Word: grader
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew were too boring. And Trixie Belden? She was just plain dorky. But then Rebecca Langlois, a Dallas sixth-grader, discovered Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne and Stacey. As just about every girl between eight and 12 knows, those are the founding members of the Baby-Sitters Club and the hottest fictional characters with today's preadolescent literary set. "They're funny and exciting, and the adventures they go through are stuff that can happen in real life," says Langlois, 12. She heads for the bookstore the minute the latest installment arrives...
There are still taboo subjects, however: Martin has avoided writing about drugs, sex and child abuse. "I think these topics are a little heavy for younger readers," she explains. Some kids like it that way. Such topics "would ruin the books," says Kathy Ames, 14, a Wyckoff, N.J., ninth- grader and a devoted fan. But others aren't so sure. "If these girls were real, they'd probably already be offered drugs and have to deal with it," says Langlois. Sounds like a new assignment for the Baby-Sitters...
Just exactly what our equivocator's answer has to do with the original question is hard to say. The equivocator writes an essay about the point, but never on it. Consequently, the grader often mentally assumes that the right answer is known by the equivocator and marks the essay as an extension of the point rather than a complete irrelevance. The artful equivocation must imply the writer knows the right answer, but it must never get definite enough to eliminate any possibilities...
...long run the expert in the use of unwarranted assumptions comes off better than the equivocator. He would deal with our question on Hume not by baffling the grader or by fencing with him but like this: "It is absurd to discuss whether Hume is representative of the age in which he lived unless we note the progress of that age on all intellectual fronts. After all Hume did not live in a vacuum...
...this point our assumption expert proceeds to discuss anything which strikes his fancy at the moment. If he can sneak the first assumption past the grader, then the rest is clear sailing. If he fails, he still gets a fair amount of credit for his irrelevant but fact-filled discussion of scientific progress in the 18th century. And it is amazing what some graders will swallow in the name of intellectual freedom...