(FeaturedNews) – Course policies tend to look fairly similar, but sometimes it pays to read the syllabus. Literally. One Tennessee professor decided to put his hunch that many students were not reading his syllabus to the test, and his experiment had disappointing results.
Professor Attempts a Scavenger Hunt
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga professor Kenyon Wilson hid a clue in the syllabus for his music seminar class that led students to a $50 cash prize hidden in a locker on campus. Wilson snuck the locker number and combination, along with an enticing hint encouraging students to be the first to check it out, into a sentence about the course’s makeup policies that most students have seen in nearly every other course syllabus. Along with the money, he left a note in the locker asking the student who claimed it to leave his or her name and the date they found it.
Wilson waited until the end of the semester to check the locker, but the $50 bill was still there. Although some students may have skimmed through the syllabus or seen the note and forgotten about it before getting the chance to investigate, not one of the 71 students in the course opened the locker.
Easter Eggs Make Life More Interesting
Kenyon Wilson is hardly the first to hide a surprise where one might least expect it. From secret levels in video games to hidden meanings in some of Taylor Swift’s most recent lyrics, stumbling on a bonus that isn’t obvious to the rest of an audience can add something a bit more exciting to an everyday part of life.
There usually isn’t much that is particularly interesting about a course syllabus that is worded much the same as one for any other class, but Professor Wilson did his best to change that. If only someone had actually solved the mystery.
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