The time has come for me to bring a bit more philosophy into this terms topic. So it begins with 'deserving'.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Desert:
'The concept of desert is deeply entrenched in everyday morality. We say that effort deserves success, wrongdoing deserves punishment, innocent suffering deserves sympathy or compensation, virtue deserves happiness, and so on. We think that the getting of what's deserved is just, and that failure to receive what's deserved is unjust. We also believe it's good that a person gets what she deserves, and bad that she doesn't — even if she deserves something bad, like punishment. We assume, too, that it's wrong to treat people better or worse than they deserve, and right to treat them according to their deserts. In these and other ways, the notion of desert pervades our ethical lives.'
This ties in very strongly with both of this terms topics, 'Grading' and 'Goodness and Badness'. It is important for us to understand what it means to deserve something, there is a very simple equation for desert, it goes like this...
Thing A deserves X in virtue of Y
A = deserving subject
B = deserved object
C = desert basis
you could also add a source into the equation if applicable: 'from Z'
Z = source from which the subject deserves the object.
I think it is important to look deeply into this. Our class is very quick to question the grades they receive, and that others receive. They are also very quick to defend there work, sometimes for legitimate reasons, and sometimes not (in my opinion).
Desert can be a very subjective topic, as we already know from experience. If it was so clear cut, we wouldn't have these squabbles over grading.
Its also important to note, that peoples perceptions of reality are very different. I often find that allot of people are blind to there own ability and that of others, whether good or bad. They are also blind to effort. I hope I am not.
To analyze our situation more. I will put us into the equation. A = deserving subject = us.
When I say 'us' I mean each of us on the course.
So what is it exactly that is the deserved object, it could be grades, a job, recognition, self-gratification. I guess it is dependent on the individual. I'm not sure what the personal goals are for each person on the course, but I know my own.The main goal in my life, and I would think in allot of peoples lives is Happiness. So I suppose my aim is to deserve Happiness then maybe i will receive happiness. But, it is often said you don't always get what you deserve. I can damn well try though.
I would say that all of the above, good grades, a job, recognition and self-gratification were all my own desires. I think the main one there is self-gratification though. To achieve good grades, a job and recognition I think would give me self-gratification.
Recognition is the hard one, but i think it very necessary, though many would say it isn't. It's hard to achieve recognition in a room full of blind people.
So now, what is the basis for deserving these things. Deserving good grades could be based on fulfilling all of the grading criteria. But, we find so often on this course that the grading criteria are extremely vague.
In Senior school we were given two grades for a piece of work, a letter for overall quality, and a number for effort. I always thought this quite bizarre. What if you were graded a C1. That would mean your overall work quailty was a C, average. But you put in your maximum effort apparently... so you can never do better than average i guess.... hmmmmmmmmm, what crap.
I find it really impossible to fathom how we will be graded this term. I'd really like it if someone external came in, like Jolyon from Blitz, and ripped peoples work to pieces. Maybe this would be more helpful a while before we get graded, just to whip people into shape.
Adolphe William Bouguereau - Dante And Virgil In Hell (1850) My opinion - Goodness makes this good, one of my favorite artists for years!
I do think we should have someone external attend when we are graded though. I think the judgment of our work is far to narrow. I often see abysmal work, but the creator believes it is fine as they have been told so by some 'authority figure'. I also wonder at whether people trust my opinion too. I get the impression that so many people still do not know what is good or bad. So they praise work when they don't really have the knowledge to do so.
I don't think I'm amazing either, I know from research that I have a long way to go before reaching industry standards. But, I do feel I have a fairly good perception of good and bad, especially when judging my own work. Maybe you don't think this, I don't know.
I also find it annoying when people judge work before really analyzing what they see, anyway, I'm getting off topic a little bit.
How to grade our work? I do not know! All i can do is try and hope it gets noticed in the end.
Which ties in nicely with recognition. I think this is so important, its obvious people desire to be recognized, or they wouldn't argue so much at grading time. They want Justice! but, do they know what true justice would be? I doubt it. People have so really warped views when it comes to there own work. I think that is true for everyone.
It works two ways, the people who believe they are deserving, and argue for it, when maybe they aren't as deserving as they believe themselves to be. Also, the people who talk themselves down, who think they deserve less than they actually achieved.
I think I could spend days talking over this topic, but you get the idea...
Anyway, deserving a job. Here you would have to be desired by the company you have applied for. To be deserving of that job, you would have to produce an amazing portfolio, and rock at your interview. I would hope that if you aim to achieve a job, and do all you need to get there, that your grades will follow on nicely.
To be truly deserving of this, I think you need to work your ass off. It doesn't matter how good you r perception of yourself is. You won't be able to argue about the amount of effort you put in, or try to justify your work and prove its 'goodness'. If they don't like it, you haven't worked hard enough to deserve your job yet.
Deserving self-gratification. A very hard one, I'm barely ever satisfied with anything I do. It usually seems like settling more than completing. I don't think this is a bad thing, Its just a hard thing to live with sometimes.
I get that nice feeling when I've worked really hard at something, and then someone says 'hey, thats really nice'. Getting given good grades also gives me that feeling.
I also get that pissy feeling when you think your doing really well and no one notices. Or when someone else is being praised when you think they don't 'deserve' it and you think you do. Thats a rubbish feeling, and a stupid one.
Theres also that feeling you get when you look at your work and think its really crap, and then look at the person next to you, and their work rocks, thats lame. But, helpful. If you use that feeling properly, you will be inspired to do better.
For me i guess the feeling of self-gratification is dependent far too much on the people around me. Maybe i should start dishing out more praise, and help other people achieve that feeling. I would recommend, if you think someones work is good, just tell them. It annoys me when people just dish out criticism to make themselves feel like they are better.
Allot of things annoy me.
I wonder how much I've contradicted myself in one Blog post.
Now its time for Z! the source of the object that is deserved. The course leaders? the employer? the classmates? yourself?
To save me analyzing each one, I will just tell you the obvious. Only you can really be the source of what is deserved. It's true the world is unjust to the extreme. But kicking back won't get you anywhere. So, if your a lazy b*stard don't expect my support when we give our presentations, at the moment I feel all to happy to point out your flaws. In contrast, if your put your all into what your doing, I will back you up all the way. It would be a sin if some deserving folks should slip through the net.
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