[no2pencil]

Must be rough for you.

[jon.kiparsky]

modi123_1, on 10 September 2012 - 02:52 PM, said:

Actually... that would be pretty bad ass. Thursday Jon kicks in the door to classroom - stunner shades, trench coat, and well worn combat boots.

I think that's the most bizarre nickname anyone's ever tried to hang on me... "They call me Thursday Jon, but I have no idea why."

I like the scenario, though. (Um, will next Tuesday do? My trench coat is at the cleaners.)

[modi123_1]

It's part of the setup.. See.. you're name is Thursday Jon but you could be there Tuesday! It's like being called Johnny Utah and being from Dubuque, IA.

[jon.kiparsky]

modi123_1, on 10 September 2012 - 02:56 PM, said:

It's part of the setup.. See.. you're name is Thursday Jon but you could be there Tuesday! It's like being called Johnny Utah and being from Dubuque, IA.

I dunno. Do I get a theme song? If I get a kickin' theme song, I'm in.

[Skaggles]

Not programming, but my speech professor says that I could teach his class. He keeps asking me back to talk to his classes every semester. Though, I never tried to correct him during class. I was just awesome.

[modi123_1]

He just wants to be able to oogle your, rumored, magnificent buns up close...

[ishkabible]

Quote

The third one suggests that you're used to working with terrible professors

nope, I'm not used to working with profs at all...I am however used to working with terrible high school, middle school, and elementary teachers.

[creativecoding]

You guys are lumping all mistakes together. Some are more important than others. The important ones that people should know and look out for should be pointed out and corrected. The small ones, including super-strict proper coding styles, are best left out or talked about in private.

[NecroWinter]

I think on some level, any professor worth their salt wants to be corrected. If you are a programmer, you probably accepted a long time ago that you make a lot of mistakes. Anyone who gets angry over the idea of making a mistake in this field wouldnt last very long imo, so a person who actually lasted long enough to be a professor is likely(keyword...) someone who is open to corrections. Programming is a humbling craft... Ive had a programming teacher who had the shortest temper of any educator ive ever seen (not to mention she was very focused on her "status" as she came from a business background), and she never cared if someone corrected her.

my current professor, who is also the CS department chair at my uni actually gets annoyed if people dont point out errors. Her errors tend to be tiny errors, not so much big picture ones, for example, writing b^n, and only writing b when everyone knows she meant to write b^n (talking and writing at the same time can be hard sometimes lol). Shes also the type that will give a spontaneous pop quiz if she doesnt get enough feedback from students, so she definitely welcomes this stuff, because it shows you actually care about whats going on.

but to speak to the point a lot of posters made here, its really not a good idea to "pick" on the professor so to speak, if a professor doesnt use the same casing style you use for variables, its best to leg it go and not point out that your way is more "standard". Not all professors are like the one I have that actually wants you to point out every little thing. When I say that its good to correct them, it tends to be more focused on big picture things.

This post has been edited by NecroWinter: 10 September 2012 - 08:20 PM

[baavgai]

The_Programmer-, on 10 September 2012 - 03:06 PM, said:

I knew that if I started this thread I would get a lot of people saying that correcting people is bad

Few have said "correcting" is explicitly bad. Rather, that there are ways to get the correct information out there that are more helpful than others. Bluntly telling someone they're wrong does little to encourage them to consider your argument. More often, it paints the corrector as an ass. ( You see that, I didn't just say you're fucking wrong. )

The_Programmer-, on 10 September 2012 - 03:06 PM, said:

And I wouldn't teach anyway: "People who don't know, teach; People who know don't teach."

Excellent. Can you give a reasonable defense of your assertion? Have you come by your own knowelge via divine inspiration? Can your cite the origin of that quip?

The original quote, often repeated and changed, is:

Quote

He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
-- George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims for Revolutionists"

A little context and more pity Shaw Maxisms from the same:

Quote

A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.
... The vilest abortionist is he who attempts to mould a child's character.

The last is interesting, since it's basically the mission statement of the home schooler.

The_Programmer-, on 10 September 2012 - 03:06 PM, said:

Also, I said I am home-schooled so I don't get why people are saying that I shouldn't go up to the front of the class and correct the teacher.

One critique of home schooling is that is removes the individual from the social crucible known as school. School forces you to deal with all kinds of people and situations you'd probably rather avoid. Home schoolers wish to shield you from such negative experiences, as well as contrary ideas. Unfortunately, they can't shield you from the real world forever.

In school, there are teachers and students. Depending on the type of school and student's maturity, many social conventions exist in this relationship. The best teachers are those who can enforce such expected behavior. At a certain level, though, you're expected to understand how to behave in public and it's not the teacher's job to enforce it.

Why is it wrong to "correct" a teacher in front of the class? Respect. Most students automatically give their teachers respect, mostly because it's been impressed upon them from an early age. Still, respect for others is an invaluable trait. Without it, your ability to function within many social situations is crippled.

[Curtis Rutland]

Quote

The best thing you, the super student, can do for everyone in the class, is to make the instructor look like a super star. You do this by asking questions you already know the answer to, but feel that the answer should be given to the class. You don't say "yeah, but instances and objects are the same thing." Rather, you ask, "What's the difference between an instance and an object?" This will keep you awake in class. You also learn other ways for expressing ideas you already know.

Just throwing this out there...

Doing this the wrong way can have the unintended consequence of you coming off as an pompous know-it-all douchenozzle. I had people like that in a few classes I had, and they all sounded like they were jerking showing off; trying to show the whole class how smart they were by asking questions they obviously knew the answer to, because they didn't think the teacher explained it well enough so other people could get it.

It's fine if you're tactful. Just try to avoid sounding like you're a showoff. Personally, I kept my head down in class. It's not my job to make sure the other people understand the material as well as I do. If they want to study with me, great, but I'm not wasting lecture time if I don't have an actual question of my own.

As for correcting teachers, I'd feel it out. Privately. If they're receptive, great. If not, back the hell off, because they're the ones grading you. Teachers can be just as petty and vindictive as anyone else, and if you come off as a dick to them, they may grade you more harshly than others. Sucks, and yeah maybe they shouldn't be teachers with that attitude, but this is the real world, and people are assholes. Learn to work around them, instead of against them.

[Tayacan]

I actually taught half my high school class in programming for two months, up to exams. That was because half the class wanted to make games, and my teacher had no experience with that. When I asked him if I could teach game programming to anyone who'd rather do that than databases in Java, which is what he had planned, he said "sure".

I wouldn't do that with any teacher, though - I had a fairly good relationship with this one, bouncing ideas after class and sending links to Java-related articles back and forth. Although I knew more Java than him, he had industry experience.

About correcting teachers... I'd point out my high school teachers mistakes if he made any, but again, only because of the mutual respect between us, and always in a polite way - "Why does that say foo? I would thing it should say bar". Never make a teacher look bad in front of his class. One of my professors at uni likes to type in examples while he speaks, and he makes mistakes all the time, but that's okay, because we all know how badass he is when he's not coding in front of 200 people.

[baavgai]

Curtis Rutland, on 11 September 2012 - 06:02 PM, said:

Doing this the wrong way can have the unintended consequence of you coming off as an pompous know-it-all douchenozzle.

Agreed. But then, that would be the wrong way. The intent is to check your ego at the door. If you're showing how fucking brilliant you are, you're doing it wrong.

Also, know-it-alls can't learn. They, well, know it all, so aren't open to the possibility they don't. Showing off means you're invested in being right, so you're far less willing to be wrong. To learn, you have to admit ignorance. Even if you've seen it a thousand times before, there's always a chance this time will be different.

People who are really good never say it. Because being good means being willing to screw up and being aware of it's possibility. People who are invested in proving to you how good they are and are unwilling to admit they're wrong are pitiful, delusion, narcissists.