1. Aw, you don't even get a MOP reunion? Hmph. Anyway, thank you for the insight from the other side of the aisle, so to speak. I have thought before that it must be a rather thankless task. (I hadn't heard that the Putnam had those problems, though!) Anyway, CM wrote the MAA and heard back something which was basically, "it was uploaded correctly and graded, and we don't do appeals," which is what I expected. It was nice of them to at least check it had been uploaded correctly, which was in fact one of the things we had wondered about.
Some of this is part of why the MOP "how to write proofs" class has always started with "assume that your grader is lazy and stupid"
Hee! E has definitely taken that to heart from this whole experience. A good lesson.
On the third hand, I get the impression the MAA doesn't really have their act together as well recently, specifically concerning the recent increase in cheating
Yeah, I have definitely been getting that impression. I mean, as we've established before, what I see is a very small and biased part of what may actually be going on ;) but it just seems... not great. So yeah, I can see why people don't really want to do it. (I'm myself, on a much smaller level, trying to juggle volunteering for math coaching at my kid's school, which I enjoy, with dealing with all the associated crap that I don't enjoy due to the school being so disorganized... yeah, if I wasn't already doing it I'm not sure I would take it on, or counsel someone else to.)
3. :D Oh cool! Neither my kids nor I have done any kind of Spelling Bee -- my school didn't do it, and I'm not sure if my kids even would have if they'd had the chance, but the person who was going to run it at their school ended up leaving -- but I could imagine it would be very interesting and dramatic to watch.
no subject
Some of this is part of why the MOP "how to write proofs" class has always started with "assume that your grader is lazy and stupid"
Hee! E has definitely taken that to heart from this whole experience. A good lesson.
On the third hand, I get the impression the MAA doesn't really have their act together as well recently, specifically concerning the recent increase in cheating
Yeah, I have definitely been getting that impression. I mean, as we've established before, what I see is a very small and biased part of what may actually be going on ;) but it just seems... not great. So yeah, I can see why people don't really want to do it. (I'm myself, on a much smaller level, trying to juggle volunteering for math coaching at my kid's school, which I enjoy, with dealing with all the associated crap that I don't enjoy due to the school being so disorganized... yeah, if I wasn't already doing it I'm not sure I would take it on, or counsel someone else to.)
3. :D Oh cool! Neither my kids nor I have done any kind of Spelling Bee -- my school didn't do it, and I'm not sure if my kids even would have if they'd had the chance, but the person who was going to run it at their school ended up leaving -- but I could imagine it would be very interesting and dramatic to watch.