Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Exam project

To cheer those of us ankle-deep in papers to grade, here are some verbatim answers to exam questions collected by TAs in years gone by (belated thanks to KA). For these exams, students were asked to briefly identify and explain the historical significance of the item in bold.

Berlin Airlift
Was used for travel between Germany and Europe. It enabled people to leave by using planes and blimps.

Stagflation
The inflation rate that makes more money but loses its rate.

Blitzkrieg
Located in Russia. Was home to communism during the middle of the Century.

War Communism
The communism ideas, being in the war years. Different communism than that which had come, but in the later years.

Bacon’s Rebellion
Historical background for the book Animal Farm. The pigs were tired of being turned into bacon, so they revolted and took over the homestead.

4 comments:

Tom said...

Doesn't it feel great to know that the people who answered those questions went on to get legitimate degrees from venerable institutions of higher learning? Doesn't it just make you feel all warm inside?

your small american said...

Well, some of them maybe didn't go on to get degrees.

Anonymous said...

Napolean

A type of cookie that was very popular in the 19th century. Was gradually replaced in popularity by the madeleine, at which point Ben Franklin stopped making them. Curiously, he still has a patent.

Lend-Lease

An early Netflix competitor invented by Ben Franklin in the 19th century to distribute gramophone cartridges.

Karl Marx

The 19th C's original rock star! He totally blew rails with Ben Franklin.

Could-be-a-model said...

No, YSA, I am pretty sure they went on to get degrees. It may have taken longer, but that just means the uni made more money in the process.