Knowledge or Information

Knowledge or Information
Archie Zariski opens his article by stating that Professor Hibbitts has convinced him that obstacles of self publication can be overcome with out to much difficulty. But there were some doubts Archie still had about the "knowledge of networks" through the technical and theoretical perspective. Archie makes the point on how one must learn by actually conversing with another person to actually learn material. Archie does not deny the statements of Hibbitts but does state that it will be a different world as known today on his approach. 

In the Basement of Ivory Tower
First off I will like to point is that I enjoyed and understood this reading so much more than Archie's article. I barely understood what happened in the article by Archie but I and clearly get the message in Professor X's article. He explains how he fails 7 out of 15 students in his two courses that he teaches, English Comp 101 and 102. Being a very strict grader on his students he waits each time to see if the College will contact him about all the students he is failing but they never do. Professor X takes an example from a student named "Mrs L", a student in her 40's who has never interacted with a computer before. She realized that she couldn't do the research asignment because she kept thinking in a high school paper mentality. Professor X knew that he was going to fail her the first day in the library when he saw how difficult it was for her to pick a topic and use a computer. It troubles in the mentality of the Professor to fail some one who is trying to live the dream, go back to school in a late age to get a diploma. 

When I finished reading this I noticed that I really enjoyed Professor X's article so much more than Archies. I found it easier to read and thought a lot about it to, there is a lot of philsophy behind this article in how a teacher must to their job. This teacher simply grades the papers according to College standards and ends up failing 7 out of 15 students.

1) Why do you take such a strong approach on grading papers?
2) Do you get into arguements with your students about your grading system?
3) For the students who fail multiple of times, do they eventually pass the class?