“My dog ate my homework!” “My computer crashed!” “You never said there was an assignment!” Excuse after excuse. Teachers throughout the country have to deal with hundreds of excuses every year, and many of them have decided that enough is enough. While some excuses are valid, many are just a sad attempt to cover up poor planning and procrastination. Students, I warn you now, teachers have already caught on, they know our procrastination secrets.

There are a few strange excuses that may appear false, but with further investigation may strangely be true.

Mrs Scott, an english teacher here at AAHS, recounted an excuse that she was given about two years ago. A student came in saying he couldn’t put his story online due to work. He then proceeded to tell Mrs. Scott what his job was; saying he “had been escorting the president to his hotel that night.” At first, this excuse seemed ridiculous; however, the president was in town at the time and the student was able to present details and a security pin that was seemingly too detailed to have made up.  Though strange, this was one time when the excuse may have been real.

Another strange, but true excuse has been made by numerous students. It is the excuse of “my dog ate my homework.” This, however, can actually happen! For some pet owners, you walk into your room to find your little puppy chowing down on your 10 page essay that’s due that day during first block. While this is unfortunate, just bring in the eaten paper. The evidence will speak for you when you present it to the teacher. However, if this happens once, then the best option is to not put any papers, assignments, or books within your cute, but devious, little pet’s reach.

Here are the three of the most common excuses; ones you should probably avoid if you’re looking for an excuse to use.

1. “My computer/printer broke!”

Alright people, this has become one of the most common excuses since the invention of the computer and printer. Now it is true that, on occasion, your computer may crash or your printer may get jammed, but that is still no excuse. If you’re having computer issues, try to use a smartphone or tablet of some sort, it works just as well. Don’t own either of those? Get your work done early enough that you can run into school 5-10 minutes early and print the paper (if it’s a printer malfunction) or send it into the assignment spot (if it’s a computer issue). This excuse may work once or twice, but after that, you’re out of luck!

2. “You didn’t assign any homework!”

This excuse is ingenious if and only if you can get every student in the class to not turn in the work and to say the same story of, “you didn’t give us homework.” I warn you though, this plan, if it works at all, will only work once! Come on people, your teachers aren’t stupid. They are human, so this could actually happen, but many times the teacher can tell when the class is telling the truth or just trying to cover up the fact that all but one student didn’t do the work because they forgot to write it down or just didn’t feel like it. Besides, if you are the one person that actually did the work, why on earth would you choose to risk your grade to cover up for slackers? This excuse would take planning and is not one that would work easily. After one go, you can’t pull that one off again.

3. “I was absent when you assigned the homework!”

Okay everyone, let’s be real. Some of you actually are absent on the day the homework was assigned, but if you have a teacher that doesn’t really pay attention as well, then many of you have probably chosen this excuse. However, thanks to modern technology, teachers can actually go into the attendance and see if you were there. When they discover your evil plot, this excuse will never work again. Not only that, but you could lose the teacher’s trust for the rest of the school year.

Overall, I’m not saying to not explain your problem to your teacher if there is a real issue, and I am not saying to go out and make excuses every time you choose to procrastinate. Excuses, especially false ones, are not a good choice. Teachers aren’t looking for a reason why you can’t do this or that. As a matter of fact, when you make an excuse that is found to be false, you can lose the trust of your teacher as well as their respect. In the end, honesty is the best policy. If you didn’t do the work, then just say it and take the slight deduction. Have a plan to fix the problem and talk to the teacher after class. It shows that you care enough to take steps to solve the problem. Also, it helps you to maintain your integrity, respect, and trust. Choose to do what’s right and work towards being the best student possible.