Every year, a distinguished professor of history gives a course on 20th century world history. The students’ grades are determined almost entirely by their score on the end-of-semester exam and his students do extremely well on this exam.
But one day, a fellow professor in his department takes him aside and says, “Bill, you know how, in your 20thcentury world history course, you always give the same final exam, asking them to write an essay on ”The factors that led up to the Boer War and its effects on world history”?
That’s right”, says Bill. “The students learn that material quite well.”
“Yes, but Bill, you always give the same exam! The students hear that from previous students, and so that’s all they ever study – of course they do well!”
“Oh!” says the shocked Bill – “Thanks! I didn’t really realize that they talk to each other like that. I better do something about that.”
Well, imagine the consternation at the end of the term when the when the students file into the exam room and Professor Bill hands out Exam Books that ask them to “Discuss the events leading up to the formation of the United Nations and its influence on the Superpowers”.
Everyone stares at their exam papers for a couple minutes in stunned silence. Then one student picks up his pen and starts writing furiously, while the rest spend the remaining hour staring at him in amazement.
Eventually everyone passes in their answer sheets – 41 of which have only a name and question at the top and just one that is filled with writing!
The students all leave the room and immediately accost the one student who wrote a lengthy answer, demanding to know what he had been writing!
“Well”, says the student, I wrote “I don’t know much about the formation of the United Nations, but let me tell you what I learned about the Boer War….”
