NationStates Jolt Archive

A friend of mine told me about something that came up at the school he works at. An english teacher handed out an assignment that was to assemble a dictionary like thing with pictures and examples of word use and the like. It was supposed to have 25 entries, however a loop-hole in the grading rubric stated that having all 25 was worth only 10 points out of the total 100 and if a student did one entry correctly they could get the other 90 points easily. So naturally I figured that no one in the whole class was going to do the assignment. But my friend made a couple of good arguements for doing it while we were discussing the situation. So I pose unto you the question. Would you do the whole thing in hopes of getting 100 or would you do one part of it and shoot for a 90 but without so much work?

There is more to all this. If the teacher gets mad that you only did one, she could mark down; however, compromise is easy. Just do one right, and after that, just do what you can. If the teacher sees that you did put more effort than into just one of the 25, then she wouldn't likely deduct points for slacking off.

Well yes, there is more to it yet I don't think you're right really. She can't deduct more than the ten points if you follow the rubric and do everything else right so you are rather secure. However that is similar to one of my arguements my friend posed, couldn't she then start being a lot more harsh when grading you? Is it worth the risk in the long run to get out of doing a couple of hours worth of work?

As much as I'd probably bitch about a worthless assignment, I most likely would've recognized the point of doing the entire thing, which is this: Sometimes to get to the top, you have to do everything to get there, not just half-ass your way through life to get it.

Teachers have to follow the letter of the law. Do one entry, then LAUGH IN THEIR FACE, or not if you want them not to hate YOU FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR.

remembering what i was like in high school, i probably wouldn't do any of it - unless it was slightly more interesting or slightly more difficult than the usual busy work. and if the teacher typically annoyed me for being anal about rules i would do just the one, but even that sort of half-assed and shoot for 70 to 80, just to prove a point.

Teachers have to follow the letter of the law. Do one entry, then LAUGH IN THEIR FACE, or not if you want them not to hate YOU FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR.

Except that marking is a rather subjective exercise.

I'd do the whole thing because, to someone as excessively geeky as me, it sounds like fun.

A friend of mine told me about something that came up at the school he works at. An english teacher handed out an assignment that was to assemble a dictionary like thing with pictures and examples of word use and the like. It was supposed to have 25 entries, however a loop-hole in the grading rubric stated that having all 25 was worth only 10 points out of the total 100 and if a student did one entry correctly they could get the other 90 points easily. So naturally I figured that no one in the whole class was going to do the assignment. But my friend made a couple of good arguements for doing it while we were discussing the situation. So I pose unto you the question. Would you do the whole thing in hopes of getting 100 or would you do one part of it and shoot for a 90 but without so much work?

Let me get this straight: you are debating whether or not to do such a simple assignment completely and to the best of your ability?

Is this what the state of education has come to? :rolleyes:

If I got something sounding that fishy from one of my teachers, I'd immediately suspect there was something more to the assignment than meets the eye. In this case, I'd suspect the standard for a "correct" entry to be unusually high - for example, a mistake that would be very easy to make.

So I'd probably do all of it, and look very, very carefully at those marking criteria. Hope I got at least one of them "right", then. No good to put all your eggs in one basket.

No, I'm not especially paranoid, it's just I had some *real* devious teachers in high school.

A friend of mine told me about something that came up at the school he works at. An english teacher handed out an assignment that was to assemble a dictionary like thing with pictures and examples of word use and the like. It was supposed to have 25 entries, however a loop-hole in the grading rubric stated that having all 25 was worth only 10 points out of the total 100 and if a student did one entry correctly they could get the other 90 points easily. So naturally I figured that no one in the whole class was going to do the assignment. But my friend made a couple of good arguements for doing it while we were discussing the situation. So I pose unto you the question. Would you do the whole thing in hopes of getting 100 or would you do one part of it and shoot for a 90 but without so much work?

do one entry and submit this forum, gotta be worth some extra credit

A friend of mine told me about something that came up at the school he works at. An english teacher handed out an assignment that was to assemble a dictionary like thing with pictures and examples of word use and the like. It was supposed to have 25 entries, however a loop-hole in the grading rubric stated that having all 25 was worth only 10 points out of the total 100 and if a student did one entry correctly they could get the other 90 points easily. So naturally I figured that no one in the whole class was going to do the assignment. But my friend made a couple of good arguements for doing it while we were discussing the situation. So I pose unto you the question. Would you do the whole thing in hopes of getting 100 or would you do one part of it and shoot for a 90 but without so much work?

No didn't understand any of that.

Answering as a teacher, I think you'll find that the breakdown of the marks would be;
10 marks for having 25 entries
the following 90 marks would be awarded on how well those 25 entries were written - their detail, conciseness, use, part of sentence etc.
Also there would be some marks awarded to the presentation and layout (probably 10 of those 90 marks).
So, 1 entry is not going to get you 90.4% (0.4 is 1/25 of 10 marks). The teacher will give you proportionate marks according to the number of words you have submitted. And if you try using the logic you've shown in this thread, I daresay she'll think you're a sad smartarse who could pass easily if you actually put your mind to it rather than thinking of ways to avoid doing the work.
Don't think you're not the first to think of a way to dodge work. It's been happening ever since humans started teaching one another.

Well, back in the day, I wouldn't have done it. Today though I'd be more inclined for you to understand responsibilities. Your teacher hands you assignments, just do them - it won't kill you.

Actually, what I find saddest is that an apparently intelligent human being is doing his/her level best NOT to make the most of his/her education, and would prefer ignorance to learning.

Pray your surgeon shot for 100% rather than for 65%. ;)

A point all of you are having. But I am not a student... i wasn't joking when I said I was getting all of this reported to me by a teacher friend.

Oh, and on a note, the assignment has been graded, and it turns out most everyone did all of their work however those few that didn't do all of it (or only did 2 or 3) ended up getting good grades. It's rather scary. I have been able to get an exact copy of the assignment sheet, though for lack of a scanner I can't do a thing with it as most everything is presented in shoddy picture/example forms.


As I've thought more and more about it, I'm more inclined to agree with those that would just sit back and do the whole thing. However, having seen the assignment it seems more like busywork that was given a higher grade than work that is a challenge. Given that I'd still try and cheat the system. Back in the day I couldn't sit down and do busywork, it didn't do a thing. It wasn't "reinforcing what we had done in class," or "introducing new concepts," it was wasting time and adding just another number for the grade book.

Here's the exact assignment as best I can translate it unto words:
Pick a word from the vocab list, write a dictionary entry for it. Also add in a "link." The link is a word of phrase that sounds similar. (ex. Trip Ed for Intrepid) Illustrate said link and add a caption that explains it. Then do your example sentence that has proper word use. And it should be noted that the teacher advocated the use of stick figures when doing the illustration.

That sounds like busywork to me.

Answering as a teacher, I think you'll find that the breakdown of the marks would be;
10 marks for having 25 entries
the following 90 marks would be awarded on how well those 25 entries were written - their detail, conciseness, use, part of sentence etc.
Also there would be some marks awarded to the presentation and layout (probably 10 of those 90 marks).
So, 1 entry is not going to get you 90.4% (0.4 is 1/25 of 10 marks). The teacher will give you proportionate marks according to the number of words you have submitted. And if you try using the logic you've shown in this thread, I daresay she'll think you're a sad smartarse who could pass easily if you actually put your mind to it rather than thinking of ways to avoid doing the work.
Don't think you're not the first to think of a way to dodge work. It's been happening ever since humans started teaching one another.

This is why you don't half-ass it. Right here. You run into this teacher and you'd be very sorry you didn't do the assignment completely. I never had this dilema myself since I just did every assignment thrown at me. They were nearly always easy. Usually got them done early, too. A lot of that comes from how I was raised.

I said no, because chances are I could better apply that time to finish other projects. A 90 is pretty damned good. This is the perspective of an animation student, by the way. We have veritable mountains of projects and research doesn't exactly cut the mustard.

I think you should try my method which I use for my Economics classes - only hand in homeworks once a month, but when you do hand them in make sure they are infallible. That way, teachers are pissed but mark you down as an 'absent minded genius'. Far from it, in truth, but it's a great way of getting out of deadlines when you need to most

A friend of mine told me about something that came up at the school he works at. An english teacher handed out an assignment that was to assemble a dictionary like thing with pictures and examples of word use and the like. It was supposed to have 25 entries, however a loop-hole in the grading rubric stated that having all 25 was worth only 10 points out of the total 100 and if a student did one entry correctly they could get the other 90 points easily. So naturally I figured that no one in the whole class was going to do the assignment. But my friend made a couple of good arguements for doing it while we were discussing the situation. So I pose unto you the question. Would you do the whole thing in hopes of getting 100 or would you do one part of it and shoot for a 90 but without so much work?

I'd do it as a safety measure. I've skipped "meaningless" work sometimes only to find out that I missed out on that distinction grade by 1%.