The computer is the new dog in homework eating excuses

dog ate my newsletter.jpgRemember the get-out-of-homework-free card that was “the dog ate my homework”? Well the dog is out, the computer is in. That’s the verdict according to a recent survey by PIXmania.com which found that 70 percent of school teachers have noticed an increase in the number of pupils using technology as a scapegoat for not getting homework done. It would appear that as technology advances, so have homework excuses. But did people actually use the phrase “my dog ate my homework”? Or was that just a well thought of myth conjured up by teachers in an attempt to lure us into using the line with such conviction we’d be given permanent detention for lying? It’s probably safe to say though, that if you’ve ever tried the old “my dog ate my homework” routine, then you’re familiar with the sting of failure.

Using tech related excuses for not doing homework is clever, but with millions of these excuses coming out the mouths of lying students up and down the country, the believability factor is on a downhill journey.

Check out the top five most popular and most imaginative excuses after the jump.

Top five most popular excuses

  • “My computer crashed and I lost it”
  • “I finished my homework but then I deleted it by accident”
  • “I couldn’t print it out”
  • “My internet was down so I couldn’t do any research”
  • “I lost my laptop”
  • These excuses are going to end up in ‘calling wolf’ territory and there’s a risk students genuinely having problems with their computer might not be taken seriously. I’ve experienced three of the above, all of which couldn’t be avoided and was completely beyond my control. So they do happen.

Top five inflated excuses

  • “My dad’s computer was hacked by the Russian’s and they stole my homework”
  • “A burglar stole my printed-out homework along with the computer”
  • “The PC exploded when our dog went to the toilet on it”
  • “I accidentally tipped a bottle of cider over the computer and it broke” (this from a 14-year-old student!)
  • “I was unable to do my homework as my dad was using the computer to buy the shopping”

They’d definitely get top marks for creativity.

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Lucy Hedges

2 comments

  • The sneakier amongst us will realise that, as schools generally have older versions of Office than the student may have at home, simply saving an empty document with suitable title and wrong format on a memory stick buys you at least one more evening whilst still remaining greatly creditable (unless you’re unlucky and have a more technologically advanced person taking in the work…)!

  • This is SO true – I’m a 17 year old student and many, many a time have I used the excuse ‘It’s on my pendrive which I don’t have’ or ‘I sent it to you in an e-mail but it didn’t work’ when I haven’t done my work. But I completely agree with the ‘crying wolf’ syndrome, as friends have had actual problems with pen drives/printers and the teachers don’t believe them.

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