Warren G. Ortloff is an assistant professor of educational leadership and coordinator of the master’s program in educational administration for overseas educators at the University of Southern Mississippi. He is a former overseas school administrator and his interests include international education, character education and culture.

A university professor -- presumably with a doctorate -- who uses the (non)word "irregardless"?

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Originally posted by: USM Sympathizer
"A university professor -- presumably with a doctorate -- who uses the (non)word "irregardless"?"

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Darn, you beat me to that one!

Seeker,

If this had been a letter from a member of the general public, the bad "grammer," as you put it, would be one thing.  But this letter is from a PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION -- you know: the kind of person who trains future teachers.  It says something about his qualifications to do that job that he apparently doesn't know that "irregardless" is not a word.

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Originally posted by: Seeker
"Disagree with an idea, bash the grammer or spelling. What a bunch of scholars you guys are. I am so impressed with you eduction. Many of you are educated far beyond your intelligence."

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TROLL ALERT!!!

A Reply to Orloff’s Letter

 

What a preposterous assertion!  Professor Orloff in his HA letter of 5/20/2004 pleads for the extension of handshakes and absence of buttons at graduation as a sign of the dignity and decorum of a graduation ceremony. He concludes that the protests expressed “disregard or disrespect for the importance of the moment” at the graduation.  I was not in attendance and have no idea how disruptive any of these protests were or were not.  But, to claim that these expressions of protest are disrespectful of the moment is absurd.

 

The protests clearly proclaim the resolve of many to fight for a good education in a university without the fear of violations of fourth amendment rights (privacy, illegal search and seizure, and so on), without the fear of retribution for exercising first amendment rights (free speech, in case you forgot), without threats for asking questions (the point of education is asking questions and seeking answers, pursuing the truth wherever that takes search takes us), and without the constant stream of slander and abuse for trying to live a truly good life (which means more than simply earning wages and more than having a good coat of beige paint to conceal a rotten core). 

 

Professor Orloff obviously fails to understand that a ceremony means little if it doesn’t have any connection to reality.  When education becomes a joke, graduations don’t matter much. When universities are glorified daycares and playgrounds (as the anti-academics want to believe and continually assert), what is there to celebrate? When administrations rule with terror and wage shock and awe campaigns against their most respected faculty members—  reducing faculty to hourly employees, nothing more, nothing less—what sort of education is being celebrated at graduation?  By example, the administration is showing graduates how to brutalize people, discard “employees” without a thought, mismanage and mangle others, all in the name of normal business.

 

Think about it: A graduate chooses to make his or her moment one of protest. According to Orloff, their decision to protest is somehow evidence of disdain for the system.  To some, the decision to protest reflects some insidious liberal conspiracy of the academic elite to brainwash children and create more chaos in an already anarchic society.  Orloff seems to think so because he equates their acts with “temper tantrums.” Apparently, in spite of my intentional exaggeration and sarcasm, this is a fairly common opinion in much of the world, not just Mississippi.

 

Orloff complains that protesters have crossed the line. Plastering “No Quarter” across their hats, their robes, or their bums is certainly more dignified than writing propaganda for a tyrant, and if you aren’t going to step across the line to fight against the indecencies and injustices of this administration what will you fight for?  Beige paint?

 

Thank God, some of these educated graduates actually stood up and said in symbolic way that they want better from this school and its leaders. The graduate’s decision to protest merits praise, not scorn and mockery. The graduate who chooses to protest Thames’ malignant administration of USM shows more sense than most in Mississippi, who sit back and watch the injustices pile up.  The graduate’s willingness to sacrifice his or her moment of celebration is a testament to the character and dignity of these individuals, who are fighting for the greater good of USM. 

 

No Quarter!

If you create in Word and try to paste into the comments block, all sorts of weirdness occurs with the formatting.  Maybe Invictus knows why that happens.

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Originally posted by: LVN
"If you create in Word and try to paste into the comments block, all sorts of weirdness occurs with the formatting.  Maybe Invictus knows why that happens."

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Activeboard, like almost everything else on the web, displays web pages. Web pages are "marked up" in HTML. (Mark-ups being the codes that specify for things like bullet lists, bold, italics, headings, etc.) Word & other word processors use proprietary mark-ups & usually offer far more formatting options than ordinary HTML supports.

When text is pasted from Word into the comments box, Activeboard tries valiantly to convert the proprietary word processor mark-ups to HTML. It isn't a perfect conversion, as we all know. But "all things considered," it's amazing that it doesn't just spit back a snide error message.

My advice: Find a good text editor & quit messing with Word. If Notepad or Wordpad isn't "feature-filled" enough for you, take a look at
CodeGenie. (Not a commercial endorsement™) CodeGenie will even help with basic HTML mark-ups, which can be pasted into Activeboard with impunity.