I believe homework — not lectures or exams — is the most important part of the course. Why is this so, and if so, why is homework only worth 1/9 of the semester grade?

I use the analogy of sports — in which you may have participated in high school. Say you're on the track team. Would you skip practice, then just show up at the meet and hope to do well? Of course not — you wouldn't be prepared. Would you just train really hard the night before, and then show up at the meet and hope to do well? Of course not — that wouldn't be much better than no preparation at all.

The way it's supposed to work is that you work hard in practice all season. Then, when the meet comes along, you simply do the things you've already been doing, and you'll do fine. You are rewarded on race day for the hard work you've been doing all season.

The same thing is true here: homework counts only a ninth of the grade, but it's where your learning happens. Keep up with it every day and you shouldn't see any surprises on the exam. xxx more: Not grading for effort. Cf. long jump — we don't measure how long you wanted to jump; we measure how far you actually jumped. 5 or 10 problems per assignment; how chosen: evens; coverage of topics. please no frillies or staples. 1+, 2- 8.5x11; please leave space on the page for both of us.

John Kerl
August 22, 2006