Teacher stumped over student’s answer on homework: ‘I don’t even know what to say’
A teacher has been left stumped over a student’s answer to their history homework.
The high school teacher was marking her class’s homework when she came across a student’s answer that left her at a loss for words.
‘What connections can you draw between the 1940s-50s and modern life?’ the question asked.
The students were supposed to analyse the time period of the 1940s-50s, comparing links, relationships, patterns, similarities or influences that still shape modern life.
However, one student seemed to have misinterpreted the word ‘draw’.
Instead of connecting the past to the present in words, the student took ‘draw’ literally to mean sketching a picture.
‘I can’t draw,’ the student responded.
The high school teacher shared the homework in a Reddit thread called ‘mildly infuriating’, saying: ‘Sometimes I don’t even know what to say.’
A teacher has been left stumped over a student’s answer to their history homework
Her post was met with 860 comments, with many divided over the student’s answer.
‘At least it’s an honest answer,’ one suggested.
‘This is like a double whammy. One part is that they’re not even attempting to draw… anything and the other part is they take the word “draw” too literally,’ another said.
‘Going to be honest, this is probably just a student who couldn’t be bothered by the end of the lesson and probably didn’t include the object of the sentence,’ one shared.
‘They can’t think critically but they certainly know what humor is,’ another added.
While one revealed: ‘As a former “gifted but lazy” kid, I feel seen. Why write a paragraph when three words and a pun do the trick?’
However, one disagreed, saying: ‘I mean, it didn’t do the trick, the student just didn’t answer and provided a really basic dad joke.’
Some suggested the ‘messy writing’ was a sign of a bright future.
‘You might be disappointed, but judging by the handwriting sample that kid is going to be a neurosurgeon,’ one joked.
‘Quite to the contrary messy handwriting is a sign of either intelligence or complete and utter stupidity. It’s a bit of a coin flip without context,’ another shared.
While one shared: ‘Not sure why so many are making fun of the student so much. I’m a teacher and I see the misunderstanding. And if they were being funny… I mean, I giggled.’
Some slammed the ‘confusing’ question, saying it was ‘too vague’.
‘To be honest, this question is so open ended, I’d probably rant about capitalism or something,’ one suggested.
‘I’m mildly infuriated by the stupid question,’ another said.
‘I wouldn’t even know where to start answering that question. It seems incredibly broad and people could write pages upon pages of answers. But what exactly is the answer the teacher is looking for? Something like, “Telephones existed during both time periods?” Or something more political?’ one pointed out.
‘What the f*** does the question even mean though?’ another asked.
Former students shared how they responded to ‘hard’ questions.
‘As a former student; I always put a smart-a** remark for an answer when I didn’t know the right one. Sometimes teachers just grade if something is there, sometimes they’d give me half a point for being funny. Worth the gamble,’ one said.
‘My strategy in history class, back in high school, was to write in as elaborate and entertaining a way I could, to tell what little I’d actually manage to remember in a way that made it seem like more. Once the teacher gave me a pass in an exam I’d have failed, thanks to a question I had completely made up the answer to. He told me “all that you’ve told here is wrong, but you’ve told it so WELL, I had to give you something”,’ another revealed.
‘This is how I ended up an English major. If I don’t know the answer to a free response question I’ll just write some paragraph related to the question and usually end up with full points,’ one shared.
‘This just worked for me in college last term. I could not remember the definition of a concept, so I just gave a review of a magazine that shares the name. I was later told I got points for making him laugh,’ another added.
