Our Fan Base

[tomknight]

Didn't read the whole thread. But, I bumped into a guy at Cabela's who played for Rodgers. I was wearing a Tech shirt, and we struck up a conversation.

On Sunday, I was helping my daughter with an issue with her Kayaks, again in a Tech shirt. So, ACC Champion Tony Robinson stops to chat and help out.

I talk with Tech folks all the time.

 

[g0lftime]

Didn't read the whole thread. But, I bumped into a guy at Cabela's who played for Rodgers. I was wearing a Tech shirt, and we struck up a conversation.

On Sunday, I was helping my daughter with an issue with her Kayaks, again in a Tech shirt. So, ACC Champion Tony Robinson stops to chat and help out.

I talk with Tech folks all the time.

Up here in tobacco road, I always try to talk or respond to people wearing Tech gear. It's amazing how many are parents of GT students and they actually didn't attend.

 

[jojatk]

When GT went to the Final Four after the 2003 season I had an exam scheduled the Monday of the championship game. I bought tickets and traveled anyway figuring that I’d figure something out.

They ended up making professors move exams from that day but I don’t think they announced it until like the Friday right before or such. Definitely felt like they could’ve done more to encourage people getting into the athletics side there by being more proactive even before student tickets went on sale at the box office.

During my senior year at GT I wrote for the Technique covering sports and our basketball team was pretty good. It was Tommy Hammonds's senior year and we went to the NCAA Tournament, losing to Texas in the first round. There were 2-3 times during the season where I wanted to go to away games to cover them for the Technique and had conflicting quizzes or exams on the days I wanted to travel. In each of those occasions I went to my professors, in advance, and offered to take the test/quiz a day early. Not once did they take me up on my offer but instead told me it was OK to take it the day I got back. Maybe I have an honest face. Maybe they appreciated my willingness to take it early which, I think, indicated I wasn't trying to just buy myself extra time to study. And maybe it also was that they were more concerned with one person taking it early and then sharing all the questions with a lot of others versus one person getting the questions ahead of time from all the others. But in any case they were always willing to work with me on it. Maybe it also helped that they knew it was legit because I could point to by-lines in the Technique for the whole football season and much of the basketball season already.

Anyway I think sometimes you just have to get lucky that you get a professor that is willing to work with you AND you need to offer up options that inconvenience YOU instead of them. I think it wouldn't have been received as easily had I just gone in and asked to take the tests later. Also it may have helped that being a senior the classes were smaller and the profs knew me by that time.

 

[cpf2001]

Up here in tobacco road, I always try to talk or respond to people wearing Tech gear. It's amazing how many are parents of GT students and they actually didn't attend.

When I lived in Texas it was astonishing how well Texas A&M did at converting non-alum parents into football fans. Maybe it helps that it's somewhat cult-ish for the students too, and definitely a bit of a choice compared to going to another in-state school? But GT could tap into some similar vibes, I think - I'm not sure how they did it, but I'm sure there are lessons to be learned. The parents often have more money than the kids for the first couple decades anyway!

 

[GTpdm]

I have always felt that if the instructor was any good, students should be able to to answer correctly between 90-95% of the information covered in the exams.

I used to think that, too…but then I taught Intro Physics.

I can write a softball question, that only requires basic knowledge and some problem-solving experience, and yet 20% of the class will react as if I’d asked them to shear a sheep with a banana.

 

[Richard7125]

As any teacher (any level) can attest, the purpose of examination is to assess the level of comprehension of the material taught. Examinations should be constructed to cover the information the professor/teacher wants to verify mastery of. Unfortunately, ego gets in the way and too many instructors look at examinations as a step (or two or three) up from what is necessary. I have always felt that if the instructor was any good, students should be able to to answer correctly between 90-95% of the information covered in the exams.

As a student, if you can’t achieve 90-95% proficiency, then what you’re doing is not preparing you for the real world.

Something just doesn’t sound right about that to me. People’s abilities vary a lot more than 5% to 10%. If everyone is making 90% to 95% that seems to me that either the test is too easy or the material isn’t very complex. Yes, I know good teachers can make complex material less complex, but I know way too many people who just aren’t very sharp.

 

[TampaBuzz]

When I lived in Texas it was astonishing how well Texas A&M did at converting non-alum parents into football fans. Maybe it helps that it's somewhat cult-ish for the students too, and definitely a bit of a choice compared to going to another in-state school? But GT could tap into some similar vibes, I think - I'm not sure how they did it, but I'm sure there are lessons to be learned. The parents often have more money than the kids for the first couple decades anyway!

I went to one of those "Midnight Yell" pep rallies at TA&M many many moons ago (I don't remember why I was in College Station, but there was probably a girl involved). I 'bout became an Aggie that night...it was an awesome event. What a great college football tradition!

 

[kg01]

I used to think that, too…but then I taught Intro Physics.

I can write a softball question, that only requires basic knowledge and some problem-solving experience, and yet 20% of the class will react as if I’d asked them to shear a sheep with a banana.

I'm adding this to my lexicon. Right before 'slower than a turtle on crutches'.

 

[GT_05]

I say “Go Jackets” anytime I see someone wearing Tech gear and I usually get a confused reaction. I write it off as someone getting dressed in the dark and not realizing they chose to put on Tech gear that morning.

 

[GT_05]

Today, I’m walking in the Buc-ee’s in Calhoun, I’m wearing Tech gear, I pass an elder gentleman walking out of the store wearing a shirt that reads “Go Jackets.” As I pass right by him, I gesture towards him and say “Go Jackets”…he just looks at me curmudgeonly and walks on.

Calhoun High School’s mascot is a yellow jacket. Decent chance that you were talking to a CHS supporter if the shirt didn’t have a GT logo and only had “Go Jackets.”

 

[MonroeJacket]

Calhoun High School’s mascot is a yellow jacket. Decent chance that you were talking to a CHS supporter if the shirt didn’t have a GT logo and only had “Go Jackets.”

As stated above, it was navy. They’re black and gold. I’m confident it was a GT shirt. But still, “Go Jackets” would apply to them too, right?

Side note: No local is navigating a Buc-ee’s on Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend.

 

[GT_05]

As stated above, it was navy. They’re black and gold. I’m confident it was a GT shirt. But still, “Go Jackets” would apply to them too, right?

Side note: No local is navigating a Buc-ee’s on Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend.

You did not say in the original post that the guy in Calhoun had on a navy colored shirt. Maybe I missed that in a follow-up post.

Regardless, if your kid’s high school team was the Bulldogs and you had a shirt on that said “Go Dawgs” because of your kid, I don’t think you would be inviting to a UGA fan barking at you.

 

[MonroeJacket]

NM

 

[GT_05]

Must’ve been you I saw at Buc-ee’s.

Well, I do work in Calhoun and drive by that Buc-ee’s five days a week. There are yellow jacket logos all around Gordon county but very few have anything to do with GT. I knew that but I wasn’t sure that you did. Now that I know you are omnipotent, I will refrain from offering a logical explanation to part of your not fully described original post.

 

[tmhunter52]

Just win and you can get all the old sayings and slogans back…

 

[forensicbuzz]

I used to think that, too…but then I taught Intro Physics.

I can write a softball question, that only requires basic knowledge and some problem-solving experience, and yet 20% of the class will react as if I’d asked them to shear a sheep with a banana.

I understand this, but when I was there, Physics I, II, and III were 5 MC question quizzes every Friday. Those questions sucked.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Something just doesn’t sound right about that to me. People’s abilities vary a lot more than 5% to 10%. If everyone is making 90% to 95% that seems to me that either the test is too easy or the material isn’t very complex. Yes, I know good teachers can make complex material less complex, but I know way too many people who just aren’t very sharp.

The kids coming into Tech should be good enough to achieve 90-95%. I'm not talking about people who don't study or prepare or across the board at all schools. We should have been good enough to know 90-95% of the material. In my opinion, Tech professors took great pleasure in making the questions on the tests way harder than they needed to be. They were not representative of the homework problems or the material we went through in class. That was the case in most of my classes. The quality of students at Tech should not have struggled as hard as we did. I've heard things have changed, somewhat.

 

[MidtownJacket]

The kids coming into Tech should be good enough to achieve 90-95%. I'm not talking about people who don't study or prepare or across the board at all schools. We should have been good enough to know 90-95% of the material. In my opinion, Tech professors took great pleasure in making the questions on the tests way harder than they needed to be. They were not representative of the homework problems or the material we went through in class. That was the case in most of my classes. The quality of students at Tech should not have struggled as hard as we did. I've heard things have changed, somewhat.

I had a professor once tell me it’s about measuring mastery of the subject and not understanding.

That’s always been part of the mission at GT and served me well since graduating.

 

[GTpdm]

I had a professor once tell me it’s about measuring mastery of the subject and not understanding.

That’s always been part of the mission at GT and served me well since graduating.

You get it. Sadly, not everyone does.

Student: Why do I have to learn all this integration stuff and memorize all these physics formulas? In the real world, I can just look all that stuff up.

Me: Explain to me why an employer should pay top dollar to hire a GT graduate, when a UAB graduate—who also has your TI-84 calculator, by the way—can look things up just as well as you can? You need to be better than that, and it starts here.

I consider it my job to push students out of their comfort zone, and make them HAVE to be better than they were when they came to Tech. Otherwise, what am I doing? Rubber-stamping their high school experiences as being equivalent to a college education? I thought that was (u)GA‘s forte.

 

[cpf2001]

Problem is if you're applying to an entry-level role with a GT 3.0 GPA and someone from Michigan or Cal or somewhere is applying with a 3.75 GPA driven by things like "Tech professors took great pleasure in making the questions on the tests way harder than they needed to be. They were not representative of the homework problems or the material we went through in class." then you have to hope and pray that the employer you're applying to has bothered to learn that one particular school has their grades mean different things.

By my time at GT 20 years ago, though, exam questions and homework questions (and sample exam questions, for that matter) were all about the same, though, so I don't think it's the same problem it once was.

(Though, also, none of my employers or myself, when doing the hiring, are paying more for GT grads vs other candidates who do just as well in our interviews and have the same level of work experience, but we aren't holding your GPA against you, so it evens out that way too I guess? The benefit of a GT (or other top school) for our processes is that we'll be at the GT career fair and such so you can get your foot in the door vs the blind applications.)

Or just give Masters degrees if what you're testing for is mastery