this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2025
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[–] [email protected] 334 points 1 month ago (8 children)

Before the internet, Cliff Notes were popular books that summarized and provided insight into meaning for classical literature. Students used them in place of reading the actual book.

[–] [email protected] 149 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Some teachers would take the cliff notes for a book their classes reading, and make sure none of their questions were mentioned or relevant to the cliff notes themselves. So you could have real bangers of tests that ask weird ass questions that no reasonable person would remember from the book. What color was the dance card given to the main protagonist and The Great Gatsby dance scene?

So you end up with tests that are just trivia, and don't talk about any thematic issues, or generally recognize themes or takeaways. Crazy times

[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Now you've got teachers and students fighting over whether or not their paper was written by AI, so students need to jump through hoops trying to prove (or convincingly lie) that they didn't use AI to write. Which can mean writing in weird ways that don't 'feel' like AI.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago

I absolutely hate this boring dystopia, but emerging dialects due to a need for humans to sound distinct from bots is probably the coolest idea to come out of it so far. It has great parallels with the American vs. British accent situation too.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

Just have people write in class...

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

As a kid who loved reading, the one and only time I read the cliffs notes was for the Diary of Anne Frank. I just couldn’t stand to slog through it and nobody else in class wanted to read it either.

Ironically, I got a perfect score on that test with an average class score of 60. Every single question was addressed in the cliff notes while I skimmed them the night before the test. My teacher treated us to an extended rant when she handed back the tests. “CLEARLY nBodyProblem is the only person who actually WORKED HARD and bothered to READ and UNDERSTAND the material. You all need to learn to be more like nBodyProblem”

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Every single question was addressed in the cliff notes while I skimmed them the night before the test.

And you suddenly realized what your teacher used to make the test questions.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Ya know, that never occurred to me. That makes it twice as hilarious if true.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I completely missed that on the table until you pointed out, and was highly confused as to what he actually did

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

I just kept thinking that it was supposed to be condoms for some reason lol.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I vividly remember getting the cliff notes for "Of Mice and Men", realizing it was nearly as long as the actual book, and begrudgingly hammering through the book the night before the test.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

Steinbeck had a knack for saying a lot with a little. "The pearl" is another of his works that is also incredibly short but you could easily discuss it well past its length.

I highly recommend the "grapes of wrath" to anyone who hasn't read it as well. Its account of the brutal knock on effects of the dust bowl and the nature of human kindness and sadism left a mark on my life that never left.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago

In Poland, we still do read this type of things instead of the actual book, because it's better at preparing you for the exams

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The only reason I know the contents of most classic literature is because of "So You Haven't Read" series on YouTube.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Me with Thug Notes. I wish I had discovered it during highschool :(

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

My biggest problem with Thug Notes is all the people (closet racists) taking the Thug part seriously and saying dumb shit like thanking them for making literature available to "people of color." Now I'm wondering if they ever tried to branch out and have the presenter drop the caricature.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

The actor drops character from time to time when he's using long sentences and you catch a glimpse of exactly that. I'd love to see him do other stuff as well though. Thug aside, he's legitimately awesome at breaking down subtext for dumb dumbs like me to get.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I just watched Wishbone

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

Thank you. This joke completely went over my head.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Chatgpt from yesteryear.