Relevant *and* necessary? In so many cases the answer is no because you could focus on either a or b and still achieve the course aims.

Think about intro labs in particular. Every lab could be replaced by a different lab covering different material. And still achieve the course goals

Do the french doors on the back lead to Hell? Or just to the basement?

It's so easy to have purely intellectual discussions when it's only other people's rights are at stake.

But even if you're one of those folks who are so comfortably insulated, at least have a shred of self-awareness and don't tone-police trans folks when they reply to you.

A much better frame is "don't assume malice when incompetence will suffice".

Incompetence isn't sufficient to get your trans TA suspended.

I'd have passed up the chain, and said I can't grade anything else from this student.

But as a TA teaching their first class, would I have felt I *really* had the ability to? Idk

And a couple more "but also" thoughts

1. When you defend an attack on someone's identity *on a technicality* you have no right to tone-police their response to you.

2. If a student submitted an anti-miscegenation essay to me, I wouldn't have been this kind. I also wouldn't have graded it...

Should it have been a 0/25 rather than a 5/25? It would have been wiser for the TA to assign a handful of points, but it wouldn't have changed the student's response.

True. Doesn't the issue of a hostile work environment start to come into play here?

The TA *also* says you shouldn't call your classmates and your TA "demonic" and followers of "lies spread by Satan". telling a student this is offensive is reasonable feedback.

Not every communication with a student is about their grade.

but it also isn't a *thoughtful* reaction. This isn't thoughtful, it's repeating doctrine. 0/10 is reasonable

3. Is the paper clearly written?

No. It's badly written and contradicts itself. For an upper division college class, it deserves a 0/5

Read the grading rubric:
1. Does the paper show a clear tie-in to the assigned article?

No, it does not. Is it a 0/10 rather than say a 1/10? That's a judgement call

2. Does the paper present a thoughtful reaction or response to the article, rather than a summary?

It isn't a summary...

I don't know...never thought about it.

Since both plants and animals make eggs, I suppose it's somewhere before the ancestors of plants enslaved the ancestors of chloroplasts?

This is much better (but "costs" isn't a good way to end a slogan because "ts" is too complex a sound).

The problem with "no ceiling" is it's incompatible with "stop corruption". As long as there's no limit you end up with cartels, monopolies and regulatory capture.

The problem is that "no ceiling" leads to regulatory capture.

And if you're a cynic "strong floor" could easily mean "as long as there's enough bread and the circuses are sufficiently entertaining, we can ignore the people"

If anything's a fish, we're all fish. But that's why fish don't exist. This is the opposite - if birds aren't dinosaurs, then dinosaurs don't exist.

We don't call them "microtransactions", we call them "in-app purchases". "Micro-" anything will scare off investors. Even Microsoft is "old economy" - their p/e is a mere 34.