Fun story: Lazy Kid asks for help with book report, and book's author "helps"!

No, the author doesn't give the "meaning" away.  But this story, which I saw thanks to a Facebook friend, really amused me.

As an academic, I'm well aware of students being lazy and using whatever means they can to get out of doing the actual work.  Sometimes that effort is more than the actual effort required to do what I've assigned, but they never see it that way.  And of course sometimes they just plain cheat and plagiarize. 

In this hi-tech social media world, it's much easier for kids to get too much help with their work.  The famous kid Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes would often ask his classmate Suzie Derkins to do all his work for him, which of course she refused.   Today's Calvins don't have to worry about that.  They just askyahoo, or go to about.com, or simply google. 

But sometimes interesting things happen! Of course, I'm tempted now to pose as a student who hasn't had a chance to read some of my favorite authors' books to see if any of them might contact me! Jhumpa Lahiri? Sherman Alexie?  Snooki?

Message to all my students, past and present:  if the kiddies can find it on the internet, so can the teachers!