Comments on: Call me Mr. Freaking Wizard.

By: torgodevil

torgodevil — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 12:26:18 +0000

The attendance exemption system allowed me to exclude up to two examinations per semester. I could have gone the WHOLE year without needing to take a final exam in the class if I so chose. I just happened to get an extra exemption because I did know something else. A vast majority of students exempted their worst examinations and escaped high school never having to take exams in entire courses. Flawed system for sure.

By: gobfrey

gobfrey — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 09:07:55 +0000

Your teacher sucks. You got a pass in Chemistry without having to answer a single question even vaguely related to Chemistry.

By: torgodevil

torgodevil — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 00:31:49 +0000

My chemistry teacher was a huge nerd. We had a system whereby anyone could exempt examinations in class if they had a high enough grade and had perfect attendance for the semester. We would get whatever grade we had at the time as our final grade if we exempted. Most of the class routinely failed his tests, because he was a terrible teacher.

Anyway, he offered a free exemption, and a straight “B” for your score if you could answer one question in class. He made it a very big deal. He made people get out papers and pencils and talked about easy this question would be. Everyone leaned in to hear the question:

“What is latent air speed velocity of a swallow?”

Everybody in the class, except me, got a “What the hell?” kind of question was that look on their face.

I laughed out loud and wrote down the answer: “African or European swallow?” and handed it to my Chemistry teacher. Everyone in the class thought I was insane. He told me I was right, and that I got a free pass for his examination. Then suddenly everyone thought I was a genius. I had seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail a WEEK before the question was asked and the entire movie was still fresh in my mind. It was awesome. One of the few times that my geekiness came in handy during all of high school.

By: Jason B

Jason B — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 19:08:52 +0000

Ghostbusters II? I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone quote from that movie. Wow. Also, I second the request for more backstory!

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 16:54:40 +0000

“I passed the class solely due to my ability of being able to quote a line from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”. True story”

That is a story I want to hear. Which line? Thanks to Ghostbusters II the atomic weight of cobalt is etched in my memory.