> Many of my best students
> didn't test all that well and, committed to working through the material,
> often struggles on take-home exams because they were making a genuine
> effort to intensely engage the material
Yep. The hard part of resisting The Teaching Machine -- that neoliberal monstrosity which sells ignorance as enlightenment, and plutocratic prejudice as rational choice -- is that it's all too easy to get sucked into the whole merit/accountability/grading system. It's not just an external struggle, it's also an internal battle, as pernicious as the struggle against one's own internalized sexism, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc.
That said, there are the moments when students actually get something. You see the little lights go on, and there's nothing more wonderful in the world.
-- DRR