'You should read the instructions next time': 17-year-old summer school students confront teacher after she deducts their grade for properly citing their sources

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Jul 23, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

Most high school students should understand the importance of citing their sources on their papers. Failing to do so could have major consequences, not just in school but also beyond the educational level. The last thing you want is to accidentally take credit for someone else's work and risk being accused of plagiarism. Furthermore, doing research and documenting said research by citing your sources is honestly a great way to establish authority in your writing. It proves that you know what you're talking about and that you've familiarized yourself with other pieces of writing that have tackled the same subject matter. Ideally, in a good paper, you're building off of those sources to say something new; therefore, citing your sources is necessary to distinguish your argument from your research.

For some reason, these students had the unfortunate experience of being assigned a teacher who penalized students for citing their sources. It's as if she decided to pass on the opposite lessons from what she should be instructing. Thankfully, these students were mature enough to understand that this was bogus and that they deserved to be acknowledged favorably for going the extra mile and citing their research, even if it wasn't part of the instructions. Keep scrolling through for the full confrontation!

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    Cheezburger Image 10533089536
    via Unsplash+ (Giulia Squillace)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • It's possible that this teacher developed some sort of vendetta against the 17-year-olds on this group project and was grasping at straws regarding how to deduct points from their grade. This also proves how bad of an instructor she is, given that she refuses to separate whatever personal feelings she has from the actual output of these students' work.

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    "AITA for telling my teacher she can't deduct marks over putting citations in my work?"

    I (17F) am currently taking summer school for 12th grade physics. Recently, we were asked to create an infographic as a group on a topic under the Waves and Light unit. My other two group members (both 17F) wrote
    via kanedle
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    our assignment on the topic of heat mirages. After spending hours on the task, we decided to add our citations on a page below the infographic. This was not
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    explicitly asked on the assignment; however, we wanted to be academically honest students and put down our sources anyway.
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    This morning, we received our grades back. We achieved a level 3 (70s range), and as highly achieving students, this felt absurd to us. However, the
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    feedback that was provided said we gave the output of a level 4, but were instead brought down to a level 3. The reason?
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    'Citations were not asked for this assignment. I will take off one mark under individual work. 3/4."
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    Yes, that is the only comment our group received as feedback on our work. The decrease had nothing to do with the quantity or quality of our work. We decided
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    to confront the teacher as soon as possible. Why were we losing a whopping 15% of our grade over putting down our sources??
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    When the three of us approached her, she was very ride and condescending about it, stating "you should read the instructions next time. Actions have consequences, and you shall
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    receive consequences for not following instructions accordingly." I attempted to negotiate further, but the teacher would not budge. She got angry
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    and cut the conversation early before any of my other group members could get a chance to speak after me.
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    ON Time Object Within Infor
    via Centre for Ageing Better

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    We are very upset over losing such a huge percentage of our grade on this assignment over ADDING citations of all things. I
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    believe that if she wishes to use such an excuse and penalize us over "not following instructions", she should have at least given us a 4- instead of dropping us down as far as a 3. Especially since this
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    is a 12th grade course, it is very important for me to do the best I can. I need physics as a prerequisite for my desired university programs, and this will
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    not only drastically impact my grade, but my group members as well. AITA?
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    Scenarioing 11h ago • "you should read the instructions next time. Actions have consequences, and you shall receive consequences for not following instructions accordingly." -- --Unless the instructions said not to include citations, the teacher is full of sh .
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    kjaiwiz 11h ago Ask her where the instructions were that you were NOT to include citations! You did not disregard directions, doing more than was asked for is not the same as defying instructions.
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    You need to take this higher. Probably getting your parents involved. I always told my kids to deal with an issue and let me know if or when they needed me. This woman doesn't not sound reasonable or respectful. I wouldn't screw around.
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    ScarletNotThatOne 11h ago NTA. You didn't fail to do the assignment -- which would make sense to penalize. You did the assignment, plus extra. You shouldn't be penalized for doing a better job than was asked. The teacher is being petty in a way that hurts you unfairly.
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    I suggest going over her head and getting this corrected. It's really not fair.
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    Puskarella 11h ago . NTA Adding citations is the default expectation in most assignments. Is there someone else you can talk to, or a process for challenging grades at your institution? Also losing 1 mark out of 4 is 25% not 15%.
    via kanedle

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