This just happened in my class:I'm not sure what I should think about this.
Five minutes into the essay test--after I had explained that it was open book, open notes, and that they could use any resource available to them—a cellphone speaker erupts:
"Hello, this Michael Pollan."
"Mr. Pollan, my name is XXXXX and I am a student at XXXXX High School and I was wondering if you could help me with my essay about your book?"
Silence….Click.
He let the answering service pu the next few tries…
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
I Kid You Not, This Really Happened
A teacher at school sent the following email today. He says this really happened and gave me permission to post the story here. Identifying information has, of course, been redacted:
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6 comments:
Well, I guess if they could use any resource available to them he wasn't really breaking any rules.
I'm impressed by the resourcefulness of the student; I'm happy the author did not even respond; and clearly said teacher might wish to be a little more specific in the future.
We can pretend that this is resourcefulness and thinking outside the box, but we all know that's not really what's going on here.
I'm reminded of an old German military award, the Order of Maria Theresa. To get it you had to accomplish something *awesome*, but you had to do it in violation of orders. Screw up, it's all on you. This kid tried for the OMT and just made an ass of himself.
Wow. Totally rude and inconsiderate. Not to mention, the trouble he went to getting this poor man's number could have been far better spent on his academics, yes?
Without knowing what class, or what type of student this is, (though I think I've got a pretty good guess) I really don't know what's going on there ... although I suspect it was an AP student, as the lower levels would be less likely to care enough to try.
It can remind you of that German award ... but it doesn't apply, as he was well within the rules. I don't think of him as an ass, at all-- I think of him as someone who tried to do something clever, and was not rewarded for it.
really, _who_ would have thought to call the author?
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