Posted on 12/21/2021 5:32:11 PM PST by billorites
Tucked into the second page of the syllabus was information about a locker number and its combination. Inside was a $50 bill, which went unclaimed.
Kenyon Wilson, a professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, wanted to test whether any of his students fully read the syllabus for his music seminar.
Of the more than 70 students enrolled in the class, none apparently did.
Professor Wilson said he knows this because on the second page of the three-page syllabus he included the location and combination to a locker, inside of which was a $50 cash prize.
“Free to the first who claims; locker one hundred forty-seven; combination fifteen, twenty-five, thirty-five,” read the passage in the syllabus. But when the semester ended on Dec. 8, students went home and the cash was unclaimed.
“My semester-long experiment has come to an end,” Mr. Wilson wrote on Facebook, adding: “Today I retrieved the unclaimed treasure.”
He said he was unaware of the reach of his post until the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation contacted him about doing a story about it.
Professor Wilson said he wanted to include the hidden clues to brighten up the semester during the pandemic.
“Teaching in a pandemic, I’m trying to do creative things and, you know, make it interesting,” he said on Saturday. “The syllabus is a really dry document. I mean, it’s not supposed to be exciting to read, but I thought if my students are going through and reading it, I might as well reward them.”
Professor Wilson, the associate head of performing arts, surmised that the prize remained unclaimed during the semester because if someone had found it, the student “would not have stayed quiet about it,” he said. Also, at the start of the semester, he set the combination lock at the noon position...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Reminds me of the movie, “Draft Day”
Has anybody ever read a syllabus?
We should close down all Universities and declare utter surrender to mankind’s ignorance and lethargy.
He’s obviously an inexperienced instructor if his syllabus is longer than one page…..
Already posted a couple of weeks ago. Been there done that.
Students be all like “$50? Pffft.”
I guess that won’t work again.
Professors just expect students to read their syllabi. If it’s that important, be deliberate, be explicit, and be clear in expectations and repeat it over and over. Don’t just expect students to do your will — you have to teach them, just as you teach the rest of your course.
Lazy ass professor.
I’m pissed billorites. For the first time freaking EVER, I read the article before posting a reply. Read the whole damn thing, and nothing. It’s dogfood for Sarcasmo again tonight.
A friend of mine once had to write a college about some stupid Renaissance poet. About half-way through his paper he inserted this sentence: “And then the panzers cut across France.”
My friend got an ‘A’ on his paper. So either the professor didn’t read it or that poet was once a German tank officer.
Or a TA “read the paper” and graded it.
a syllabus is never meant to be read; only referenced as needed as the semester goes along.
Ha!
Hope the students learned a lesson.
In high school a friend had to source something for a paper. He just made up a quote and credited it to one Theodore Nugent.
Alright. It’s ZE Wango Ze Tango!
- Theodore Nugent 1980.
Of Chipmunks fame?
My wife is a college professor and has first hand experience with students never reading her syllabus despite reminder emails and notices in her video lectures. She often gets frantic emails or phone calls from students who suddenly realize they have a major assignment due and never bothered to read the requirements in the syllabus
I always read the syllabus when I was in college. Just like I always read the instructions before operating or assembling something new.
Years ago there was a story about a professor who asked one question on the final. All the students always walked by the janitor at the school who was always cleaning the hallway outside the classroom at a certain time. If they got the question they got an “A”. The question was, “What’s the janitor’s name?” Few got an “A”.
You’d be surprised how many janitors I’ve asked their name over the years. If I don’t do that and I won’t be to a restroom again, I thank folks for cleaning the public restrooms.
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