On fairness.

The trouble with practical evaluations is an old one: they aren't fair. When you get down to it, in a practical evaluation someone is standing there, deciding based on their knowledge (hopefully) or opinion (more likely) how well you can perform a task.

The trouble with nursing school is that practical evaluation does make up a great deal of the assessments.

This post isn't written out of bitterness or anger: I have always done well in my evaluations, and I've never felt slighted. I can see where I have received gifts, here and there, but none have been so significant as to pass me when I otherwise would have failed. It's just an observation. I do know friends in my program that have been slighted, and it rubs me the wrong way. The program has the intention of making competent, successful nurses, not of deciding at the outset who will be a good nurse and who will not and then letting the "keepers" fly by while those that may seem less likely candidates get grilled within an inch of their lives. And this is not a plea to let the weaker struggle through; I'm a great believer in natural selection, and survival of the fittest. It applies educationally, too, but the important bit is that in order to determine who really is the weakest the conditions have to be fair and even across the board. Either grill everyone within an inch of their lives, or find a happy medium and make it consistent.

Of course, this being a problem that has haunted education for years, I hardly think one little blog post will make a large difference. But it's nice to write down my thoughts on the matter anyhow.

I haven't done a lot of writing since Monday - school's kept me busy. I do plan on typing a little bit tonight, even just 500 words, because at least I'm 500 words ahead of where I was. And there is something truly therapeutic about sitting down and telling a little more of that story. I love the characters, I love their personalities, and I love what they can do. They're strong but they have their weaknesses. They're deliciously human.

I'm working on a post where I discuss the nature of villains, and why I can't write true villains. They're never evil, not truly evil. The short version is because all of my villains (for the most part) are humans, and the thing about humans is that there's always the potential for true, soulful redemption. And I do love a happy ending. And humans.

Of course, I might torture a character for 5 books before he gets that happy ending, but what the hell. I never said I was nice to my villains. Just that I liked them. There's a difference.

If you love them, steal their soul and make them fight to get it back, that's what I've always said. And by always I mean that's the philosophy I am sticking by for this series.