Thursday, June 28, 2007

Lost AP Gems

I was going through my notes from grading the AP U.S. history exam and found these last few gems that I wanted to share. The question I was grading had to do with the impact of the Second Great Awakening on temperance, abolition, Utopian communities, and the cult of domesticity.
  • Abraham Lincoln responded to John Brown's actions by writing the Emancipation Proclamation.
  • In the North two very important commodities were beer and slaves. Without these two commodities the North's economy would have a tough time getting by.
  • There were many great abolitionists such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Fredrick Douglass, and Ulysses S. Grant.
  • The Brook Farm experiment proved to be ineffective because people died from not having sexual pleasure.
  • The Shriners did not believe in procreation.
  • It was safer to face an angry Southerner than an angry lion.
  • The only lasting impact of the Oneidas was their silverware. I myself have a rubber Oneida spatula purchased five years ago at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
  • Actually none of this is probably true. I don't know what I'm talking about.

3 comments:

Jennie W said...

Well the last student was at least honest!

Tim Lacy said...

I appreciate the presentism of the Oneida answer. At least he or she was trying to make a real life connection! - TL

Anonymous said...

Tim, I especially loved how the student remembered that they had bought their spatula at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It are the little details like that, which really make an essay shine!