'[I] didn't do a single lab report all year': Teacher changes grading policy, student maliciously complies to get out of doing work

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Sep 5, 2023 8:00 AM EDT

The only thing smarter than a student who follows a grading policy is the student who finds a clever loophole. This school needed to adjust its policies after too many athletes were seen failing their classes. So what were the teachers forced to do? Well, instead of the classic A-F scale, final grades were given on a number scale, where the only failing grade was a 1 (you could not get a 0). Additionally, all grades for some reason could only count tests. Perhaps this was a short-term solution to make students prioritize what was most important, but talk about an absolutely irresponsible policy when it comes to ongoing learning via class participation and homework assignments. But I digress…

This student, who shared their story via this thread on Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit, used this new policy as a way to get out of having to write lab reports for his AP Science class. Does anyone remember lab reports? If you don't, allow me to remind you. They are a colossal waste of time that only demonstrates how inept you are at conducting experiments, how tedious making graphs and charts can be, and that whatever theory or subject you're currently working on in class is relevant.

Keep scrolling below to see how the student and teacher engaged in a back-and-forth with regard to this grading fiasco. For more stories like this, check out this post about a student who got their principal fired.