the dog ate my homework and other tales of woe

Putra's Blog

Wednesday, august 30, 2006, "the dog ate my disk, and other tales of woe" reading commentary.

English Reading Commentary Putra Kusdianto In the essay “The dog ate my disk, and other tales of woe” by Carolyn Foster Segal, is a humorous essay that was written based on her teaching career in college dealing with students and their excuses for handing in late papers. She identified up to five different types of excuses within her essay and those categories are; the family, the best friend, the evils of dorm life, the evils of technology, and the totally bizarre. In each category she explained and shared with the readers with an example of the type of excuses that the students have used on her when they’re either turning in the work late or unable to meet the deadline. I find it very interesting how Carolyn Foster Segal was able to identify the excuses which she received from the students to be true or false very quickly. Also her use of sarcasm throughout the essay helps me notice that she is fully aware her students and doesn’t get fooled so easily. From some of the excuses that she mentioned in her examples, I find some of the student’s excuses to be very ridiculous. Carolyn Foster Segal linked each category to the other, for example, “throwing up blood” excuse was repeated in more than one category. This helps build the sarcasm and slightly mocked the excuses that students make because they all tend to be very similar. I find this essay quite funny even though I’m a student myself, I can understand the writer’s intention and humor within this essay because what it’s basically trying to say is that instead of trying to make an excuse every time you’re going to hand in a late assignment, try to not turn it in late at all in the first place. The students then won’t be mocked at or be shamed for the excuses that they make. I think this essay helps students become more aware that teachers are not easily fooled and that they are much wiser than they think, therefore it’ll make students think twice before handing in late papers.

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You bring up a good point about the tone of this paper. Do you think the author is mocking the students?

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Just a normal college student trying to get through., paired reading: the dog ate my flash drive, and other tales of woe.

The story “The dog ate my flash drive, and other tales of woe” by Carolyn Foster Segal, explains how students will give any excuse to get out of a class assignment or have a due date expanded. Segal has a sign outside her classroom door of a cat explaining to his teacher “the dog ate my homework,” with the intention that her students wont give her any excuses. Unfortunately, the students will come up with any excuse, even if it doesn’t seem believable. There are multiple categories of excuses such as the family, best friend, evils of dorm life, evils of technology, and the totally bizarre. The author used some examples for comedy, to show how ridiculous the excuses can get. 

When writing my second essay I would incorporate multiple examples, as Segal did in her story. I would go into depth with my examples to give the readers a clear vision and understanding. The detailed examples would get my point across to the readers about my thesis. Also, I would include emotions into my reasoning to give my examples depth and meaning. I believe that the use of examples is a good way to keep the readers entertained and focused on the main topic, rather than having them drift off. 

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Lauren's Comp Blog

Tuesday, october 25, 2011, the dog ate my disk and other tales of woe.

I agree with Lauren that this was a humorous excerpt. Segal really has a dry wit that made her one of the best reads this semester. I actually had an interest right from the start, unlike most of the other pieces that I had to force myself to make it to the climax or ending. Also the printer problems do occur more than any other excuse, but teachers always come back with "should've printed it earlier" or at school or another comeback that insinuates that everyone has a magical gift of foresight. These are the same teachers who cancel class because they can't find their power point notes because the file is lost. Teachers that offer no leniency shouldn't receive any in return.

Classification: Carolyn Foster Segal, “The Dog Ate My Flashdrive, and Other Tales of Woe”

The Dog Ate My Flashdrive, and Other Tales of Woe

Carolyn Foster Segal

Carolyn Foster Segal, Professor Emerita of English at Cedar Crest College in Pennsylvania and a lecturer at Muhlenberg College, has heard practically every student excuse for handing in late papers. In this humorous essay, she divides student excuses into categories. This article originally appeared, under the title “The Dog Ate My Disk, and Other Tales of Woe,” in the Chronicle of Higher Education , a periodical for college teachers and administrators. As you read, think about the kinds of excuses you have given to instructors for late work.

Taped to the door of my office is a cartoon that features a cat explaining to his feline teacher, “The dog ate my homework.” It is intended as a gently humorous reminder to my students that I will not accept excuses for late work, and it, like the lengthy warning on my syllabus, has had absolutely no effect. With a show of energy and creativity that would be admirable if applied to the (missing) assignments in question, my students persist, week after week, semester after semester, year after year, in offering excuses about why their work is not ready. Those reasons fall into several broad categories: the family, the best friend, the evils of dorm life, the evils of technology, and the totally bizarre.

veracity truthfulness

The Family  The death of the grandfather / grandmother is, of course, the grandmother of all excuses. What heartless teacher would dare to question a student’s grief or veracity ? What heartless student would lie, wishing death on a revered family member, just to avoid a deadline? Creative students may win extra extensions (and days off) with a little careful planning and fuller plot development, as in the sequence of “My grandfather / grandmother is sick”; “Now my grandfather / grandmother is in the hospital”; and finally, “We could all see it coming—my grandfather / grandmother is dead.”

Another favorite excuse is “the family emergency,” which (always) goes like this: “There was an emergency at home, and I had to help my family.” It’s a lovely sentiment, one that conjures up images of Louisa May Alcott’s little women rushing off with baskets of food and copies of Pilgrim’s Progress , but I do not understand why anyone would turn to my most irresponsible students in times of trouble.

conjure up to bring to mind

The Best Friend  This heartwarming concern for others extends beyond the family to friends, as in, “My best friend was up all night and I had to (a) stay up with her in the dorm, (b) drive her to the hospital, or (c) drive to her college because (1) her boyfriend broke up with her, (2) she was throwing up blood [no one catches a cold anymore; everyone throws up blood], or (3) her grandfather / grandmother died.”

At one private university where I worked as an adjunct , I heard an interesting spin that incorporated the motifs of both best friend and dead relative: “My best friend’s mother killed herself.” One has to admire the cleverness here: A mysterious woman in the prime of her life has allegedly committed suicide, and no professor can prove otherwise! And I admit I was moved, until finally I had to point out to my students that it was amazing how the simple act of my assigning a topic for a paper seemed to drive large numbers of otherwise happy and healthy middle-aged women to their deaths. I was careful to make that point during an off week, during which no deaths were reported.

adjunct an instructor at a college or university who is not a permanent staff member; any temporary employee

The Evils of Dorm Life  These stories are usually fairly predictable; they almost always feature the evil roommate or hallmate, with my student in the role of the innocent victim; and can be summed up as follows: My roommate, who is a horrible person, likes to party, and I, who am a good person, cannot concentrate on my work when he or she is partying. Variations include stories about the two people next door who were running around and crying loudly last night because (a) one of them had boyfriend / girlfriend problems; (b) one of them was throwing up blood; or (c) someone, somewhere, died. A friend of mine in graduate school had a student who claimed that his roommate attacked him with a hammer. That, in fact, was a true story; it came out in court when the bad roommate was tried for killing his grandfather.

The Evils of Technology  The computer age has revolutionized the student story, inspiring almost as many new excuses as it has Internet businesses. Here are just a few electronically enhanced explanations.

• The computer wouldn’t let me save my work.
• The printer wouldn’t print.
• The printer wouldn’t print this file.
• The printer wouldn’t give me time to proofread.
• The printer made a black line run through all my words, and I know you can’t read this, but do you still want it, or wait, here, take my flash drive. File name? I don’t know what you mean.
• I swear I attached it.
• It’s my roommate’s computer, and she usually helps me, but she had to go to the hospital because she was throwing up blood.
• I did write to the listserv, but all my messages came back to me.
• I just found out that all my other listserv messages came up under a different name. I just want you to know that its really me who wrote all those messages, you can tel which ones our mine because I didnt use the spelcheck! But it was yours truely :) Anyway, just in case you missed those messages or dont belief its my writting. I’ll repeat what I sad: I thought the last movie we watched in clas was borring.

The Totally Bizarre  I call the first story “The Pennsylvania Chain Saw Episode.” A commuter student called to explain why she had missed my morning class. She had gotten up early so that she would be wide awake for class. Having a bit of extra time, she walked outside to see her neighbor, who was cutting some wood. She called out to him, and he waved back to her with the saw. Wouldn’t you know it, the safety catch wasn’t on or was broken, and the blade flew right out of the saw and across his lawn and over her fence and across her yard and severed a tendon in her right hand. So she was calling me from the hospital, where she was waiting for surgery. Luckily, she reassured me, she had remembered to bring her paper and a stamped envelope (in a plastic bag, to avoid bloodstains) along with her in the ambulance, and a nurse was mailing everything to me even as we spoke.

That wasn’t her first absence. In fact, this student had missed most of the class meetings, and I had already recommended that she withdraw from the course. Now I suggested again that it might be best if she dropped the class. I didn’t harp on the absences (what if even some of this story were true?). I did mention that she would need time to recuperate and that making up so much missed work might be difficult. “Oh, no,” she said, “I can’t drop this course. I had been planning to go on to medical school and become a surgeon, but since I won’t be able to operate because of my accident, I’ll have to major in English, and this course is more important than ever to me.” She did come to the next class, wearing—as evidence of her recent trauma—a bedraggled Ace bandage on her left hand.

You may be thinking that nothing could top that excuse, but in fact I have one more story, provided by the same student, who sent me a letter to explain why her final assignment would be late. While recuperating from her surgery, she had begun corresponding on the Internet with a man who lived in Germany. After a one-week, whirlwind Web romance, they had agreed to meet in Rome, to rendezvous (her phrase) at the papal Easter Mass. Regrettably, the time of her flight made it impossible for her to attend class, but she trusted that I—just this once—would accept late work if the pope wrote a note.

Reacting to Language

Sarcastic remarks, which mean the opposite of what they say, are usually meant to make fun of something or someone. Where does Segal use sarcasm? Considering her audience, do you think this language is appropriate? Why or why not?

Reacting to Ideas

Reacting to the Pattern

Writing Practice

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• Essay Database >
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The Dog Ate My Disk And Other Tales Of Woe A Response Essay

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Topic: Leadership , Health , Teaching , Family , Students , Entertainment , Tone , Medicine

Published: 11/14/2019

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This is humorous and ironic essay that describes the excuses that the writer, a teacher, has come across in her years of teaching. The whole tone of the essay conveys a sense of disbelief – that some students will invent almost any excuse to explain why an assignment is late or cannot be submitted. The title ‘The Dog Ate My Disk, and Other Tales of Woe’ is directly related to the descriptive first paragraph where Segal describes the cartoon she has taped to her office door. In a good-homored way she cheerfully admits that the cartoon and the warnings in the syllabus that she will not tolerate late work have “had absolutely no effect.” The ironic tone is established when she says that she wished her students used the same effort and ingenuity that they apply to their excuses to apply themselves to the missing or late assignments. The rest of the essay categorizes the excuses, and this process of categorization is part of the humour, because it suggests that the excuses are predictable and she has heard them, or variants of them, many times before.

The first three categories absolve the student from all blame, and usually involve illness or incapacity and sometimes even death of a family member, a friend’s family member or the behaviour of their roommate. The image of someone “throwing up blood” is repeated to show Segal’s scepticism about the excuses. Her sardonic, ironic tone is clear when she writes “Creative students may win extra extensions (and days off) with careful planning and fuller plot development” – reporting that a close relative’s illness leads to hospital and then a little later to death. On the subject of family problems and a student saying “I had to help my family”, Segal is especially sarcastic – “I do not understand why anyone would turn to my most irresponsible students in times of trouble.” In the next paragraph the phrase “heart-warming concern for others” is especially sarcastic. Segal even jokes with her classes how amazing it is that “the simple act of my assigning a topic for a paper seemed to drive large numbers of otherwise happy and healthy middle-aged women to their deaths.” [This after a student had told her, “My best friends’ mother killed herself.”

Segal mocks the innovations of the computer age because they have given students a further range of ready-made excuses which are impossible to prove or disprove, and to show their predictability, she lists them as bullet points. I find these excuses doubly amusing because, although some students may well use them as excuses, sometimes there are genuine problems with computers – my printer always runs out of ink on the night before an important assignment is due in, but what teacher would believe me?

Segal saves the most bizarre stories for her final section which concerns one student who has a bizarre accident with a chain saw which, rather preposterously, leads to her changing degree course from surgery to English and also, because she has time on her hands, to develop an internet relationship with a European, who she is flying off to meet in Rome. Segal shows her disbelief in this highly complicated story in the final funny sentence of the essay in which the student hopes she will “accept late work if the pope wrote a note.” This is clearly exaggerated and not true – are we to believe that a student seriously thought she could get the Pope to write a note explaining why her assignment was late? A fittingly funny end to a witty essay.

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