bit of course work, especially if they are grad students. Besides, if they were “retarded” I doubt they would have been accepted into a university. Try to think out your insults a little more carefully.

By: Tronny Tsunami

Tronny Tsunami — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 04:00:57 +0000

Nah, brah, it’s not a paradox. It’s saying that the important thing isn’t whether or not the answer is correct, it’s whether or not an answer is given. The graph shows that the importance of answering a question correctly is inversely proportional to the importance of answering the question. The correct answer itself is not losing importance, but the attribute of accuracy is.

By: jesus

jesus — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:22:24 +0000

The comments to this are way funnier than the actual post

By: ummmmm

ummmmm — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:05:38 +0000

I’m afraid you and medicat are borderline retarded if you can’t manage to get through college in TWELVE YEARS. And extremely retarded if you can’t piece together the meaning of this painfully simple to understand graph (speaking about medicat, of course).

By: Evilsp00n

Evilsp00n — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:40:50 +0000

It is also my first year in college but I still get the graph. School hasn’t totally destroyed my sense of humor and turned me into a complete analytical freak. For as many years of school as I plan to attend, which is a lot, I hope to never let my critical thinking side completely annihilate my “good for a laugh” side. I dig the joke because I have observed it many times in class.

By: Prof. Farker

Prof. Farker — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:10:05 +0000

As a trig professor, I’m getting a kick out of these comments.

By: jholt89

jholt89 — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 23:39:25 +0000

No see the questions’ importance doesn’t vary, it’s the importance of the answer that are correlated.
Right answer short amount of time-good
Right answer long amount of time-not quite as good.
Wrong answer short amount of time- not quite good
Wrong answer long amount of time- good

Though I would have to disagree with the whole thing because I would rather have the right answer regardless of time, awkwardness notwithstanding.

By: Yuusha

Yuusha — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:21:13 +0000

While that is what was intended, and it is quite obvious, that’s not what is actually portrayed. I’m pretty sure that the right answer goes into the “any answer” category, and therefore the right answer is both import and unimportant at the same time. It’s a bit of a paradox.

It’s pretty dumb to point these things out, though. It’s just a joke.

By: seriously?

seriously? — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:06:51 +0000

I think everyone might be taking this graph a little too seriously. Just throwin that out there.

By: ajasldfkj

ajasldfkj — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 18:38:25 +0000

Comments: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAH

Actual topic (the picture): BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

By: lonnie83

lonnie83 — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 09:02:34 +0000

trying to sound smart doesn’t make anyone sympathetic.

By: skyler

skyler — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 08:25:35 +0000

omg all of u are FREAKS

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 06:38:19 +0000

I would maybe have “the right answer” curve start lower, and then get higher, and then get back low again, since answers blurted out immediately after a question can be dumb.

By: Arg

Arg — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:54:41 +0000

I did misread it first and thought it said ‘question’. I still think the graph doesn’t work quite right, though.

If anything, the y-axis should just say “Importance”. Because the ‘data lines’ are ‘any answer’ or ‘the right answer’. For example, one line would read:
“The importance of the answer of ‘any answer’ increases over time”.

I get what it is INTENDING but I dont’ think it’s executed correctly.

By: Diane

Diane — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:45:33 +0000

HA! Oh my God, I have to try that… that’s awesome.

And trust me, if you’ve ever had to stand in front of a group of students and try to teach something, you totally get this graph. I don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to yell out, “Just say something! ANYTHING! Put any combination of sounds together!!”

By: Chelsey

Chelsey — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:41:18 +0000

I think it would make more sense if it was titled “Probability of correct answer depending on time passed” and the Y axis was probability but I’m only a sophomore in college so who knows

By: Dienarrin

Dienarrin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:18:57 +0000

Obviously you have never heard of the socratic method??

By: Leak

Leak — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:05:23 +0000

Meh… I’m also in my 24th semester and I still got it, so maybe generalizing it like this is going a bit too far…

By: boaks

boaks — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:54:30 +0000

I’ll join in with the crowd who doesn’t get it. How does time change the importance of an answer? And why is “any answer” more important than “right answer”? Maybe I just don’t get it because I went to a college where we had intelligent students who actually answered the questions the profs asked.

By: Prof.

Prof. — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:28:51 +0000

It’s a proven fact that students learn more through Q&A and group work than through LECTURE. You can start with Socrates and work up to modern pedagogical theory. If someone’s just lecturing at you, you’re not internalizing it, and you’re not doing anything. Q&A at least asks you to engage. There are better modes, but learn something about teaching before you spout off.