Honesty and Dishonesty in one week!

The last two days, I've encountered polar opposites in honesty. Two days ago, a mother of a piano student was trying to break it to me that she wanted to stop lessons. I had noticed from the student's notebook that ANOTHER had begun teaching her. So, I was expecting it. However, she tried to "lighten the blow" by telling me she might get her to quit piano, and that she never practices. She wanted me to give her other times during the week that I could teach her, then changed it to the good ol' "I'll call you to let you know of another time."

Tell the truth and don't sugarcoat things!

Today, I caught a student trying to hand in plagiarized work (from the translation websites). I warn my students every year that plagiarism is pretty much the worst thing to do. The student had added all these verb tenses that I haven't taught (3 grade levels above!). I kindly gave it back and told her to redo it.

Tell me, why do people think I can be fooled like that?

On the other side, I was so impressed by two younger students who had just been returned their first quiz of the year. One girl received 100% and the other 99%. However, they approached me after class, stating that I had marked one of their incorrect answers correct. While this was not the first time this has happened, I was so impressed by their honesty. I decided to just take off 1% each.

Isn't it interesting what teachers encounter every week?

Finally, what about David Letterman yesterday, admitting on his show to having several sexual affairs with staff? Having visited the Late Show in March, I know that the audience is told to laugh hysterically at whatever Dave says. But WHY oh WHY were they laughing while he was revealing this??? Check out the video for yourself.