Mediocre Grades

Mid-Term Report.

To the scholars and home-scholars in my “courses.”
Maybe most of you know by know, the etymology of
school & scholar is from Latin: schola – “leisure.”

And, even more delightful: the root for “student”
and “study” is I.E. steu – to hit with a stick, to
stun: stunning, stupor: stupid..

I repeat these etymologies over and over because
I am redundant, an old guy, & view “education”
and “educating” in terms of redundancies, patterns,
repetitions: the “sames” and “absolutes” that provide
the structures and shapes for the details, the relativities,
diversities, allo-variations on themes: deja view all
over and over again.









TREE: from I.D. deru: to be firm, solid
steadfast (sustainable): trust, truth, troth
druid and dryad. (Knock on wood!)

Of course the devil’s in the details, the nitty
& gritty I neglect at my peril and pearls and
pay the devil somewhat his due and even
advocate on a regular basis.

With that appreciation in mind, I assigned
grades of PASS to all of you at the mid- point

(A student in Linguistics told me the word
“mediocre” literally means half-way-up
a mountain or hill. I told her “ex-cellent”
literally means view from on top of the hill,
or column: all of us heading toward the
ex-cellence and perfection (“it is finished)
of semester’s end.)

At that point, I will send you a grade-sheet
re-listing the options and their stipulations
for you to sign, assign your appropriate letter
grade—and turn in a portfolio with the work s
pecific to each option. Class attendance I & II
(Life of Mind & Life of Body Politic as I call
them) & e-mail response will already be verified
in the handouts etc.)

I will respond to all the work in a joint major
e-mail over the holidays Anyone can reply
or reply-to-all—as always. Electric Company.

Enjoy the break.

Best, Sam