Just deal with it!

On a busy, complicated, not entirely pleasant day, I saw this and was both encouraged and amused:

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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15 Comments

  1. colospgs says:

    I wonder why they mix upper and lower case letters on the sheet.

  2. mshepard85 says:

    I was immediately struck by the same thing as colospgs. That font is very distracting and it implicitly lowers standards thuswise: If the workbook or homework has a zany informal typeset, why should you (pupil) take this homework seriously? It is similar to the many egalitarian-minded graduate student TAs at universities who try to fraternize with the small groups of undergrads they often lead by doing things like casually wearing in class.

    Granted, this appears to be a worksheet for a small child, but this general style has worked its way up the ladder of education.

  3. Justalurkingfool says:

    The kid with the future probably will “deal with” the “F” he or she will get for being “intolerant” on this particular assignment.

  4. amenamen says:

    I’m not really sure what else the test was looking for. But I thought of a few possible answers from the child most likely to become a …

    1. Future nurse: Go to the restroom, wash off your knee, and get a colorful Band-Aid for your scrape.
    2. Future lawyer: Get Daddy to sue the school for not having repaired the cracks in the cement, which caused you to trip and severely injure your leg, possibly for life, not to mention the emotional distress.
    3. Future press secretary: Deny that anyone actually fell down. Call for an anti-pushing rule.
    4. Future local politician: Get signatures from all of your classmates on a petition to have recess in the grassy fields in the park down the street from the school, instead of in the parking lot. This will require a bus driver.
    5. Future politician in Washington: Get signatures from all the parents of your classmates to ban recess in all of the schools in the school district.
    6. Future rock star: Write your initials in blood on the sidewalk.

  5. BLB Oregon says:

    “I wonder why they mix upper and lower case letters on the sheet.”

    This isn’t an editor making random capitalization choices. The bold-faced type is in all caps, but the font chosen handles the different letters in a idiosyncratic way.

    In this font, the upper-case version of some letters (like a, e, i, and n) is merely a full-height version of the lower-case letter. You can tell because the same letters appear to be lowercase everywhere they appear, and yet they are full height in the “caps” usage. Note in the question itself that the lowercase “u” is about half again as tall as the other lower-case letters. The choice of font is probably supposed to add a note of unintimidating whimsy to the exercise.

    I somehow doubt that the student is impressed with the staff’s implied estimation of him or her.

  6. Dr. Edward Peters says:

    amenamen stole my no. 2.

  7. truthfinder says:

    And we wonder why children can’t read and write when their worksheets are typeset like this. I have difficulty reading the typeset, and I cannot imagine what it would be like to a child you is learning or mastering English. Anyways, the kid’s answer is good.

  8. The Masked Chicken says:

    “It is similar to the many egalitarian-minded graduate student TAs at universities who try to fraternize with the small groups of undergrads they often lead by doing things like casually wearing in class.”

    When I was a TA, I wore what I always wore. Why should a nerd change his socks (yeah, yeah, hardy har har…)? Really, how does wearing a suit and tie or jeans affect the outcome of an experiment? Now, some of my female students wear pajamas into the lab. I can’t throw them out, even though it is disrespectful, because, unlike regular clothing, pajamas have to be flame-retardant by law, so, technically, they are safer than regular street clothes :( If a TA showed up dressed like that, well…

    Of course, I would have written in the blank,

    Future Mathematician: “I have a truly marvelous comment to make, but the margins in this box are too small to hold it.”

    Future Doctor: “Does the word, hemophilia, not mean anything to you guys?”

    Future Scientist: “I. really, cannot comment on this because they situation has not been reproduced.”

    Future Screamer: “Ahhhhhhhhh.”

    The Chicken

  9. mshepard85 says:

    Masked Chicken, I missed the “s.” I meant to type, “casually swearing” in class.

  10. The Masked Chicken says:

    mshepard85,

    Thanks. I thought, “casually wearing,” looked strange, but I went with it. See, God got a two-fer, here, by humbling both of us.

    The Chicken

  11. OrthodoxChick says:

    amenamen & Masked Chicken,

    Fun! Can I give this a whirl too? How ’bout…

    Future charismatic: Gather all of my classmates around and ask them to lay hands on me.

    Future “c”atholic: Join hands with all of my classmates and sing Kumbaya.

    Future LCWR: Blame the CDF.

    Future Catholic: Get up and deal with it, offer it up, then go to Confession!

  12. Mariana2 says:

    Future Nobel prize winner: I have a Theory of Everything but the box is too small.

    Future modernist artist: Lie down and make a snow angel in my blood.

    Future post modernist artist: Make a Performance of it.

  13. JonPatrick says:

    Future software developer: Before we can develop a solution, we need more detailed requirements, including a mock-up of the expected user interface.

  14. I heard a story once about a test question posed to students that went like this:

    “A priest, an old woman, and you are all on a boat. The boat is sinking – it can only hold two people. Who should be thrown overboard?”

    One of the students answered: “I’m not throwing anyone over overboard and no one is throwing me overboard ’cause I have a gun.”

  15. HobokenZephyr says:

    Future Marine: Never mind me, call an ambulance for the other guy.

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