(no subject)

[tinyjo]

You may be amused/horrified by this poll about conditions on the moon - follow the link from there and read the thing about what inspired him to ask the question!

Comments

[sparkymark.livejournal.com]

Bad memories of an RE exam where I had memorised everything we had been taught about the life of Theodore Herzl (to this day i can remember he was born in 1860 and died 44 years later, 44 years before the founding of Israel, which was considered at GCE level to be "happily ever after"). The question was something like "Write about Zionism" and I replied "We weren't taught that" assuming it was something like Zoroastrianism because I'd never heard that word before and it had never been used in the lessons.

On reviewing the exams I had an exchange with the teacher and even though half the class agreed with me that we shouldn't be expected to have known the stuff we were not taught (and they had also skipped that question) she still wouldn't take the blame.

fair or unfair

[jinty]

I think where it's a question of jargon then it's fairer than otherwise to say that you weren't taught it and there was no reason per se that you should have known that Herzl was a Zionist. If it was a current affairs question then I think maybe they could reasonably expect you to pick up stuff from wider reading that wasn't necessarily right in front of your eyes and given to you as a spoon-fed thing.


* ie I think you are right to pick up on the specifics of not having heard that word used in the lessons, and it is not something that is self-explanatory.