A Modest Proposal - had to defend an impossible sollution to a chosen problem, like Swift's Modest Proposal (1st year, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)

There is a certain type of a situation, a deeply disturbing and a tormenting situation, which many students often find themselves in. It can occur at any given time during the school year: a teacher gives them a written assignment that must be handed in before the deadline; otherwise the student is bound to fail the course. Of course, the teacher also gives too little time to do it.

I am not talking only of those slackers that always seem to run out of time as a result of having too much of an affection for other more important things than school or a tendency to leave everything for the last minute, although they are indeed in the majority, but also of those smart, diligent boys and girls, who wouldn't even think of taking a break from school-work. Sometimes you just can't do what is requested of you, not even if you do your best.

Moodle Guide for Teachers

Phila. Teachers on Capitol Steps, Wash., D.C., 5/1...

Teacher in primary school in northern Laos

As failing the course is not a desirable outcome for the student, he is forced to rely on his own ingenuity/resourcefulness to successfully come out the other end. An average mind would resort to plagiarising and copy the assignment off a fellow student. A more conniving one would approach the teacher with a lie, such as a fatal illness he has just gotten over or recent death of a close relative, and ask for an extension on the deadline. However, these two solutions are deficient in that they bear with them a high risk of getting caught, as teachers seem to have a sixth sense for plagiarism, or of not being convincing or pathetic enough. Some teachers have a heart of stone and won't make an exception in terms of deadlines even for someone who's just had a brush with death, caused by...