I've always had this annoying need to be right (well, more annoying to others than to me). They say lawyers are born, not made (I heard this on Brothers and Sisters so they in this case are the writers of Brothers and Sisters) and I'm pretty darn sure this was the case for me.
When I was in 8th grade, my history teacher, Mr. Kinsella, whom I really liked, told the class something which I knew to be incorrect. I was not satisfied with correcting him in front of the entire class (remember, I really liked him) but was compelled to back myself up by excusing myself from class for a trip to the library to find corroboration which I then presented to him, again in front of the entire class.
Charming, huh?
I can say that in the intervening years I have at least gotten more subtle.
Rachel's philosophy teacher (trivia - he was in the New Bohemians for the Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars album) whom I hold to a higher standard since, in addition to teaching philosophy, he's also the debate teacher, told his class that George Bush has the lowest IQ of any US president in the past 50 years.
While this is a statistic that I find eminently believable and entertaining, it just didn't pass the smell test for me.
I Googled it and lo and behold, it was in fact a fabrication. Granted a fabrication which had been reported by The London Guardian and The New Zealand Southland Times but a fabrication nonetheless.
I emailed the Snopes link to Rachel's teacher with Rachel sitting next to me simply shaking her head. She's used to me by now and knows that there's basically no stopping me. At least I didn't get up in front of class to correct him.
I was pleased and impressed to receive a reply email shortly thereafter from the teacher, thanking me for pointing out his error and vowing to correct himself with the students. Very classy response.
When I was in 8th grade, my history teacher, Mr. Kinsella, whom I really liked, told the class something which I knew to be incorrect. I was not satisfied with correcting him in front of the entire class (remember, I really liked him) but was compelled to back myself up by excusing myself from class for a trip to the library to find corroboration which I then presented to him, again in front of the entire class.
Charming, huh?
I can say that in the intervening years I have at least gotten more subtle.
Rachel's philosophy teacher (trivia - he was in the New Bohemians for the Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars album) whom I hold to a higher standard since, in addition to teaching philosophy, he's also the debate teacher, told his class that George Bush has the lowest IQ of any US president in the past 50 years.
While this is a statistic that I find eminently believable and entertaining, it just didn't pass the smell test for me.
I Googled it and lo and behold, it was in fact a fabrication. Granted a fabrication which had been reported by The London Guardian and The New Zealand Southland Times but a fabrication nonetheless.
I emailed the Snopes link to Rachel's teacher with Rachel sitting next to me simply shaking her head. She's used to me by now and knows that there's basically no stopping me. At least I didn't get up in front of class to correct him.
I was pleased and impressed to receive a reply email shortly thereafter from the teacher, thanking me for pointing out his error and vowing to correct himself with the students. Very classy response.
2 comments:
Well, I love this fact checking aspect of your personality! Call me weird.
It's cool that the teacher took this in stride. That would make me have faith in the school system
Which president has the lowest IQ?
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