Credit for Cussing

[Taualumna]

LONDON – A British high school student has received credit for writing nothing but a two-word expletive on an exam paper because the phrase expressed meaning and was spelled correctly.

The Rest of It

[tld221]

Isnt this the equivalent of get 200 points for automatically writing your name?

Are we supposed to be upset that the student cursed on paper (gasp! the horror!) or that he got minimal credit and that the powers that be are OK with it?

either way its silly. but on a scale of 100, the grade is still a failing mark so whatever man. im sure if the student wrote "yo mama" they mightve gotten 2 points for effort anyway.

[knight_shadow]

What was the topic of the paper? I find it hard to believe that 2 words will satisfy the requirements of a high school essay (unless this was a "creative writing" class or something -- even then, that's not creative).

I think the teacher is just looking for his 15 minutes.

[RU OX Alum]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

What was the topic of the paper? I find it hard to believe that 2 words will satisfy the requirements of a high school essay (unless this was a "creative writing" class or something -- even then, that's not creative).

I think the teacher is just looking for his 15 minutes.

wasn't his teacher...just a proctor, who used the letter of the guidelines...in the article it said it would have been eligible for a couple of more points if he had used puncuation. I think a zero score here would mean, or would be taken to mean, he never bothered to show up, or never wrote anything down.

I think it's funny.

[UGAalum94]

Yeah, it's a 27 point scale range and the student got two, I think. The example was used to demonstrate that to get no points, the response would have to carry no meaning at all.

It was in no danger of being regarded as a competent or acceptable response.

I think it's pretty hard to get no score on the new SAT essay section as well.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by RU OX Alum

wasn't his teacher...just a proctor, who used the letter of the guidelines...in the article it said it would have been eligible for a couple of more points if he had used puncuation. I think a zero score here would mean, or would be taken to mean, he never bothered to show up, or never wrote anything down.

I think it's funny.

The majority of my professors (HS and college) would not have given credit if your response was not on topic. That's why this sounds strange to me. I still think 2 points was too much for this kid. If he was too lazy to write at least a half-assed response, he deserved a zero.

[WinniBug]

Originally Posted by tld221

Isnt this the equivalent of get 200 points for automatically writing your name?

When I taught at the public schools, my principal didn't want me giving zeros for work not turned in. I was supposed to give a 25 or 50 instead of a 0, that makes it more "recoverable". If they turned in ANYTHING, I was supposed to give a 60 or something. I also learned that I shouldn't gibe anything lower than a 60 on a report card, even if they earned a 17.

[nate2512]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

The majority of my professors (HS and college) would not have given credit if your response was not on topic. That's why this sounds strange to me. I still think 2 points was too much for this kid. If he was too lazy to write at least a half-assed response, he deserved a zero.

He wrote, and I suppose I'll go ahead and edit it so as not to get in trouble, f--- off. So you're right, 2 points too many.