Almost the entire class gave one of the stories thumbs down and the other story a thumbs up.
Turned out that the thumbs down story was written by John Updike and the thumbs up story was written by the teacher's college-age son.
Thanks for sharing, that was a very interesting experiment. I did not write this song, but I am a good friend of the songwriter. I have submitted other songs of hers to be critiqued in different forums and what usually happens is that the song is ripped apart for not conforming to a pre-ordained format. Maybe I just think outside the box in these matters but to me if you can’t have a good song without plugging it into a cookie-cutter template, that indicates a lack of talent in my opinion. It’s like musicians - some can’t play a note without sheet music and others can play anything they hear in any key without reading a note. And it’s usually the sheet-music only players who look down their noses at those who can’t read it but can play it with expertise (like Stevie Ray Vaughan, for example). Although he was such a genius I can’t imagine anyone looking down their nose at him. Some songs actually write themselves - and the songwriter is merely taking dictation. There’s a lot to be said for inspiration. In the end, it’s all very subjective - if you like the song and enjoy listening to it, then it’s a good song. If you don’t enjoy it it’s not a good song - at least not for you.