Speaking of reports, I always hated doing these long projects and
putting in all the work of plagiarizing to turn in some really
quality piece on a state or country and not knowing if it was being
really deeply and truly read and appreciated. To this end I started a
game where I would put in a really funny but never distasteful phrase
or comment into the body of the text to see if the material was being
thoroughly reviewed. The paper would read something like:
Washington’s state song was inspired by the fact that gerbils can
not only be taught to fly but to derive existential meaning from it.
Then right back into some blah blah blah and heretofores and whatnot.
I always expected to be caught and marked down but I learned the most
important lesson anyone can from a formal education - proper
formatting and a great folder make up about 90% of perceived value in
this world. Most especially when you have to grade 30 of them and you
know what kind of work you will be getting from every student before
you start. I ran this little joke with every long paper from junior
high on through my first year of college and only had one teacher or
professor ever mention it. I even had a philosophy professor ask to
use my essay on the importance of cultural context in aesthetic
judgment, joke and all, as a prototype of formatting for midterm
papers, I had received an 'A' undiscovered joke notwithstanding. I
told him sure, I mean it wasn't an ethics class after all.
