"Dartmouth," someone more qualified than me once said, "is the land of 4,000 grade-grubbers." We head to office hours and ask trivial questions solely for the purpose of achieving professor facetime. We factor in our expected term GPAs into our cumulative GPA before the term even begins. And few things can match the adrenaline rush as we flip through a graded exam and find a palatable grade circled in blood-red ink. Forget throw saves and Epipens, just hand me back my exam.
With this knowledge in mind, I knew my government class was in trouble when the professor announced that 20 percent of our final grade would be based on class participation. Murmurs ran through the room, we all fidgeted in our seats. "But there are, like, 60 kids in this class!" someone cried out with indignation behind me. And so began my term of "I-was-just-about-to-say-that" comments.
A prime scenario for the use of this comment is as follows: a model student is explicating the social effects of Nietzche's overman, or drawing a flimsy but creative connection between post-Stalinist Russia and the Dartmouth fraternity scene. Meanwhile, just as the comment is coming to a stunning conclusion, a neighboring peer raises his hand, and, once called on, responds with a look of disappointment, "I was just about to say what she said" The perpetrator either inarticulately rehashes the exact same answer or leaves it with that stultifying, conversation-killing comment.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this phenomenon perhaps you stick to large lectures or the hard sciences the I-was-just-about-to-say-that comment is the fallback comment for anyone eager to participate without being able to add any new idea or perspective to the current academic discourse. The comment seeks to steal credit from those who have done the reading, from those who are active and engaged participants in class. It is the closest thing we have to classroom plagiarism. Further, these types of interjections disrupt the pace of discussion and cheapen the original commenter's contribution.
To say that this comment detracts from the academic and classroom discourse would be a grave understatement. Professors include a participation grade to promote meaningful, thought-provoking discussion and encourage us to think critically about the information and theories presented to us.
Additionally, class participation in many ways prepares us for the real world of business and academic research, when critical analysis must be articulated in succinct and precise ways. Can you imagine at the Global Economic Symposium, during the Q and A, getting the microphone solely to repeat what's already been said? And if White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs calls on you at a press briefing, are you going to have to shamefully admit that your question was already asked?
Sure, there are cases where the person called intended to say the same comment in the exact same way but couldn't get his hand down quick enough. It's happened to us all. But when the I-was-just-about-to-say-that comment rears its ugly, gnarled head at least three sometimes five or six times each class, the situation has gotten out of control. It is my hope that this column enlightens and shames such egregious comment plagiarists. If I should fail in that regard, however, the onus is on professors to challenge the conversation-killers to expound or extrapolate on the previously posited ideas. Class participation, after all, isn't about saying what's already been said. It's about adding something fresh to the discourse. And if you aren't planning on doing that, just put your hand down.
