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| This is the same cover that stared at me trying to shame me into reading. Never! |
Our required reading for that first half of the semester was an awful
book, 'Alas Babylon'. Well, I guess it could be a awful the first
couple of pages never grabbed my attention so I lost interest and I
am not really sure what it is about. I did know that it was about
nuclear war and we were still in the afterglow of the end of the cold
war so it still seemed relevant. Besides the writing the main thrust
of English class was reading and talking about and taking tests on
that book and I refused to read it. I could not work up the willpower
to just get in there and read what I didn't want to. So everyday I
sat and listened carefully to the smart kids make comments and the
teacher make comments and would remember every detail so when the
quiz or test would come I would have enough ammunition to take that
next hill. I was aided in the fact that the teacher was one of those
who was terrible at writing tests and would often give away answers
in previous and following questions, so I always did okay. I was
reading lots of other books of my choosing so it was not like I was
becoming illiterate but I just carried that book back and for to
school hoping that one day the inspiration would strike to read it.
Right before midterm we had an essay and a test on the book. The
essay I pieced together from what I had heard other people say about
the book, because five hundred words is not that hard even for a
non-participant. The test was just a rewrite of all of the quizzes we
had taken to that point and once I know an answer it is very rare
that I forget it. I got an 'A' on the essay and one on the test so I
was feeling pretty good about that. The teacher was impressed with my
performance and liked me anyway so she asked me to tell those in the
class who had chosen not to read the book what they had missed out
on. I thought because the test and essay grades were in the bag that
I was in the clear so I came clean and told the class that the first
ten pages were tedious. I let them know that I had not read the book
and that I just wrote the essay and passed the test based on in-class
discussion and that it wasn't that hard. That little confession was
not exactly what the Frau had in mind and liking me or not she had
publicly prided herself on not being fooled by what she called B.S.
Essays and she had bragged that if we faked it she could tell and we
would get a terrible grade. She was so outraged by my confession that
she started yelling at me and telling the class that what I did was
the same as cheating and that I would be getting a zero on the essay
and on the test. I asked her in what sense was it cheating and she
said that I had lied about reading the book and I reminded her that I
had never claimed to read the book. She said that using
information that I had not learned from reading was cheating. I
pointed out that group discussions in class were encouraging everyone
to cheat then and she told me we were done talking about it. I was
livid and didn't come back to her class for a week so I had some time
to cool off and not get into more trouble. When I did come back our
relationship had definitely taken on a chill and there was no more
special treatment.
