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Another question is to determine what changes were made independently on behalf of a unique institution and philosophy and tested curriculum, pedagogy and the best interests of the greater university and its own students, rather than on economic, organizational, special interests, political rationale and personal whims.

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I can fix the non-parallelism and some of the wordiness by myself, but I still can't quite figure out what the blasted mess means. The author is talking about changes in the Communications Department and figuring out what brought about those changes. But I've read it so many times now that it doesn't even seem like English anymore.

[ October 24, 2003, 05:56 PM: Message edited by: Jon Boy ]
 

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Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
 
I would think that merely replacing the first two commas with dashes would go a long way, but I am of course not an editor. And this only works if that sentence means what I think it means. Basically I think it is saying that they wish to determine which changes were made for altruistic reasons, rather than selfish or provincial reasons.
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 
Dashes? No. It's a long, strung-together list, and I don't think the stuff between those two commas is meant to be digressive in any way.

I agree with your assessment of what it means, but he's using so many words (and so many odd phrasings) to say it that I feel like I'd be missing something if I cut it down that much. The one thing I'm really hung up on is the "independently." Independently of what?

But I think that simply writing it down and saying what I think it means has helped me sort it out a lot.

[ October 24, 2003, 07:13 PM: Message edited by: Jon Boy ]
 

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Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
 
Hmmm... well I thought it was, but as I said I am not an editor, or even an English major. As for the independently, independently of what, exactly? Can you give more context to this?

[edit]I know that is what you asked. [/edit]

[ October 24, 2003, 07:41 PM: Message edited by: Danzig ]
 

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Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
 
Hey, I'm only helping you with your work if I get a cut of the pay
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 
Annie, you can have your share of the pay if you drive down to Provo to get it.
 

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Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
 
College, and all topics associated with it, is for weenies.

Don't be a weenie.
 

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Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
 
Another question is to determine what changes were made independently -- on behalf of a unique institution and philosophy and tested curriculum; pedagogy and the best interests of the greater university and its own students -- rather than on economic/organizational/special interests, political rationale and personal whims.
 

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Posted by Megachirops (Member # 4325) on :
 

quote:

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Another task is to determine what changes were made independently--to conform to the institution's philosophy, an established curriculum, a proven pedagogy, or simply the best interests of the greater university and its own students--rather than being brought about in response to arbitrary pressures--by economic, organizational, or other special interests, to conform to some political rationale, or simply as a result of personal whims.

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