Thread by @TheTattooedProf

So this story is all around the internet, about the prof who hid a clue in his syllabus for someone to find $50. Then he posted it on FB, and predictably, it's gone viral and everyone is gloating about the lazy kids who didn't bother to "read the syllabus." BUT...(thread)

2/ None of these stories actually talk about this supposedly obvious clue, which seems odd, given no one claimed the supposedly easy-to-find cash prize. Instead, it's just a bunch of "students are so lazy and stupid" takes. But here is the actual syllabus (student screenshot):

3/ Almost every institution has common syllabus statements-the policy boilerplate everyone's required to include in their course syllabi. Instructors usually download it from the uni website and append it to the syllabi they've created, often with a heading like "univ policies"

4/ it's the equivalent of the rapidly-talking lawyer voice at the end of a car dealership or pharmaceutical commercial, or the cookies agreement you click on a website before you get to browse. Yeah, it's there, but it's not the "real" part of the document at hand.

5/ so if you want to gloat about students being too stupid to see this in their syllabus, I want you to tell me RIGHT NOW what the terms and conditions disclaimers are on your cell phone plan.

What? You don't remember? You didn't read those? WHY NOT YOU STUPID LAZY GEN Z LOSER

6/ Also, let's look at the actual wording of this syllabus treasure map all the students "missed." Does this look like free money to you? Or a somewhat creepy offer to share a locker? How many people would read this and think "that dude effed up his copy and paste?"7

7/ So the viral story about buffoonish college students is actually...kinda not that at all? It's not an invitation to free money that's RIGHT THERE YOU FOOLS, it's a vaguely-phrased weird flex from a prof who wanted to do a Facebook stunt and look like the Clever Boy.

8/ we're headed towards a third year of pandemic teaching, and *no one's* working with full bandwidth rn. And *this* is where some of y'all want to put your energy? Why? What is it you want to prove, exactly? Because this is weird and dickish, and really just kinda sad tbh. /x