I’ve been a bad bad blogger. Bad. However, having reached a psychically draining data analysis phase of thesis research I need all the non-thesis related outlets available to me. So, I’ve decided to get back in the writing saddle. More to come soon. As a stop-gap measure, here’s a photo from a recent trip to Hong Kong.

Out of personal interest I’ve decided to create a database of blogs which focus on a particular geographic area. This database will occasionally be converted to a kml file, which can be overlaid onto a google map as seen below. Those sites marked with a ‘C’ feature more cultural content, whereas those marked ‘P’ lean towards the political. The few blogs on there now were just part of my test run to make sure this was feasible. I will start collecting more blogs in earnest very soon. If anyone has links to top-notch geograhically oriented blogs send them my way and I’ll consider them for inclusion.

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I was going blind into the end of last semester. Feedback throughout the term was minimal, so I really had no idea what to expect grade-wise. Thus, I was mildly nervous last week when I logged onto the campus network to check my grades. To my initial surprise, although I had only taken three classes, I had managed to log four grades. Three of the class names were easily translatable from Chinese and I was happy enough with my grades. But the first grade on the list – 85% – was beside a class name I didn’t recognize. Curious, I cut and pasted the class name into my Chinese-English dictionary: Caoxing: Moral Conduct.
So I’m 85% moral? Does that make me 15% immoral? Amoral? What sort of metric was used to quantify my morality? With these questions in mind, I headed to the program secretary’s office.
- “So what’s the deal with that morality grade? I’m 85% moral?”
- “Oh, everyone gets 85% on that.”
- “Really? Well what’s the point?”
- “Well, it’s Chinese tradition.”
- “Is it possible to get a different grade?”
- “I suppose so. If you do something really bad, or really good.”
- “Like what?”
- “Oh, I dunno. Undergraduates all have to take a class in morality.”
- “So maybe I’m morally disadvantaged because I haven’t been taught how to be moral?”
- “haha”
- “Who graded me?”
- “Your mentor.”
- “Who’s my mentor?”
- “Dr. Zhu”
- “And he just gave everyone he graded 85%?”
- “Yeah, that’s how it works.”
- “So does this go on my transcript?”
- “Yep.”
- “So my grade point average is going to be pulled down by my morality?”
- “I suppose so.”
- “That’s screwy.”
So now that I know my morality is being graded I’ve made it my goal to break out of the 85% trend. Although apparently “everyone” gets 85%, I want a different grade. I’d even be happy with 86% just to know that its possible to log a different grade. The problem is I have absolutely no idea how the grade is assessed. What is ‘moral’ in this context? Is it a level of Confucian respect for my teachers? A helpful attitude in the classroom? Saving wild dogs? I’ve no idea.