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Kryptos
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Trump, as exemplified by a tutoring student 3
#23510545 - 08/04/16 07:01 PM (7 years, 5 months ago) |
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I've spent the last few years, as both an undergrad and graduate student, tutoring other undergrads. Most of my students are from wealthy backgrounds, where money is no object and they happily throw cash at problems (such as drinking instead of studying) to make them go away. In many cases, this works. I've watched under-qualified students get positions that they could not handle, and I've seen more than a few students literally pay their way to a passing GPA with fellowships and donations. I would like to share a story about one student that stands out in particular.
This kid was dumb as a fucking rock. I normally don't use grades as a measure of success, as my own personal GPA out of high school was below 2, but my fault was lack of effort, and I got into college based almost entirely off my test scores and knowledge that I gained independently. This particular student was not like me. He, also, lacked any sort of effort or initiative, but he did not admit it. He was convinced that he was hot shit destined for greatness, regardless of any of his actions. Where I simply got bad grades because I was too busy reading off topic, he got bad grades because he was busy drinking his way through every party he was invited to. Yeah, his social life put mine to shame. On the other hand, his social life was developed at the cost of basic knowledge and information. He didn't want to learn, he wanted the results without the effort.
So, during our second tutoring session, he asked me to do one of his take home tests for him. He offered me $100 to literally just do it for him, so he could put his name on it and turn it in for credit. Me, being a broke grad student, accepted. I don't think I did anything wrong by helping him commit academic fraud, because it's not like I could get in trouble for it, and I could use the beer money. So I accepted the $100, and sent him an answer key for his test the next day. Thing is, I knew that he could get in a bunch of hot water if anyone found out it was not his work. As a matter of fact, I planned on that. I didn't bother giving it my best effort. I aimed to get him a C. Average passing grade, according to most undergraduate college requirements. Plus, I figured if I did any better than that, then he would get a suspiciously good grade and end up in hot water.
Apparently, he got a B+ on that test (his best for the semester). I got my $100, he got his grade, and I started charging his (similarly not that smart) parents double for tutoring sessions. They continued, and I continued tutoring this kid, though I saw him less as a person and more as a cash cow at that point. What do I care if some idiot gets passing grades, only to get hired at his daddy's law firm and become partner by nepotism. I get paid, and eventually, people are gonna realize that he's got the mental capacity of a brick in a suit (that costs more than my rent, which he was now paying at 50$/hr). He had the social skills to keep it going long after I stopped being an obvious factor. His daddy's law firm was a big enough name (his granddad's actually, his daddy wasn't all that bright) that a few screw ups weren't gonna sink it.
Of course, I'd need to wait for some years to pass before I could pass definitive judgement, but Trump gives me the same exact feeling. It's really not hard to "succeed" as a businessman when your daddy hands you a sprawling real estate empire plus a few (40) mil in start up cash. You are selling a zero-sum product, where you don't actually produce anything, but just charge people to use property that you happen to own already. Of course, a smart mogul would be making deals and snagging construction projects, in the interests of improving the value of the land. A not so smart mogul would try to expand holdings into developing markets that don't pan out, and then just declare bankruptcy to get money back. A mogul that is not so smart but is incapable of admitting it would also go back and sue the banks that loaned him money for slander, because they "slanderously" proclaimed his inability to pay them back (how do you manage to bankrupt yourself with a casino? The entire premise of casinos is that most people are too dumb to realize they statistically lose money every time).
The thing is, if that happens once, that's no problem. Everyone makes mistakes, and almost everyone learns from them. Twice is bad luck. Thrice is coincidence, I guess. Four times, you might genuinely be an idiot who is incapable of running the empire daddy gave you, not to mention the biggest economy in the world and the country that spends as much on their army as the next 15 combined, of which 14 are allies. Bankruptcy on a personal level sucks for you and your employees. Bankruptcy combined with the inability to accept the truth, as well as access to a nuclear arsenal when you have a history of suing for slander when a bank says that you declared bankruptcy instead of paying them back? That's a bit terrifying.
Let's go back to that student I tutored. I truly believe that he's gonna make more than twice the money that I make in our lifetimes. To be fair, I became a chemist not for money, but because I want to make life saving drugs (and get high for free in the process of doing so). I don't need millions to live, though I wouldn't mind being handed millions. My average living expenditures for the last few years are $12k/yr. It's just that the prospect of having that student become the leader of the country that not only do I happen to live in, but one that has the military power to exert its influence anywhere else in the world I would flee to is not something I want to imagine.
I should be clear, the point here is not that Trump is an idiot. I don't believe that he is. I actually believe that he is an extremely intelligent person who could put most people to shame. I just really don't think he has any business being in charge of anything but a flashy brand and a TV show.
Edited by Kryptos (08/04/16 08:44 PM)
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Douglas Howard
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Re: Trump, as exemplified by a tutoring student [Re: Kryptos]
#23511741 - 08/05/16 05:36 AM (7 years, 5 months ago) |
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Life saving drugs will be good to have. But most of these drugs today accept for penicillin (A natural antibiotic) and aspirins (A natural pain reliever), that has been causing a lot of health and mental issues. Some meds that even the U.S. military will not enlist those that are taking those meds.
Trump has been doing a great job of holding down his fort. But now let him spread some of that wisdom around to us, so that we can have a fort to lay our head down in comfort.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/15/ambien-side-effect-sleepwalking-sleep-aid_n_4589743.html
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Kryptos
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Re: Trump, as exemplified by a tutoring student [Re: Douglas Howard]
#23512387 - 08/05/16 10:59 AM (7 years, 5 months ago) |
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Yeah, based on the research that I've been doing, I don't think people are gonna be too worried about side effects that include sleepwalking and high cholesterol or some shit when it kills their inoperable tumor.
As for Trump spreading wisdom...I've actually picked up a copy of his book "Art of the Deal" where he talks about absolutely everything except his methods. He actually mentions at one point that he doesn't want to give anyone advice, because then they might use it against him.
Promising.
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demiu5
humans, lol


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Re: Trump, as exemplified by a tutoring student [Re: Kryptos]
#23513280 - 08/05/16 03:43 PM (7 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Kryptos said: Yeah, based on the research that I've been doing, I don't think people are gonna be too worried about side effects that include sleepwalking and high cholesterol or some shit when it kills their inoperable tumor.
As for Trump spreading wisdom...I've actually picked up a copy of his book "Art of the Deal" where he talks about absolutely everything except his methods. He actually mentions at one point that he doesn't want to give anyone advice, because then they might use it against him.
Promising.
did you hear the interview with his ghost-writer who claims most of the book is made up because trump couldn't focus long enough to answer questions being asked? if not, you should, then go get your money back for the book
-------------------- channel your inner Larry David
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Kryptos
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Re: Trump, as exemplified by a tutoring student [Re: demiu5]
#23514765 - 08/05/16 11:48 PM (7 years, 5 months ago) |
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I did not. I also didn't pay for the book, so...eh.
Interesting aside:
Yeah, I know it's unrelated, and a pretty shitty show overall (this is the second one I've seen in the series, and I am not enthused...)
The one thing that stands out to me is what the professional fraud adviser says in the last minute or two of video: A good con man will attempt to instill a sense of fear, because when you are afraid, you make terrible decisions. Doesn;t matter what the fear is, whether it's the possibility of leaking brake fluid or Mexican rapists.
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Brian Jones
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Re: Trump, as exemplified by a tutoring student [Re: Kryptos]
#23515181 - 08/06/16 06:25 AM (7 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Kryptos said: I've spent the last few years, as both an undergrad and graduate student, tutoring other undergrads. Most of my students are from wealthy backgrounds, where money is no object and they happily throw cash at problems (such as drinking instead of studying) to make them go away. In many cases, this works. I've watched under-qualified students get positions that they could not handle, and I've seen more than a few students literally pay their way to a passing GPA with fellowships and donations. I would like to share a story about one student that stands out in particular.
This kid was dumb as a fucking rock. I normally don't use grades as a measure of success, as my own personal GPA out of high school was below 2, but my fault was lack of effort, and I got into college based almost entirely off my test scores and knowledge that I gained independently. This particular student was not like me. He, also, lacked any sort of effort or initiative, but he did not admit it. He was convinced that he was hot shit destined for greatness, regardless of any of his actions. Where I simply got bad grades because I was too busy reading off topic, he got bad grades because he was busy drinking his way through every party he was invited to. Yeah, his social life put mine to shame. On the other hand, his social life was developed at the cost of basic knowledge and information. He didn't want to learn, he wanted the results without the effort.
So, during our second tutoring session, he asked me to do one of his take home tests for him. He offered me $100 to literally just do it for him, so he could put his name on it and turn it in for credit. Me, being a broke grad student, accepted. I don't think I did anything wrong by helping him commit academic fraud, because it's not like I could get in trouble for it, and I could use the beer money. So I accepted the $100, and sent him an answer key for his test the next day. Thing is, I knew that he could get in a bunch of hot water if anyone found out it was not his work. As a matter of fact, I planned on that. I didn't bother giving it my best effort. I aimed to get him a C. Average passing grade, according to most undergraduate college requirements. Plus, I figured if I did any better than that, then he would get a suspiciously good grade and end up in hot water.
Apparently, he got a B+ on that test (his best for the semester). I got my $100, he got his grade, and I started charging his (similarly not that smart) parents double for tutoring sessions. They continued, and I continued tutoring this kid, though I saw him less as a person and more as a cash cow at that point. What do I care if some idiot gets passing grades, only to get hired at his daddy's law firm and become partner by nepotism. I get paid, and eventually, people are gonna realize that he's got the mental capacity of a brick in a suit (that costs more than my rent, which he was now paying at 50$/hr). He had the social skills to keep it going long after I stopped being an obvious factor. His daddy's law firm was a big enough name (his granddad's actually, his daddy wasn't all that bright) that a few screw ups weren't gonna sink it.
Of course, I'd need to wait for some years to pass before I could pass definitive judgement, but Trump gives me the same exact feeling. It's really not hard to "succeed" as a businessman when your daddy hands you a sprawling real estate empire plus a few (40) mil in start up cash. You are selling a zero-sum product, where you don't actually produce anything, but just charge people to use property that you happen to own already. Of course, a smart mogul would be making deals and snagging construction projects, in the interests of improving the value of the land. A not so smart mogul would try to expand holdings into developing markets that don't pan out, and then just declare bankruptcy to get money back. A mogul that is not so smart but is incapable of admitting it would also go back and sue the banks that loaned him money for slander, because they "slanderously" proclaimed his inability to pay them back (how do you manage to bankrupt yourself with a casino? The entire premise of casinos is that most people are too dumb to realize they statistically lose money every time).
The thing is, if that happens once, that's no problem. Everyone makes mistakes, and almost everyone learns from them. Twice is bad luck. Thrice is coincidence, I guess. Four times, you might genuinely be an idiot who is incapable of running the empire daddy gave you, not to mention the biggest economy in the world and the country that spends as much on their army as the next 15 combined, of which 14 are allies. Bankruptcy on a personal level sucks for you and your employees. Bankruptcy combined with the inability to accept the truth, as well as access to a nuclear arsenal when you have a history of suing for slander when a bank says that you declared bankruptcy instead of paying them back? That's a bit terrifying.
Let's go back to that student I tutored. I truly believe that he's gonna make more than twice the money that I make in our lifetimes. To be fair, I became a chemist not for money, but because I want to make life saving drugs (and get high for free in the process of doing so). I don't need millions to live, though I wouldn't mind being handed millions. My average living expenditures for the last few years are $12k/yr. It's just that the prospect of having that student become the leader of the country that not only do I happen to live in, but one that has the military power to exert its influence anywhere else in the world I would flee to is not something I want to imagine.
I should be clear, the point here is not that Trump is an idiot. I don't believe that he is. I actually believe that he is an extremely intelligent person who could put most people to shame. I just really don't think he has any business being in charge of anything but a flashy brand and a TV show.
You took his takehome test for $100. As someone who taught for 5 years in the Big Ten. I'm telling you, you deserve zero respect as a human being, let alone any kind of an academic. If you fucked a freshman student I would have more respect fore you. You are scum.
-------------------- "The Rolling Stones will break up over Brian Jones' dead body" John Lennon I don't want no commies in my car. No Christians either. The worst thing about corruption is that it works so well,
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Kryptos
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Re: Trump, as exemplified by a tutoring student [Re: Brian Jones]
#23519418 - 08/07/16 04:27 PM (7 years, 5 months ago) |
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I mean, I have "students" who basically pay a (steep) premium for me to do their work. Many are employed adults with families that went back to school (usually because they got as far as they can in the industry without a degree, and their boss told them to get a degree for the next promotion) and don't have time to do the work. There are entire companies built around that business model and they commonly advertise on campuses (...campii?). This is part of why I don't see anything particularly bad about helping someone else commit academic fraud. There are many cases in which someone is qualified for a position but lacks the $100k piece of paper that says they are. There are also many cases in which people that have the paper are woefully under-qualified, and they never last very long. Grades are almost never an accurate measure of someone's capabilities. Plus, you're only a cheater if you get caught (and aren't rich) in modern society. Sure, it's Machiavellian, but there's a reason so many bosses, CEOs and presidential candidates all rank much higher on the dark triad than the common population.
Where there is a demand, there will be a supply.
I don't agree with what the student is doing, but he's only hurting himself. Much like using cliffnotes or buying a teacher's edition textbook. That's why I rarely bother doing my best work in these scenarios. If anything, it helps me learn. If I turned it down, I'm about 100% sure that I would have lost a customer and someone else (likely a coworker) would have picked up the $100. (and a new customer that didn't mind paying extra)
I was actually talking with a few professors a few months back, and they were discussing what appeared to be a case of plagiarism (and was, two of my friends were involved). They were saying stuff like "you can expect a grad student to always do their own work", and I thought "yes, but that doesn't meant that's what always happens". In this particular case, both of my friends (who shared work among themselves and a third student) were asked almost immediately to show their work. Both of my friends had done enough individual work and analysis that they seemed innocent. The third student, who didn't bother doing any of his own work or learning about the assignment, was quickly put in front of the academic integrity committee, and promptly kicked out of the program. My logic in this case is simple: if the student had paid me to, say, develop a few reactions, or asked me individual questions and I didn't know that he was asking for test answers, it would have been my duty as a tutor to help him, with the same exact result. He just wasn't smooth about it.
Interestingly, this particular student was attending a Big Ten school. Ever have a student that you knew was too dumb to pass inexplicably do mediocre-ly well?
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nooneman


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Re: Trump, as exemplified by a tutoring student [Re: Kryptos]
#23519439 - 08/07/16 04:35 PM (7 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Kryptos said: I became a chemist not for money, but because I want to make life saving drugs
Yeah, but like, what about LSD, man? That's like, a life saving drug, man
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Kryptos
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Re: Trump, as exemplified by a tutoring student [Re: nooneman]
#23519474 - 08/07/16 04:48 PM (7 years, 5 months ago) |
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Once I get to the point in my life when a Big Boy manufacturing charge doesn't really matter and won't literally end my professional career while simultaneously turning every diploma I've earned past high school into a fancy piece of utterly useless paper (probably retirement); then I'll probably be making myself all sorts of fun stuff. I don't wanna use my (hopefully) copious retirement fund to continue funding cartels and violent criminals. Of course, I don't wanna do that now, but due to the government's current stance on even small scale personal manufacturing, I'd rather buy some cartel dude a new AK or three than spend the entirety of my life (or at least the worthwhile parts before I'm old and creaky and need viagra) in prison.
As an aside, to the previous example, the AK the cartel guy buys will probably be made in America and bought legally in Texas or Arizona anyway. We have a very weird relationship with violent criminals, in the sense that we supply them with a market and access to cheap, reliable hardware, and then are mightily surprised when they start filling the demand and killing people. I guess that is actually an extremely topical example...
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