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Samuel Beck

Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 1010

November 27, 2017

The Dog Ate My Disk, and Other Tales of Woe

The classic “the dog ate my homework” and other various excuses students have

conjured over the years have came to be exposed in “The Dog Ate My Disk, and Other Tales of

Woe” written by Professor Carolyn Foster Segal for The Chronicle Of Higher Education (August

11, 2000). This article spreads some light on the topic of late work, or rather finding reasons to

be able to turn in late work, without consequence. Segal tells of the most common reasons

students fail to turn in assignments on time and groups those into five categories: the family, the

best friend, the evils of dorm life, the evils of technology, and the totally bizarre. Segal uses real

life experiences and a good portion of humor to tell her students’ tales of woe, while keeping

readers engaged throughout the essay. She appeals to the audience through structure, authentic

excuses, and a humorous tone. She shows her own credibility with being a college professor with

experience on the topic and she appeals personally too readers with the realism of the examples

she shares.

Segal exposes students by revealing the secrets behind these proposed excuses. Students

generally use similar explanations on why their late work was late, Segal is here to tell exactly

what those are. Pathos is heavily used in her article because many students and readers can relate

almost to the point through these excuses. Students have long gone away with the story of the

canine and the chemistry homework. No dogs here, the stories have evolved to granger, almost.

Students can relate with this essay by simply thinking of the last time they turned in a late
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assignment. Most likely they used the obvious excuse of “I had a family emergency”, if that one

was used then congratulations you have completed your trial to get into Segal's first category:

The family.

The appeal to Pathos in a paper is the ability to relate to what is being said, it's feeling

emotion when words are read. This essay is heavily relatable because many students have used

these exact excuses or something similar and gotten similar responses from their teachers. The

family, the best friend, part time jobs, or something totally bizarre, either way, many will relate

with Segal’s students. The audience can feel emotion throughout the essay from all of its comical

jabs with the intent to make a reader more engaged in the paper. An example is when talking to

one of her students about their excuse involving their good friend,“She was throwing up blood,

no one catches a cold anymore; everyone throws up blood.” In the 5 categories of excuses this

particular point of throwing up blood appears more than any else. The effective strategy of

repetition is used because of the humor in it, keeps readers engaged, and helps in reminding

readers of previous parts of the essay.

Students from classrooms on each of the four corners of the globe visit daily with

teachers pleading for the acceptance of assignments due the prior class. A pupil will stroll up to

the desk of their teachers and no doubt give a lengthy explanation on why they were unable to

turn in last weeks bio-lab review. Carolyn Segal knows this first hand from her experience in the

education field and dealing with students. On her door she explains she has a comic to serve as a

reminder to her students that she does not take any form of late work, and the comic, like the

extensive warning on her syllabus, has had unquestionably no effect. There are hints of light

humor, such as her example in her syllabus, throughout the essay. Any reader that was once a

high school student can think back to the syllabus mountain they received at the beginning of the
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year, and that no one read or paid attention to what is inside. Segal explaining how her lengthy

explanation on how late work will not be accepted and that most students ignored it is likely a

memory of many readers.

A common theme in the essay is to keep it light hearted and constantly have a humorous

underlying tone. A few examples that show this could be, “The death of the grandfather

/grandmother is, of course, the grandmother of a excuses. What heartless teacher would dare to

question a student's grief of veracity?”. Segal keeps readers reading and amused by not simply

saying the students grandmother died and it is a common excuse students use to get out of a

deadline, rather she sets up a story that interests readers. Perhaps a better example of the comedy

Segal uses it when explaining how she had a student come to her and try to be excused from an

essay because the students best friends mother killed herself. Segal explained how she was

moved by the attempt, but eventually felt she had to point out to her students what a coincidence

it was that her assignment given to the class has seemed to cause so many deaths among middle

aged-women. When talking of a suicide which is a rather downing topic, she puts a playful feel

over the whole thing while exposing the students for what they were doing and once again

adding to that humorous commonality. The essay as a whole is not meant to be one big joke that

would cause a reader to laugh out loud, but it is meant to be playfully jabbing at students

attempts to be sly with their teachers.

Arguably the most effective part of the essay is the realism. The fact that a student of

Segal’s actually attempted to negotiate with her that because she could get a signed letter from

the Pope, her final should be allowed a few days late. This sort of complete absurdness grabs a

reader's attention. The craziness effectively pulls in the audience to wonder what happens next.

Did they get away with it? Does she actually have a signed letter from the Pope? It forces the
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reader to keep indulging into the essay. The authenticity of the excuses is hilariously almost

unbelievable. One example of an excuse her student tried to get away with is perfect. Her student

tells of how she had woken up early in the morning to be awake and attentive for class. Because

she had gotten up so early she had time to say hello to her neighbor, this neighbor was out

chopping wood with an electric saw. As she waved hello, he waved back with the saw, and as

she explained, the saws catch must have been broken because the next thing she knew the blade

was flying across the yard and cut straight into her forearm severing the tendons. As she was

being rushed to the hospital she remembered to bring her final and an envelope with proper

stampage so the nurse could mail it during her operation. This kind of story intrigues readers to

the point the paper can’t be put down, readers become invested and have to find out what the

student actually got away with and what happened next. Above all the most surprising and real

event shared in this essay was this, “A friend of mine in graduate school who had a student who

claimed that his roommate attacked him with a hammer. That, in fact, was a true story; it came

out in court when the bad roommate was tried for killing his grandfather.”. This is so out there,

it's so crazy, someone reading this essay would not put it down after reading that, it is to

intriguing.

The Dog Ate My Disk, and Other Tales of Woe is the essay for exposing and playfully

making fun of students excuses and their attempt to turn in late work. Professor Segal accurately

groups the bulk of proposed excuses into a few categories: the family, the best friend, the evils of

form life, the evils of technology, and the totally bizarre. She then goes on to describe with

examples these five groups effectively by appealing to the audience's emotion through pathos.

Segal also shows her own credibility by being a college professor and being a teacher with her
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own experiences with students using these exact excuses. The article is comical and grabs

readers attention through bizarre and true stories Segal has been through in her time teaching.

Works Cited

Segal, Carolyn Foster. “The Dog Ate My Disk, and Other Tales of Woe.” Chronicle of Higher

Education. Vol. 46, no. 49. 11 Aug. 2000, p. A64 EBSCOhost. Web. 2 Nov. 2017