I came across this short book today whilst on a break from my studies, and boy what a break it was! While it’s little more than a joke book, its subject matter was spot-on in my world. Education and puns–what could be better?

The book is organized into grade levels from elementary on up, and purportedly records true answers from students’ homework and exams. The often-unintentional humor and misspellings make for some funny scenarios, and the occasional doodle in the margins help us visualize. A few of the examples made it into the book only because of their crassness, so be aware of that, but the majority of answers are just silly, innocent humor.

As an educator myself who’s taught virtually all levels from kindergarten to university, I’ve come across a host of funny examples too, but one stood out in my memory as I read this book.

I was involved in a 6-month course in China, educating English teachers from village schools who’d never had formal ESL training. In one of my assignments, I was teaching similes, helping the teachers visualize the like/as relationships of various things. I had a hat of random abstract nouns (i.e. “love”) and a hat of random concrete nouns (i.e. “fire engine”). The students were supposed to grab one of each and then write 3 similes with their words (i.e. “Love is like a fire engine, because ______.”)

My student Caleb, a 30-year-old bachelor (who’s English was elementary-level at best) drew the words “women” and “computers.” Now this guy couldn’t communicate in English worth a lick, so I’m 100% sure he didn’t really know what he was writing, but one of his gem similes read:

“Women are like computers, because they’re easy to turn on.”

Sorry if that’s a step over the line, but it still makes me laugh, 20 years later.

Whether you’re an educator or a student looking for inspiration on how to turn that D- exam into something your teacher will cherish, this book is for you. It’s a 15-minute read, but I swear you’ll think about it for twice as long.

Richard Benson has at least three other books with the same theme, so I’ll probably check those out too. I’m getting them from the library, but I’m sure they’d make nice gifts for the teacher in your life.

©2022 E.T.