bitter eh? :)

I don't think ass kissers always win. I read an article that said "yes men" often get screwed because people just pass the buck to them because they know they will do the work. Like the A+ guy at my school. I can absolutely do the work, but rather than figure out some boring lighting calculation for a .5 credit course, I just get the answer from this guy. He thinks everyone else is stupid, and that he's superior, but you can just use him for busy work answers. And who gives a crap about an A+, no one ever sees your grades again.

On another note, I submitted my shitty work to the administation for this promotional thing they were publishing. So few other people submitted that I got 2 full pages and 2 half pages. So basically by cropping a few images from my back up DVD, I now represent my school to potential students and firms (they send it out). Now, for me it's good; free publicity, but for the school it's bad because my work is well...not that good haha.

Disagree. They are SOME of the ones that get the good grades. In my experience most ass kissers aren't so good at doing so and therefore get downgraded by their instructors. Instructors don't generally like these guys/gals - that is when the ass kissing becomes apparent to them.

Often, I believe, the A+ "ass kisser" is more likely an over-achiever that, as a result, usually has a good repoire with the instructor. The other students tend to disguise their jealousy by calling this student an ass kisser.

When I was in undergrad we had a term (borrowed from my sister's med school classmates) for the kiss-ass, overachiever, show-off-your-(usually mediocre)-knowledge students: gunner. Gunners always asked a question in class, even if it was just repeating back to the professor what had just been said prefaced with “So what you're saying, Dr.____, is that...” because they wanted to be noticed by the teacher and show everyone else they were “smart”.

So we started playing a game called “gunner bingo”. Made up little cards with the names of the many gunners plus some free spots and had to get bingo in the space of a week's worth of lectures. One night we told one of my best professors, a cool old cowboy, about this game, he laughed hysterically, and the next time the most noted gunner asked him a question, the prof pointed and yelled out “BINGO!” while laughing and slapping his knee.

Good times.

nobody likes a suckup. not even people being sucked up to.

Agree and disagree.

While in school I changed at least 5 course grades (out of 6 tries) that made a big difference. I was far from a ass kisser, though. That's why the disagree/agree. I just spent the extra time to talk to my professors about my grades, my strengths/weaknesses, etc.

Never settle for something if you think you deserve better (and have put the time, research, etc., in).

This is applicable to reality, too. Expressing interest, showing enthusiasm, working hard, solving problems will help you get ahead. There's a big difference between this and ass kissing or 'yes man', but some that do nothing would think it's ass kissing, and they'll be left behind.

Liberty,

"Gunners" are often easy to spot in their natural environment. They sit directly next to their target professor and rephrase a clever statement in the form of a question in order to get a "you're right." out of said target. Head bobs and a hunched posture suggest that the "gunner" is acutally understanding the comments that are being said in a critique while the project is artfully disected and discarded by an aware instructor. A tape recorder or other audio documentation device is generally used (power can be on or off) to give the impression that the words being said are so important that the "gunner" will actually be listening to them sometime in the future.

goes by alias "shmoopie"

I was actually thinking about getting a audio documentation device. Ususally I have no idea what people are telling me in my crit #1 because I don't understand them, #2 exhaustion. I was thinking about using one for desk crits as well because I typically have no idea what my critic is telling me either. And I usually forget the suggestions they made because I can't read my own scribbly notes.

gunner - hey that's pretty good!
cause 'butt-munch-sycophant' tends to give it away...

but--- people who get good reviews and prominent marks are generally harder working and more aggressive than the ones who hang around filling school tuition. Noone in my school (that would be Dexter Hobermeyer's academy of architecture) survived long by bringing apples.

I see gunners more in the workplace and on reality tv shows

and on this site although they're usually called 'romans', and now 'lords'. barf

The term for a "gunner" in my school was calling the person a Peter Keating.

i didn't pay enough attention to my design professors or other students to see who was kissing ass, so i wouldn't know