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Education

8 Crazy Excuses Students Have Given for Not Turning in Homework — and They’re Allegedly True!

Feb. 27, 2013 12:03pm Liz Klimas

“The dog ate my homework” might be one of the most popular cliche excuses for why a student isn’t turning in his or her assignment. But real word examples from teachers show far crazier excuses, as evidenced in a new “Ask Reddit.”

On Tuesday someone posed this question on the social news website: Teachers of Reddit, what is the worst excuse you’ve heard from someone not doing their homework which turned out to be true?

We’ve pulled out a few of the top comments for your enjoyment:

ramakitty: That their homework had been confiscated by Colonel Gadaffi’s police. Turns out the kid’s father worked for a Libyan bank, and the homework was about aerosols. Kid had gone to visit him during the summer break, and it was taken by the border guards.

Reddit Thread Asks Teachers for Worst Excuse They Have Heard for Student Not Doing Homework

Gaddafi (Photo: Wikimedia)

heyheyhedgehog: Back in the day, my mom had a blind guy come to hand in his final paper, 30 pages tucked in a manila folder. “Sorry it’s the last day, just finished it last night! By the way sometimes my typing is a little messy, you know, hard to line up the paper… How’s it look, can you read it?” She opens the folder and there’s 30 pages of neatly typed, almost invisible, uninked typewriter indentations. “Uhh… Yep, looks okay!” She didn’t have the heart to say there was nothing there, so she gave him an A, and never did decide if that [person] was real unlucky, or real smart.

(Photo: Shutterstock.com)

chryllis: My house caught on fire a couple weeks ago and we had to go through all of this crap and so I asked my teacher for an extension on a paper. She said that my house burning down was the second best excuse she had ever heard. I asked her what the best one was: Dude crashed his hot air balloon and broke his back. Yea I’ll take second place to that.
bloglib: Got an email from a student saying he was getting his arm amputated. Thats all it said, nothing else.

yetanotherreddit: Several years ago I had a student show up to class claiming that the homework assignment had disappeared from the paper I had given him. He gave me the piece of paper and I could see a sprinkling of toner from the copy machine and in holding it up to the light could barely make an imprint on the page. Then I remembered that in copying the assignments to hand out one page had gotten stuck in the machine before it had gone through the fuser. I pulled it out and stuck it in the stack. However, he was correct. The words had literally fallen off the paper.

maleficuslues: My friend received a note from a parent that said the child did not do his homework packet because the parent felt watching the sunset was more beneficial.

(Photo: Shutterstock.com)

Bamboozzer: In an email Dear Mr. Bamboozer, I will not be able to make it to class this morning the horses got out. ……that’s when I knew what teaching in Kansas meant.

(Photo: Shutterstock.com)

fuzzy510: I had a major assignment that was due promptly at the start of my first-period history class in high school. I had accidentally slept in that morning, so I was running late. Despite my best efforts, I get there about five minutes late. My teacher asks me why I’m late. I’m already panicking, thinking I’m going to lose major points on this paper, and for some reason telling him I slept in doesn’t sound good to me. So, in a rush the only thing I can offer up is: ”Uh……because I’m fat, slow and lazy, sir.” He stands befuddled for a few seconds, then accepts my paper with no late penalty.

To you believe them all? Read more of the excuses here or share your own in the comments section below.

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Comments (38)

GOP-Teacher
Posted on February 28, 2013 at 12:09am
I had a student tell me that his puppy peed on his assignment. “Right,” I said in disbelief. Then the student pulled out a wrinkled, yellow-stained assignment. “Just throw is away,” I said, and redo it for tomorrow.

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Rocky_biskit
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 6:39pm
The one about the copy not making it through the copier is BS … there would be no “imprint” but rather only residual toner on the page. If the page doesnt go through the fuser then the toner that was forming the words would simply smear.

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macpappy
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 6:37pm
Thats right, keep feeding us hard hitting news like this and pretty soon, we won’t be any more informed than a liberal.

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- teddyc73
  Posted on February 28, 2013 at 8:26am
  Mac, it’s ok to read lighthearted stories now and then and have a little laugh. If you didn’t you WILL be just like a liberal, all angry and uptight. Relax.
  
  Report this comment
term limits for congress
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 6:09pm
Next weeks excuse: Because of the sequester, I was starving (because women and children are going to starve), and I was afraid to come to school (because of no Police), and the teachers were fired, so it doesn’t matter. Mean Republicans!

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Eastinfection
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 5:42pm
Honest… I ran out of gas! I–I had a flat tire! I didn’t have enough money for cab fare! My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners! An old friend came in from out of town! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN’T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!!!

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LakeHartwellSailor
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 4:09pm
Sorry, I can’t resist this one….

Teacher: Why can’t you hand in your homework?
Barak: My dog, Bush, ate it.
Teacher: So, you are saying its Bush’s fault?
Barak: Yes, ma’am…but that’s OK, I ate the dog.

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- nzkiwi
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 6:04pm
  I enjoyed that, Lake.
  
  One that I always enjoyed, but isn’t true, involves a student going up to the desk where the relieving teacher sits.
  
  The relieving teacher tells him that he won’t accept his assignment because it is late and he has already started marking the assignments in front of him that were handed in on time.
  
  The kid arrogantly asks the teacher ” Do you know who I am?”
  
  The teacher contemptuously replies “No, I don’t, and I don’t care”.
  
  The kid says “Good!”, shoves his assignment into the middle of the stack on the desk, and drops the whole bundle on the floor…
  
  Report this comment
Red herring
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 4:00pm
I was a grader in college once for a Distance Education Computer Programming class. Some of the Distance Education sites were in State prisons. One time all assignments from one of the prison sites did not get handed in on time. The excuse given was “We were unable to get to the computer room to turn in our assignments yesterday. The prison was on lock-down”. Sure enough on the news I discovered there was a prisoner that had attempted to escape that day.

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Jelly_Belly
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 3:01pm
I had a teacher in high school who was completely color blind. He told us a story about when he was in college he was handing in some huge paper where every detail mattered. His classmate next to him asked why he had typed it all in red ink. (For those of us who didn’t grow up with typewriters, some came with black and red ink for accounting purposes, thus the saying to “be in the red” when one is in the negatives.) He freaked out and wrote a note on the last page begging for mercy from the professor, explaining that he was colorblind and had no idea it was all in red ink.

After several nervous weeks the professor returned the papers. He flipped to the last page and next to his note the professor had written, “Don’t worry, I’m color blind too, I would never have noticed.”

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- Advection
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 5:54pm
  That’s worthy of Reader’s Digest!
  
  Report this comment
jackact
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 1:52pm
1.) No homework in public school.
2.) My teacher doesn’t speak English.
3.) My teacher is taking me on a date tonight.
4.) My teacher is the centerfold in Maxim this month and our assignment is to study the picture.
5.) Our homework is to recycle glass/cans at home.
6.) My term paper is on Gay Marriage and I have to interview a ‘real’gay person.
7.) My dog ate my Thorazine and Ritalin.
8.) My school bus matron left me on the bus last night and i didn’t have a chance to do my homework.

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tzion
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 1:31pm
My best excuse that was true: I did the assignment, handed it in, and then the teacher lost it. And then she has the nerve to send a letter to my parents blaming me for her mistake.

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- Nabuquduriuzhur
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 2:05pm
  It happens.
  
  I had a good feminist for a 6th grade teacher. She didn’t think it suspicious when the girls in class were stealing tests and other work from her cabinet from the boys they didn’t like. 6 of my tests magically “disappeared”. The only grade that I did really poorly in and it wasn’t because I didn’t do the work.
  
  Report this comment
woodyee
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 1:29pm
Teacha, I couldn’t do my homework cause I be runnin’ from some dudes be steppin’ on my crak-turf. I had to call on my homies to round up my ho’s while we cleared them outta the hood…Is alright if I turn in my flower arrangement homework on Friday?

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tbeachhead
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 1:17pm
I actually had a “dog-ate-my-homework” excuse twenty years ago, when collecting French projects. It went like this: “Monsieur, is it OK if I hand my project in late?” “What,” I said, with that sardonic, know-it-all grin teachers always adopt when they want to irritate the procrastinator. “I suppose the dog ate your project.” “Well, yes…” came the reply, “I was up all night making the Eiffel Tower out of French fries. I left it up on the counter, thinking it would be safe, but when I came down this morning, this was all that was left…” And he handed me a mass of twisted paperclips.

I gave him the extension.

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Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 1:03pm
Obama Ate my dog.
What does that have to do with anything?
My Home work was inside the dog.

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Gonzo
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 1:00pm
I like the one little Barry Soetoro used: “My dog ate my homework…and I ate my dog.”

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- Gonzo
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 1:06pm
  Sorry TSUNAMI_22, You beat me to it.
  
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Crow hunter
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:58pm
they left out “I’m black and stupid”

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- loneindividual
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 4:41pm
  Blacks are not stupid.
  
  Many simply have an attitude problem & don’t believe in themselves. This isn’t specific to them either.
  
  You’re stupid for not thinking of something to help improve the situation.
  
  Report this comment
- OniKaze
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 5:19pm
  @ crow..
  
  I do hope that was a tounge-in-cheek comment, and I would hate to judge you based on my possible misunderstanding of your comment.. Blacks are not stupid, however many of them are ignorant (un-educated in certain topics)…
  
  Stupidity cannot be cured… If your stupid, your just plain stupid… But being ignorant just means you are not informed with the correct information. I find that many black people (mostly young ones that have been “educated” in the last 15 – 20 years) are nowhere near stupid, but most ARE ignorant of many things…
  
  Which I can’t blame many for… If someone tells you your whole life how worthless and lacking you are, its only a matter of time until you believe it… Its just like Obama’s policy on lying… Tell the same lie enough times and its only a matter of time until it is accepted as truth…
  
  My best martial arts student was exactly like that once… He was (seemingly) stupid, but after some time I realized that he wasn’t stupid.. He just was never informed (he went to an urban public school, surprise surprise…), so he knew NOTHING of politics, government, Economics, sociology, Physics…
  
  I asked him how he ever got his GED without knowing any of that stuff, and he said none of that was on the test… So I have made a large effort to help him with things, and now he is in college with a 3.5 (of 4.0) GPA, studying criminal justice…
  
  I’m proud of him…
  
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JQuentinEvermann
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:32pm
I overslept for a test in college, ran to class in flip-flops, PJ’s and a wife-beater shirt, and burst into the room with only about 10 minutes left, panting and sweaty.

While this is probably the typical attire for college classes today, my professor told me that nobody would make themselves into such a fool just to skip the test and let me take it that evening in her office.

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Thundergod
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:26pm
Running down horses when they get out isnt fun.

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- texastommy
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:50pm
  It is if you’re the horse.
  
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PingPongPing
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:24pm
my dog ate my homework… i fed it to him, because starving an animal would be cruel.

its true!

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Longgonegator
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:24pm
“Obama said I didnt have to because he would take care of me the rest of my life and consequently I did not need an education”

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The-Monk
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:23pm
In a true liberal progressive school there is no homework to turn in.

Can’t let the parents see what’s going on with their Children during the daytime.

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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:16pm
Sometimes it is amazing and humorous with the excuses the students can come up with; though some of them are true. There was one case that made the Phoenix newspapers in the mid-80s in which the student said ‘the dog ate my assignment’ – I know, old excuse, save for one thing, his dad was a vet and provided the x-rays that clearly showed the kids assignment in the dogs gut.

He was granted an extension to rewrite his paper.

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RaydocX
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:14pm
and #3: It’s the fault of a YouTube Video

Bloomberg’s top two:
It’s the sugared soda’s fault
It’s the gun’s fault.

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hi
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:11pm
Fat pigs give bacon.
What to fat cows give?
homework

Just kidding

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AvengerK
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:09pm
The best one I heard was from a classmate in highschool. It was made all the more memorable because he had a speech impediment which made the excuse sound even sillier. “My house burned down”.

It was actually true..his house indeed caught fire the previous evening and he was unable to do his homework.

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UNALIEN
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:06pm
Missed the No 1 excuse by Modern Liberals,, it is Bush’s fault and number 2 it is the Republicans fault

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- TSUNAMI_22
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:17pm
  I heard Obama used the oldie but goodie “my dog ate my homework”. But then he followed that statement up with “but I ate the dog and got even”.
  
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- American Capitalist
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:18pm
  Only difference is that these are true
  
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- Exrepublisheep
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:39pm
  lol TSUNAMI_22
  
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- Cavallo
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 1:21pm
  But remember… this time… THIS time.. he promises.. PROMISES.. to focus like a laser .. again.. really .. on jobs and the economy. Really..
  
  Who you gonna believe, him, or your lying eyes?
  
  Report this comment

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