Cliffs Notes

 

 

As I've said before, I am a graduate of Wheeler High School, which is located in East Cobb County, Georgia.

(Cobb County has four sections: East, West, North, and South. In the 70s when I was going to school, East Cobb was the Le-Te-Fricken-Da section of Cobb.  Parts of it still are to this day, but parts are not.)

My only real problem was that most kids at Wheeler ( school motto: "Where the leaders of tomorrow are smoking cigarettes between the classes of today"), were very smart.

Some of the kids in my class were so smart they would actually READ AN ASSIGNED BOOK and be ready for a test.

However, others were like me-hindered by a genetic defect called being a total dork. If not for Cliffs Notes*, I'd probably would still be in school.  A sixty-five year old high school junior.

In case you don't remember, Cliffs Notes is a "popular tool for many students seeking a shortcut to understanding complex texts. These condensed summaries provide a quick overview of books, plays, and poems, allowing students to grasp the main ideas and themes without reading the entire work." (Faster Capital Blog: The Pros And Cons of Using Cliffs Notes)

Simply, Cliffs Notes allowed the 70s high school student a shortcut in understanding complex literature that was "boring as all get out" as we would say back them.

Cliffs Notes were controversial.  I had one English teacher (not Roger Hines, although he probably agreed) say the Cliffs Notes had  "intentional errors," and you shouldn't rely on it.

In other words, you are supposed to read all of Tess Of The D'Urbervilles and not just the Cliffs Notes like "that Manis kid."  

On my Facebook page, I decided to give everyone a break about the pros or cons of the orange man and asked if anybody used Cliffs Notes.   A lot of people, now that they are long past high school, confessed that they used Cliffs Notes and tried to bull their way through the book reports.  God bless America.
 

One Facebook friend of mine, the incredible Terry McCoy, who didn't go to Wheeler, but he could have, wrote about another product that I missed:

"Monarch notes were my book summaries of choice. Cliffs notes (sic) were too common and teachers could smell a book report written from them a mile away. Monarch notes were more obscure. But let’s be honest, any teacher who assigned Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray was just trying to take the semester off and discourage any kid from reading one more word for the rest of their life. It almost worked on me."

(Why am I just now learning about Monarch Notes?  What a rip.) 

Terry is right about teachers and Cliffs Notes. Back then you did not have computer programs in which the teacher could load your book report on to sniff out Cliffs Notes usage and plagiarism  although it wasn't necessary for my reports.

"Tess of The D'Uberviiles is about a girl named Tess who lived in a house in the town of D'Urberville. It may have something to do with sex, but I couldn't tell. There were no good parts that could have spiced things up like 'Tess walked in buck naked'.  I know I would have enjoyed it more. Please give me a passing grade on this. I would hate to go to summer school." 

I will say this: sometimes a student must take a short cut because school is interfering with other parts of their lives like work, dating, and sitting around listening to records.  

I knew someone who took a short cut. 

I knew this guy in college.  He was a biology major and was an outstanding student. He had to take a French class for some odd reason. The professor gave an assignment: a book review of a classic in French literature.

My classmate chose "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."  The reason:  he had a collection of Classic Illustrated Comics and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" was in his collection. So, he reviewed the comic book. He also had to include a biographical essay on the author.  He copied the biography, from the comic book, word for word.  He made an A with a "great job" notation from the professor.

He has had a successful career as a physician.  Currently, he is a professor at a medical school associated with a large state university. He did it all without Cliffs Notes.  I think. 

 

*It should actually be "Cliff's Notes" because they were notes from Clifton Hillgass, a great American.