here’s what i think is an underexplored question: when students are confused about their homework they’ll often say stuff like “what are they asking me to do?”
who, exactly, is “they” referring to?
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“the generalized other”, nice
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Replying to @QiaochuYuan
They're asking the generalized other and not getting a response
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generaliz
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“the system” also nice
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Replying to @QiaochuYuan
"The System". Schools are as much an exercise in how to get along in a structure as they are academic learning. Not being conspiratorial here, both are useful
you know that feeling where you don't think an answer is right, but you know that's the one they want you to pick?
That
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"The System". Schools are as much an exercise in how to get along in a structure as they are academic learning. Not being conspiratorial here, both are useful
you know that feeling where you don't think an answer is right, but you know that's the one they want you to pick?
That
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It's the "Royal 'they'"
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my usual response is to start shouting about how there's no "they" and it's "me! me! what am *i* asking you to do! i wrote this for you!!!"
(and at more advanced levels write vaguer, more open-ended questions that *require* them to make interpretations & choices & defend them)
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The teachers and everyone who conspired with them (if you’re lucky you might have an adult or two around you who doesn’t)
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before college most homeworks were just taken out of a random textbook or workbook. so when I asked a teacher this exact question I was referring to the authors of the book. Almost never had a teacher who actually wrote the assignments themselves.
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I have said it specifically to refer to the developers of the academic material I was studying in that moment. I imagined a conference room with grumpy people formulating purposely convulated exercises or questions and “they” referred to those grumpy formulators 😂
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