# Anybody care to predict the grade this paper will receive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668 "2009-05-16T18:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/61 "2009-05-18T14:23:09Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > …watching the movie is a complete waste of time… I haven’t seen the movie, but I understand that you get to ogle Angelina Jolie’s ass briefly; I have to disagree about it being a _complete_ waste of time. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/62 "2009-05-18T15:09:33Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > The angry father of a student called to complain about the low grade on his son’s paper. Said the father, “This is a really good paper. It should have gotten at least a B.” > Dept. Head: “How do you know?” > Father: “Because I’m the one who wrote it!” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/63 "2009-05-18T15:13:24Z")
I teach Ancient History at my university – and I enjoy that time of the semester when the _Iliad_ quiz rolls around; most of the questions are worded in such a way that I know who’s actually read the assigned text, and who’s only seen _Troy_. I mentioned as a joke prior to the quiz on Gilgamesh that I, personally, have never read it, but that it looked cool enough to assign, and that I was really looking forward to how the students answered the questions so I could find out what it was about. Most of the students had a bit of a laugh, but there were one or two who thought I was telling the truth and were (briefly) very happy. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/64 "2009-05-18T15:18:19Z")
> [@Astroboy14](#): > > I haven’t seen the movie, but I understand that you get to ogle Angelina Jolie’s ass briefly; I have to disagree about it being a _complete_ waste of time. My niece is far more interested in say, Hugh Jackman’s ass. I know, as I took her, my favorite niece, and my stepdaughter to see _Wolverine_ and she did a lllllooottttt of sighing; when the two older girls started mocking the story, the youngest said, “Um..there was a story? I thought it was just beefcake.” (Well, she didn’t actually say beefcake.) By way of an update, she did end up having to read the poem (or at least the Sparks notes). It turns out that the assignment was less a paper than a take-home test; she had her choice of either of two basic questions, but she had to answer very specific questions on, as written above, either poetic devices or Christian/pagan tension. She and my sister ended up pulling an all-nighter. I did not help. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/65 "2009-05-18T15:20:53Z")
> [@Ms\_Boods](#): > > I teach Ancient History at my university – and I enjoy that time of the semester when the _Iliad_ quiz rolls around; most of the questions are worded in such a way that I know who’s actually read the assigned text, and who’s only seen _Troy_. . I haven’t seen Troy. May I ask if Achilles dies in it? Since the Iliad does not deal with his death, I wonder if students who write papers on the poem ever get caught that one. One of my SAT tutorial students asked me to look over one of her papers and was shocked when I pointed out that a discourse on the meaning of Achilles’ death was dead giveaway that she hadn’t read the poem. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/66 "2009-05-18T15:35:56Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I haven’t seen Troy. May I ask if Achilles dies in it? Since the Iliad does not deal with his death, I wonder if students who write papers on the poem ever get caught that one. One of my SAT tutorial students asked me to look over one of her papers and was shocked when I pointed out that a discourse on the meaning of Achilles’ death was dead giveaway that she hadn’t read the poem. He does. Somebody gets him in the heel while he’s trying to save Briseis. ---
**Author:** ![Erasmus\_Darwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@Erasmus\_Darwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erasmus_Darwin)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/67 "2009-05-18T16:29:34Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#): > > Oh, I don’t know- how about so that MAYBE she doesn’t end up like your intellectually lazy peers? :rolleyes: > > This whole thing is pathetic at any age. Spezza finished his post with “_(Not that I’m condoning this behaviour! However, I am pointing out the reality that success in today’s world in not as highly correlated with effort as it used to be.)_” From this, it’s clear that his opening statement was meant to emphasize the greater magnitude of the problem – the full context clarifies that he’s not defending the actions of Skald’s niece but rather lamenting the larger flaws of the world we live in. Laying into Spezza with sarcasm like that makes it sound like you took the initial statement at face value without finishing reading the post. That’s kind of funny given that this whole issue is about people not doing the required reading. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/68 "2009-05-18T20:12:00Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > She and my sister ended up pulling an all-nighter. One too many people up all night, sounds like. **Erasmus Darwin** , you are right and I apologize to you, **Spezza**. My sarcasm was misdirected and I meant no offence to you personally. Posting prior to thinking through, and all that… It is a hot-button issue for me, obviously. These are the same kids who are going to come to me and try to get a job in a few years, and it scares me to death… ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/69 "2009-05-18T20:38:21Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Nope. This was long ere Snopes–1991 or so. I had been keeping that idea in reserve for years. Anyway, it only works once per person, and only if the teacher will be inclined to believe you would have gotten a good answer anyway. I’d never have dared it in Physics. The year 1991 may have been before Snopes, but the article says that the urban legend goes back to the 1930’s. Hmmm. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/70 "2009-05-18T21:53:32Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > The year 1991 may have been before Snopes, but the article says that the urban legend goes back to the 1930’s. Hmmm. :dubious: A bit of a hijack, but there’s a concept in folklore called _ostension_, which refers to people who take urban legends into real life. There’s a variety of subcategories that get more specific. In short, it is possible that it’s both an urban legend and a real event in his life, though it’s probably that the behavior was (ultimately) suggested by the legend, either directly or through someone else’s experience. See [http://www.ostension.org/index.html](http://www.ostension.org/index.html) for a lovely and complete discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/71 "2009-05-18T23:44:29Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > The year 1991 may have been before Snopes, but the article says that the urban legend goes back to the 1930’s. Hmmm. :dubious: I don’t think Snopes claimed it as true or false, and anyway, just because something did or didn’t happen before doesn’t mean it can’t happen again. Hell, Skald could’ve read about it in _MAD Magazine_ and done it in real life. Finding the issue of MAD wouldn’t “prove” he’s a liar. Just what the hell is your beef? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/72 "2009-05-19T01:08:20Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > The year 1991 may have been before Snopes, but the article says that the urban legend goes back to the 1930’s. Hmmm. :dubious: Seriously, dude, what the hell is your problem? I’m not repeating something that a friend of a friend told me his cousin heard about. I repeated, somewhat sheepishly, something that I myself did. I don’t recall ever hearing about such an instance of academic wiggling before college. It was just something I had in mind to do if I ever really needed to, which I decided was practical only because of the lack of blue book use and the small size of the liberal arts faculty at my college making it possible for me to get a rep for being anal retentive in that particular way. It would never have worked in the business school, which is where I really needed it more than once. I waited as long as I did because, hell, I was an upperclassman and wanted to see if it would work. I figured the worst thing that could happen would be the teacher making me take the test over again, and by that time I knew that this teacher was the only one who’d fall for it. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/73 "2009-05-19T04:34:53Z")
Is this the same sister that was, as you put it, infantilizing your mother? ---
**Author:** ![Erasmus\_Darwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@Erasmus\_Darwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erasmus_Darwin)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/74 "2009-05-19T14:19:55Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#): > > **Erasmus Darwin** , you are right and I apologize to you, **Spezza**. My sarcasm was misdirected and I meant no offence to you personally. Posting prior to thinking through, and all that… If it’s any consolation, the only reason I caught it is because I almost made the same mistake myself (and I’ve likely done it on other posts in the past). I just got lucky and happened to re-read the end of the post an extra time before it sank in. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/75 "2009-05-19T15:20:37Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Seriously, dude, what the hell is your problem? I’ve got no problems with you, **Skald** , nor was any snark meant in my post. Was just pointing something out. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/76 "2009-05-19T15:47:27Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#): > > It’s just a bit easier to fake it via a movie nowadays. Depends on the movie. Watching the movie _Beowulf_ to write about the poem is closer to watching _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_ when you need to write a report on _Watership Down_. Both have at least one rabbit, but that’s about as close as you get. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/77 "2009-05-19T16:16:03Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Hell, Skald could’ve read about it in _MAD Magazine_ and done it in real life. Bingo – that’s where I got the idea. It was an article on “the alphabet of cheating” or something like that – 26 different ways to get one over on your teacher, if I remember correctly. And although the overall article is fuzzy, one I remember solidly is “M”, for “Moreover…”. They clued you in on writing two sentences on “Page 2”, beginning with “Moreover”, and to just turn in that page. Worked like a charm for me in 1985 in Ms. Zettel’s English class. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/78 "2009-05-19T17:14:07Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Is this the same sister that was, as you put it, infantilizing your mother? Nope. I’ve got anywhere from 4 to 7 sisters, depending on how you count. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/79 "2009-05-19T18:44:47Z")
how many if you count in base 6? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668/80 "2009-05-19T20:33:31Z")
> [@](#): > > I might add that the assignment is impossible to accomplish just by watching the movie; watching the movie is a complete waste of time, in fact. She’d do just as well watching the Hobbit cartoon. Probably better, actually, since the movie version of _The Hobbit_ contains at least some of Tolkien’s original poetry, and Tolkien’s poetry is influenced to at least some degree by the poetry of _Beowulf_. She’d still be much better off with, say, Theoden’s eulogy than with “Far over Misty Mountains cold”, but at least it’d be a step in the right direction. I’m actually less concerned about the fact that she was trying to fake it by watching a movie instead of reading, than I am about the fact that she thought that would be effective in this particular case. Questions about the plot of _Beowulf_, yeah, it’s at least reasonable to expect that that might be similar in the book and movie, but about the poetic forms? Huh? Especially since the teacher probably chose that topic specifically to weed out the movie-watchers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-care-to-predict-the-grade-this-paper-will-receive/496668.md?page=5)