So I was grading today when I realized a paradox. It is possible to give your students a paradoxical grade! This is how it works:
The week before your final exam ask your student to guess what grade they will receive in your class. If they guess correctly promise you will give them 'X' points. If a student has an 89% and guess a 'B' You give them the ten points which bumps them up to an 'A' meaning they did not guess their final grade in the class correctly which means the deserve a 'B' which means they get points for guessing correctly and have an 'A'. You have effectively given them a paradoxical grade that is neither 'A', 'B', in between or both. This is a real world application of something like Russel's paradox (see: "a set of all sets that do not contain themselves").
I would think it would be funny to put a 'P' on their transcript for paradoxical but then I realized it would look like a 'pass' so instead they get an Ouroboros (see below). The Ouroborus is how alchemists expressed one of there paradox and I think it is fitting. What do you think?
I think I am the worlds worst TA and I would hate me if I were my own student...wait what?
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