As it is the end of term I have been marking some interesting research projects. One of them was about Cardiff and here is what the students wrote:
Cardiff was built in 1955 (It became the captial of Wales in 1955)
Cardiff thrived during the Industrial Revolution of the 1970s (Well over 100 years too late)
Cardiff was once in Australia but is now in Wales (There is a Cardiff in Australia, named by settlers after their home town. Some confusion obviously arose during the reading of two websites here!!)
My favourite comes from an end of term exam where a student was expected to note that female hormones in the water system have found their way into males thus, it is said, lowering male fertility. She actually wrote:
"Male infidelity has increased due to the bad water."
I must be a very poor teacher!!!
Fantastic stuff! That must be so funny, marking exams and coursework - you hear stories of silly answers on email etc, but to get it first hand so to speak proves it really happens! Great!
These are some of the classics I have known - the first from a 1st year English Lit student at uni, the second from an English lit 'A' level:
'Racism is not an issue in 'Huckleberry Finn, as it was abolished in 1856'.
On a 16th Century poem about two lovers parting: 'I think these are two gay lovers and one is dying of AIDS. I think it must be two men as it says they shake hands'.
Hmmm....