the perfect pair

david is finishing his bs in accounting online through the university of phoenix. he is in his first math/accounting course right now (all the previous courses having been the managerial/ethical classes), and realized math is his language. the format of all classes is to do your work and then post answers as a discussion site for all classmates. he got up this morning to do an assignment before work and noticed everyone in the class had posted their frustrations at their inability to figure out the answer. the question went something along the lines of $60,000 being invested, and in two interest accounts, one earning 16% and the other 25%, and $6060 was earned, so how much was put into each account...i think david's going to have to recheck this question and make sure i wrote it correctly. david read the question, called it a "simple algebra equation", and posted his answer within two minutes. a guy wrote back to david saying "you're the man! how did you figure it out?!" david later told me "it feels good to be called "the man" every once and a while."

i am taking an intro to anatomy/physiology class this semester as a pre-req to my community health major. today, rather than being in class, my professor decided to instead post an exam. he did not announce this in class on monday. in fact, he said, "if i don't show up on wednesday and friday, you don't have to stick around in class." he did not mention an exam. did he have it in the usual testing center? did he make 100+ copies for each class member to take a copy home and read over it carefully? he decided to post in behind the (locked) glass case in the anatomy hallway, where we normally look for test/quiz keys post-exam. one copy for 100+ students to look off of while standing in the hallway. i was one of the lucky ones who decided to stick around in the classroom and use it as a quiet place to study. a girl came running in about 30 mins after "class" was supposed to start and told us there was an exam posted and going on right now. it's due a week from now, it's completely open book, note, friend, etc. however, for those of you who keep up with our blog, you've seen examples of his test questions. he doesn't go by the book all the time. he goes by his own anatomic rules. a large group of confused students (20+) were standing by the glass case, and a couple of them were shouting out the answers for everyone to write down. i did not stick around. open book or not, the class average on tests and exams is a 30%. so i went back later to find a small group of 2-3 students logically going through each question. i joined their discussion and apparently wowed them, because the comment i got was, "you know all the big words--you know more than i do about this subject." i really liked that comment. it was nice to hear i knew all the big words.

when i told david this he said, "we make the best pair--imagine, "the man" who knows all the big words!!" indestructible.