In article <kahn-2011971620570001 at ibc20.cahe.wsu.edu>, kahn at wsu.edu
(Michael Kahn) wrote:
Thank you, Dr. Kahn, for the lengthy post summarizing your philosophy
toward, and experience with, oral examinations of graduate students. It
was very timely, as I am staring down the barrel of my upcoming prelims,
and have been somewhat frustrated by my supervisors' unwillingness to
discuss their philosophies regarding this milestone in one's graduate
program. Without a clear idea of the objective of the exercise, it can be
difficult to muster much confidence about its outcome, and horror stories
about deliberate efforts by examiners to systematically humiliate students
certainly don't help. So I very much appreciated your metaphor about using
the exam to "find the student's edge", in addition to its obvious goal of
ensuring that he/she is in possession of the necessary knowledge base and
thinking tools. I think it will be good for me to know where my edge is.
Cheers,
Christie.
Christie Malazdrewich
Clinical and Population Sciences
University of Minnesota
malaz002 at gold.tc.umn.edu
