Ah, the irony!

One of the interesting parts of managing this blog is watching the search terms that direct people here.  It is not too Big-Brother-y, but I can scroll through the list of terms that people have Googled.

Most of them are no surprise.  Lots of people Google themselves.  Embarrassing, but understandable.

And lots of people who end up on I Love You But You’re Going to Hell also Google terms such as “traditionalist education,” “Bible in schools,” “anti-evolution,” and so on.  Makes sense.

But there’s another common search term that could help English teachers.  Having taught high-school English for several years myself, I remember that teaching the concept of “irony” was always difficult.  It only got harder when Alanis Morrissette butchered the concept with her pop song “Isn’t It Ironic.”   

Thanks to SMS, this should link to the video now. –AL

But now I’ve found a new illustrative example of “irony.”  Among the many common search terms that direct people to ILYBYGTH, one of the top phrases is “What the Bible Means to Me Essay.”

I’m no cynic.  But having taught middle- and high-school for ten years, I can smell a cheat.  In a lot of cases, plagiarism made sense.  For instance, as a US History teacher, I came to expect some students in our Prohibition unit to offer up plagiarized essays in favor of the legalization of marijuana.  It was still cheating, of course, but it made sense.  Fit the profile.

How much sadder is it to have students trying to rip off an essay on “What the Bible Means to Me?”