1. Your understanding and appreciation of your obligations with respect to school;
2. Your overall maturity and sense of personal responsibility; and
3. Your ability to distinguish, where distinctions exist, what is reasonable and proper from what you personally want.
For most of the questions, the correct answer should have been obvious. Any not-so-obvious answers could be found on pages 5-8 of the English Handbook, which I advised everyone to read before taking the quiz.
Many of the questions address the issue of whether you should accept responsibility for the choices you make, or be accommodated, forgiven, or given another chance when those choices lead to an undesirable outcome. To put it another way, whether it is better to do the right thing in the first place, or try to avoid the unpleasant consequences after the fact. In essentially every case, the former is the correct answer.
Some of the other questions deal with the issue of whether a situation is "not your fault," and what should happen as a result. In most cases, the correct answer does not take fault into account. What this means is not that you are always necessarily at fault, but that it often doesn't matter whether you are at fault or not. In other words, in such situations the fact that you are not at fault is less important than other facts or considerations.
If you answered a substantial number of these questions wrong, you need to seriously reexamine your approach to school (and to life in general as well), and adjust your attitude to give yourself a greater chance at success.
ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS:
- (d) is correct. The late bell marks the beginning of class. Each class period is 47 or 48 minutes long, and all of those minutes are to be devoted to work. You have four minutes, plenty of time, to get from one class to another, and that is all you should be doing during passing. (a) is therefore incorrect, as is (b). (c) is not as good an answer as (d). (e) might be understandable if you are in elementary school, but by now you should be mature enough to do what is right without being told. (f) is childish and self-indulgent. (g) is wrong because no room passes may be issued in the first ten minutes of class, a school-wide rule that you should already know.
- (c) is correct. Being “late” means arriving after a specified point in time, nothing more. If you have an “excuse” for being late, or if it's "not your fault," that does not magically alter the space-time continuum and make it so you actually arrived on time. (a) and (b) are therefore incorrect. Lateness is also not a matter of degree; you either arrive before the bell or after. How long after doesn't matter. (d) is therefore wrong. (e) is wrong because your intentions are irrelevant. Lateness is discussed on page 5 of the English Handbook.
- (k) is correct. As mentioned above, excuses, reasons, intentions and/or fault are irrelevant to the question of what time you arrived to class. Nothing can change that essential fact. The question asks under what circumstances you are not late; it does not ask whether or not you are at fault. (a) through (f) are therefore wrong. (g) and (h) are wrong because you are required to be in the classroom when class begins; if you (meaning your person, not your belongings) are not in the room when the bell rings, you are either late or absent.
- (d) is correct because it is the most efficient, least disruptive way of dealing with this situation. (a) and (b) are wrong because either of these will actually take longer and be more disruptive to me and the rest of the class. It will take less time to simply go where you need to go and take care of the issue, than it will to come to my class first, then go to the other location and come back. In addition, I would rather you come in late than disrupt the class by immediately asking to leave, or put me in a position of having to say no because there are no room passes in the first ten minutes. Your being late is a significantly lesser disruption and will have a lesser impact on your grade. (c) is wrong because, as discussed above, your reason for being late is irrelevant so there’s no need to tell me what it is.
NOTE ALSO: If you have left an item behind in another classroom, you will not be permitted to leave class to retrieve it. If you value your property, you must be careful with it and be responsible for it. Consequently, you must bear the risk of anything happening to the property if you carelessly leave it somewhere.
- (c) is correct. Again, late means late; your reasons, intentions and whether or not you are at fault are irrelevant, therefore (a) is wrong. (b) and (d) are childish and self-indulgent.
- (a) is correct. The other choices are childish and self-indulgent.
- (f) is correct; one point for either (d) or (e). The rule of thumb in class is: “Do today’s work first.” The most reasonable course of action is to do what everyone else is doing, so that you will be able to follow the discussion and everyone will be on the same task while in the classroom. It is your responsibility to make up whatever work you miss, but you may not do it in class when there is something else that you’re supposed to be doing, so (c) is wrong. (a) and (b) are simply false. You cannot expect to be given credit for work you have not done, regardless of why you have not done it.
- (b) is correct. The fact that you have to ask permission necessarily means that you don’t get it automatically. (a) is therefore wrong. (c) is wrong because you should have taken this into consideration when you chose not to do your work. (d) is wrong because I would consider such a promise to be worthless.
- (d) is correct. (a), (b) and (e) are false. (c), (f) and (g) are just plain stupid. (h) is a despicable thing to do, and would be unforgivable should you ever do it.
- (e) is correct. The other choices are childish and self-indulgent. (f) may be understandable in some circumstances, but (e) is the better answer.
- (e) is correct; one point for either (a) or (b). The room pass is a courtesy, not a right. You may exceed the limits if you choose to do so, but there may be consequences if it becomes a habit and you need to accept that. (c) and (d) are childish and self-indulgent.
- (d) is correct. See page 5 of the English Handbook. The points that represent your grade come from the work you have done. You do the work, you get points for it; the better the work, the more points you get. You don’t get points simply for being on my roster. You have to earn them. (a) is wrong because that would prevent you from learning, blind you to the risks of not doing your work, and give you all kinds of other irrational ideas. The same applies to (b), and (c) makes even less sense. (e) is irrelevant and (f) is absurd; you don't get to set your own standards.
- (c) is correct. An A represents exceptional work, best in the class; a B, good work, meaning above average. A C means the work is average; a D means the work is poor but enough to meet the minimum requirement. The notebook rubric on page 6 of the English Handbook indicates that a "Fair" notebook receives a C, and describes it. In addition, the English Regents scoring described on page 7 of the handbook indicates that "average high school-level writing" receives a C. It is not reasonable to expect a high grade for work that is merely adequate or of average quality, or for doing "just enough to pass." Only the best work will receive an A; otherwise, an A doesn’t mean anything and is not an achievement. Your work has to be better than average if you want a better-than-average grade.
- (e) is correct. The English Handbook indicates on page 8 that the notebook receives a zero (no credit) if it only contains quotations and notes copied from the board. You get no credit for copying quotes and instructions off the board. Copying things off the board is a fifth-grade skill; we are in high school now. What is important is that you do what you are asked and required to do. You are neither asked nor required to copy quotes, instructions or questions off the board. If your notebook contains no responses, no original writing, nothing that you produced yourself, then you did not do the work you were asked and required to do. None of the other choices therefore makes any sense.
- (o) is correct. The other choices are childish and self-indulgent.
- (h) is correct. (a) through (f) are childish and self-indulgent. (g) is wrong because it is a declaration of helplessness, not an actual question that indicates some thought and effort on your part. Therefore (h) is the better answer.
- (k) is correct. The other choices are childish and self-indulgent.
- (h) is correct. (a) is wrong because I do not believe in “extra credit;” you do the work you are assigned, period. The English Handbook indicates on page 5 that there is no “extra credit.” The other choices are childish and self-indulgent. If you choose not to do your work, you should be prepared to accept the consequences of that choice. Do not expect to have that choice un-done for you later. Any time you choose not to do your work, you run the risk of failing the class. You need to consider that when you make your decisions, every single day.
- (h) is correct. The other choices are childish and self-indulgent. See #18, supra.
- (a) is correct. An F means you did something, but that something was less than the minimum requirement. You get 18 points out of 40. A zero means you did nothing, and get nothing; 0 out of 40. All of this is on page 5 of the English Handbook. It is absurd to think that nothing is better than something, let alone that there’s no difference between them. Since one, and only one, of (a), (b) and (c) must be true, all of the other choices are eliminated.
