Minimum five is less than five

[LingualMonkey]

As a reminder, I teach college-level English.

Today, I assigned a class a summary. The assignment was simple--read something from a magazine, newspaper, or Internet site that interests you. Then, produce a summary. Said summary should be at least five (5) sentences long, an introductory sentence and at least four sentences covering the content of the article.

After about 15 minutes, a student asked, "Does it have to be exactly five sentences?"

A fair question, I guess. I replied that five was a minimum. The summary could be more than five sentences, but that there had to be at least five.

Her response: "So I can write less than five?"

And then, a small piece of my soul died.

[Crossbow]

Her response: "So I can write less than five?"

You can, but you'll fail the assignment. Your choice.
Of course, in her case, I think I would have changed the assignment to "Please write a summary (5 sentence minimum, of course) concerning the definition and usage of the word "minimum" in modern English.

And then, a small piece of my soul died.

That's why I had mine removed to make room for more sarcasm...

[JoitheArtist]

As a reminder, I teach college-level English.

Today, I assigned a class a summary. The assignment was simple--read something from a magazine, newspaper, or Internet site that interests you. Then, produce a summary. Said summary should be at least five (5) sentences long, an introductory sentence and at least four sentences covering the content of the article.


Her response: "So I can write less than five?"

*twitch* *twitch*

How can someone write less than 5 sentences on a topic that interests them?? Isn't part of the point of being interested in something that you want to talk about it??

Excuse me for a moment. There are some members of my generation that I need to track down and HIT UPSIDE THE HEAD WITH A TROUT! Gah!

[aurelemsrealm]

LOL! I have the opposite problem if I let my brain go at it. I tend to be more detailed than what is required for most assignments. I sometimes have to pare down what I write just too keep from getting too wordy. I'm good at going overboard on analysis when I put my thinking cap on.

[Imogene]

I had a final project in a class in college (Note the 'college' part, it's important) to stand in front of the class and 'present' for ten minutes (no more, no less) I was one of, if not, THE, last people to present, and did it on the world I used for storytelling. Vaguely: "How did humans get here? You're lucky Myetje's in transition from her transformation still, otherwise, you'd be dead. There's a human settlement down the hill south of here. Get out of here, quickly."
Got my grade back the next class, and I'd gotten two points off, for using 'big' words.
Uh?
I replayed my presentation in my head, and the biggest word I could think of that I'd used was 'transformation'. If you're in college and don't know what that means, there is NO hope for you.

[Primer]

Got my grade back the next class, and I'd gotten two points off, for using 'big' words.
Uh?
I replayed my presentation in my head, and the biggest word I could think of that I'd used was 'transformation'. If you're in college and don't know what that means, there is NO hope for you.

As a college professor, I wish I could get my students to use "small" words correctly! If somebody used the word "transformation" in my class--and there is such a thing in Math!--I would be so proud!

[Imogene]

If somebody used the word "transformation" in my class--and there is such a thing in Math!--I would be so proud!

*thinks for a moment*
A transformation is running a value through a function, isn't it? It's the result....

[Miss Fatale]

I had a student recently ask me how she could tell if she had written more than two paragraphs.

Poor dear, but I do wonder what her educational background must have been like!

[WhiteRose]

I'm good at pulling assignments out of my ass...if you sound like a visionary and really ham it up with 'hidden meanings' and 'representations' and 'this REALLY means this...' they eat it right up... there were few assignments that really interested me and made me think...plus i was raised to give them what they want, not what i believe...

[42_42_42]

How do these people get into college? They sound like they shouldn't have been able to get into High School!

[WhiteRose]

because the parents and teachers BOTH just want them gone?