A little while ago the “Modern Morals” column in “The Times” received the following question from an anonymous correspondent:
We were told to write a 3,000-word book report over a school holiday. Then we got a new English teacher, and our old one forgot about the report. As only three of us had done it, the rest of the class didn’t want us to hand in the work, in case the teacher made them do it, too. So we didn’t. But was it fair for us to have slogged for nothing when others didn’t do the work at all?
Oh, but I feel for the author of the letter, having been in a similar situation myself several times. Not with new teachers, but with old teachers who forgot all about the assignments they set. God, I used to hate that. The Times ethics columnist thinks the correspondent should be happy with all the precious learning they gained from reading the book and writing the report, and not to be the sort of swot who only worries about grading. He probably used to be the sort of person who would tease his classmates when they cared about their exam results, and call them swots.
Of course, if this situation occurred in my sort of school, the new teacher would turn out not to have forgotten about the assignment, but to have been waiting to see if the pupils are honest enough to turn in the essays when nobody had asked to see them. When there are no essays forthcoming, the entire class has to stay after school to write them in detention.
The three people who had done the homework in the first place, hand theirs in at the start of detention. They get a short lecture about bending down to peer pressure, and are allowed to go home. The rest of the class each have to stay until their work is done. As they come to the front with the finished paper, they each get two sharp licks of the tawse on each hand, to encourage their hard work in the future.
…Never let it be said I can’t nurse a grudge.
You know, I think the kiss-ass kids should be whacked. Partly for being totally shameless suck ups, and partly because if they had any decency they’d let the others copy.
I’m totally with Smudge- suck ups should get whacked. We used to have a code when we were younger, if the teacher doesn’t ask for it, it never happend.
Teachers forgetting assignments?! That never happened in *my* universe! There was more than once I’d have loved for a teacher to have forgotten an assignmnent — because I sure as hell had!
I got very bad grades from about second grade until sophomore year of high school, when I suddenly realized that being able to go to a college of my choice was a very good idea!
In fifth grade, I had a huge crush on my teacher — Mrs. S., who was seriously dominent — lots of the kids hated her for being a strict teacher, but it just made me be attracted to her. Of course, I was by that time so stuck in my not-doing-homework-ways, that I didn’t really understand how to make the effort (I’m sure a little CP would have helped cement that understanding!) I remember once, after school, I told Mrs. S. that I loved her. She asked me, “Then why don’t you do the homework for me?” (A reasonable question!) I think maybe my effort improved a bit after that!
I’ve had a thing for strict teachers ever since!
Um. One day in Physics our class was supposed to sit a test, and I’d actually studied for it, and I really, really, really needed a good grade to pass the useless subject that year. And then the teacher forgot all about the test. And I reminded him.
Let’s just say, the rest of the class (except for the other 2 people who had done some studying) wasn’t too pleased with me. That doesn’t make me a suck-up though, right? I did let my friends copy my work – and the other way around