How the Dog Ate the Homework

The short story "The Dog Ate My Disk and Other Tales of Woe" is about the different excuses that students often give teachers in order to turn in an assignment late. The audience for this essay are mainly students and professors. Both of the groups understand the situations in the essay and will further their understanding by reading it. The writer's purpose is to show the extent to which students will go with the excuses that they used with a teacher to get away with an assignment. The writer portrays these excuses in a humorous tone. For example, in the last paragraph he told a story of a letter that he received. This letter asked, if he would accept a late assignment if the student brought a note signed by the Pope. This humorous tone shows that Segal does not hate students who give excuses, but rather enjoy these stories. The author gave us different examples of these types of students and excuses. One example Segal used was the "family emergency" excuse, where a student would be in a situation where their family needed them and only they could fix this issue. Segal tells the reader that students usually have an entire plan of what to tell a teacher, so that it seems believable. It is ironic that the student's excuses are always thought out carefully, but the teacher will always know the truth. These excuses have caused teachers to constantly doubt students, whether they are lying or actually telling the truth. Overall this essay was well written because Segal brought his readers into the mind of a teacher's reaction to his students.