Many Ways To a Good Grade
Illustration
by Tim Hansel

Here's an example of uncommon creativity in a story, actually a modern parable, originally told by Alexander Calandra:

Sometime ago, I received a call from a colleague who asked if I would be the referee on the grading of an examination question. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question, while the student claimed he should receive a perfect score and would if the system were not set up against the student. The instructor and the student agreed to submit this to an impartial arbiter, and I was selected. I went to my colleague's office and read the examination question: "Show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer."

The student had answered: "Take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rop…

Word Books Publisher, Holy Sweat, by Tim Hansel