According to Wikipedia, a parking lot is “a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface.”
This was the opening sentence of one of my student's drafts. I've tried very hard to not post their work before (for a variety of ethical and legal reasons), but I just can't represent how miserable I'm feeling right now without providing a frame of reference.
This was the opening sentence of one of my student's drafts. I've tried very hard to not post their work before (for a variety of ethical and legal reasons), but I just can't represent how miserable I'm feeling right now without providing a frame of reference.
3 comments:
Why was your student writing about a parking lot in the first place? Also, I don't know if you know this, but Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information.
This is the generic "solving problems" essay assignment, and to prevent them from trying to figure out world peace or something equally laughable, they're supposed to identify a current problem on campus and suggest solutions. This paper was arguing that the student parking lots were unsafe (which they actually are).
The worst part is, not only is this student usually one of the better writers (and the rest of the paper was admittedly above average), but since the paper asks them to direct their argument at a specific office or administrator, the definition of "parking lot" was used in an argument written to the director of the university's Parking Services...
Not only can people write whatever they want, but the rest of the world automatically takes it as gospel truth.
True story: a fellow med student (dang 3rd years) was researching a disease that their patient had the other night while on call using Wikipedia, and using this information to direct their care. Frightening.
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