In response to this nonsense, which suggests that bloggers who are “used to cranking out pointless rants on a moment’s notice” are worse than “highschoolers [sic]” “well-practiced at responding to their teacher’s inane writing prompts,” I note the following:
I took the GRE test twice last year and scored a perfect 6.0 each time on the written essay section. It was some of the laziest, half-assed writing I’ve ever done.
In short, Greta and Dave Munger can bite me.
(via Scott)
© 2006, Edward Champion. All rights reserved.
Hm…I quit reading that nonsense when I saw they spelled gauntlet wrong. If you’re going to try to make people feel stupid, you should at least run a spellcheck first, people!
Umm… excuse me… Most dictionaries list “gantlet” as an acceptable variant of “gauntlet.” Now take the test and show us if you can handle it.
Mr. Munger: See my last sentence.
This is nothing less than elitist claptrap. You were the guy who used the phrase “cranking out pointless rants on a moment’s notice.” And this blanket generalization of ALL bloggers, combined with your hypothesis that we are somehow deficient to high schoolers, suggests that you are motivated less by science and more by a tainted environment which confirms your generalized beliefs. Particularly since you lop off five minutes from the allotted 25 minute time on the SAT writing section and you are asking for volunteers to judge these essays without checking if they fit the College Board qualifications.
This is junk science, sir. More reminiscent of phrenology than anything even remotely scientific.
Oh, sure, junk science, yes, but junk science with the best of intentions. Believe it or not, the “pointless rants” statement was intended as a compliment. I was actually hoping the bloggers would perform well on the test. As it turns out, most of them opt out. Of the 75 responses to the survey we had received by yesterday afternoon, just 21 actually attempted the test. Now if these 21 can’t do better than a bunch of highsch… er… high schoolers, then I’d say we’ve got strong evidence that bloggers can’t write as well under these conditions as our nation’s finest high school students. It’s more clearly junk science if the bloggers “win,” because high schoolers don’t get the opportunity to opt out.
In fact there are numerous weaknesses of the study’s design, all in favor of the bloggers. If the bloggers can’t handle it, it’s their own damned fault.