Thursday, 17 April 2008

But I bought it...

I was reading this post over at Acephalous, and for some reason it reminded me of a conversation I had with a student during a tutorial. I had asked the students to do some small group work, and listened in on the conversation. I knew two students weren't discussing what they should have been, so I deliberately went to their group first. After an attempt to avoid my question, and then a further attempt to bluff by giving the example from the text given in the lecture, I asked for their own example:

Student: We couldn't find one.

Me: It's full of them!

Student: Well, there's that other one where [... ].

Me: That was also in the lecture. Do you have one of your own?

Student: No.

Me: Are you telling me that you haven't read the text?

Student (rolling his eyes and waving his book at me): Look! I bought the book.

Me: Buying it and reading it are not the same thing.

Student (confidently): Why would I buy it, and not read it?


This is a question which troubles many a university tutor, no doubt.

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