Suppose that a student knows that an officially correct statement is actually incorrect...

[Boojatta]

For example, suppose that a student knows, before a test occurs, that some officially correct statement is actually incorrect.

During a test, a student has a number of options, such as:

a) Write what is actually correct, expecting it to be marked as incorrect, and accepting that outcome;

b) Write what is actually correct, expecting it to be marked as incorrect, and hoping to be able to persuade authorities to either justify or abandon the official statement that conflicts with what is actually correct;

c) Write what is actually correct, expecting that when it comes to tests authorities will suddenly see the light and not accept from students the same statements that were taught to students;

d) Write what is actually incorrect, and also officially correct, expecting it to be marked as correct.

In what way is the implementation of option d) different from perpetrating fraud? If a student hopes to gain marks by asserting something that the student knows to be false, then don't we have all the components involved in fraud? The only thing we don't see here that we do see in typical cases of fraud is creativity.

On the other hand, what's the difference between implementing option a) and deliberately providing no answer? If it's acceptable to deliberately provide no answer to some questions, then what prevents a student from writing nothing but his or her name? In a sporting competition, would it be acceptable for a team to deliberately make no effort to win?

In many cases, options b) and c) are based on nothing but wishful thinking. However, as indicated above, option a) and option d) are both problematic. Is there some non-problematic option that should be considered and that wasn't listed above?

[Fire1]

1. And by what authority are you assuming you are correct? n/t

[Boojatta]

5. If you're talking about the student...

then my answer is that a similar question could be raised by anyone accused of fraud. "By what authority do you claim to know what my beliefs are? If I believe the statements that I asserted, then how can I be guilty of fraud?"

If you're talking about the hypothetical scenario that I described, then I don't see how any issue of authority arises. For example, I could have started this thread with the statement, "Assume that Ann has one apple and Betty has two apples ..." Regardless of what comes next, you could ask what authority I have to make assumptions about Ann and Betty. You could accept the assumptions for the sake of argument and try to derive a contradiction. In effect, you would be challenging the assumptions. Thus, accepting the assumptions doesn't oblige you to actually believe that they're consistent with each other. However, if you refuse to accept the assumptions even for the sake of argument, then there's no basis for any discussion.

[Fire1]

6. How true. n/t

[EFerrari]

2. I ran into a similar situation once in a bilingual accounting class.

The last problem in our final exam was written in both English and Spanish. The problems as written were not the same problem, ie, the Spanish translation was different from the one in English.

I did them both, came up with (the correct) different answers and managed to insult my teacher very well. :scared:

[Warpy]

3. Or do what I did

"The answer the test author wants is such and so but the real answer is this and that because..."

It took a bit of extra time but that usually wasn't a problem after I'd raced through the parts of the test that weren't horse shit.

I loved math because there was never any cognitive dissonance between the correct answer and the factual answer.

[bbinacan]

4. What is the statement? n/t

[timeforpeace]

7. You mean Obama's comment on Honduras?

[saltpoint]

8. Recommended.

Boojatta, you rock.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Always give the teacher or prof what they want to hear

Doesn't matter how outrageous or stupid it is. Then get on Rate My Prof and tell world...important life lessons for both sides