The Dog Ate My Homework

So it’s the end of the school year with most students (and teachers) counting the days until the final bell rings.

One of the things both won’t miss is homework. Students who have to do it and teachers who have to read and grade it.  This came to my mind when I received an email with the subject title "New Jersey Ranks #1 for Most Homework Excuses."

Based on information obtained by Brainly, the world’s largest peer-to-peer learning community, we top the list of states where students use homework excuses most often with Colorado, California. Florida and West Virginia rounding out the top five.

Regardless of age I assume most of us will admit to a time or two when we forgot or simply failed to do our homework and maybe on the school bus tried to conjure up an excuse that just might work.  I don’t recall all the ones used but some of those that were most popular then still resonate with kids today although they have gotten more creative.

A survey of 1,000 students revealed what is getting blamed this year for missing homework:

• 28%- Undisclosed family emergency
• 22%- Wi-Fi and tech issues  (did not exist back in my day)
• 18%- Sick child or family member
• 15%- Lost my assignment (always a popular choice)
• 9%- Personal injury or illness (I think I used that once or twice)
• 5%- The dog ate my homework  (this didn’t work then or now)
• 3%- Injured child or family member

In addition nearly 40% of students said they simply forgot about their assignment as an excuse while another third went with “my laptop crashed.”  Half the students admitted their excuses don’t work very often while 30% insist they work almost every time.

Some even have their own “excuse strategy” which would make you think if they spent that creative thinking on doing their homework they wouldn’t need excuses.

Brainly (brainly.com) by the way is a knowledge-sharing community where students and experts work together to answer tough homework questions.  Clearly I could have used it a few years back.