From the Wall Street Journal: To learn something at the office can be difficult. But to refrain from learning something requires years of practice and refinement. It’s an office skill that Steven Crawley finds indispensable. “The inability to grasp selective things can be very helpful in keeping your desk clear of unwanted clutter,” says the
Read on »Posts Tagged: learning
College Chemistry Humor
The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry midterm: "Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Support your answer with a proof."
Read on »Actual Driving School Exam Answers
The following are a sampling of REAL answers received on exams given by the California Department of Transportation’s driving school (read Saturday Traffic School for moving violation offenders.)
Read on »Student Bloopers, Part 8 – Mars and Venus
Remember the book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus? Well, here’s a prime example of the differences between Men and Women offered by an English professor at Southern Methodist University
Read on »Student Bloopers, Part 7 – Science Facts & Legends
The beguiling ideas about science quoted here were gleaned from essays, exams, and class room discussions. Most were from 5th and 6th graders. They illustrate Mark Twain’s contention that the ‘most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop.’
Read on »Student Bloopers, Part 6 – High School Essay Contest: Worst Analogies
He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it. (Joseph Romm, Washington)
Read on »Student Bloopers, Part 5 – Quotes from 11 Year-Old’s Science Exams
When you breath, you inspire. When you do not breath, you expire.
Read on »Student Bloopers, Part 4 – Where They Get It
A list of parental excuses supposedly sent to teachers. In these samples, names were replaced with either Fred or Mary to protect innocent and guilty alike.
Read on »Student Bloopers, Part 3 – Children’s Proverbs
A first grade teacher collected old, well known proverbs. She gave each kid in her class the first half of a proverb, and had them come up with the rest.
Read on »Student Bloopers Part 2 – World History
Author: Richard Lederer, St. Paul’s School One of thefringe benefits of being an English or History teacher is receiving the occasional jewel of a student blooper in an essay. I have pasted together the following "history" of the world from certifiably genuine student bloopers collected by teachers throughout the United States, from eight grade through
Read on »Student Bloopers, Part 1 – European History
Those who forget history–and the English language–may be condemned to mangle both. Historian Anders Henriksson, a five- year veteran of the university classroom, has faithfully recorded his freshman students’ more striking insights into European history. Possibly as an act of vengeance, Henriksson has assembled these fractured fragments into a chronological narrative from the Middle Ages to the present.
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