There was an article about 2 years ago, (I read about it here on Slashdot) about an experiment where bloggers wrote an SAT-style essay and were then graded. In the end, in many ways teenagers wrote about the same as adults. Of course, we (adults) forget grammar and usage, but the part that grabbed me was:
I was struck by the number of people who wrote essays without apparently thinking the directions applied to them. They made assumptions about the assignment, or decided that they were better judges of what the assignment should be, and then wrote what they wanted to write rather than produced what they were asked to write.
I smiled, but I wondered why do they think a scorer (and after all, pleasing the scorer is what matters much more than self-respect when taking a test) cares about their opinions?
Another Comment:
I was struck by the number of writers who felt that musing about some aspect of the question, or one of the words in it, or one of the stories it reminded them of, was a reasonable way to respond to the directions.
In answering questions for my Japanese assignments, I have been guilty many times of this kind of thing. There was an assignment about Einstein, and the photo of him sticking his tongue out. The question was, "According to the textbook, why do you think Einstein stuck out his tongue?"
Well, Wikipedia will tell you exactly why. So in my answer, I explained that he had been dogged by the same reporter all day and finally made this face at him in response to another request for a picture. But, the point of the assignment was to use grammar that indicated I was stating my opinion:
と思う
～そうです
for example. So I expressed it as fact, and got the question wrong.
I also have to make sure I understand the question. In a question about computers, I misunderstood it to mean, "List the advantages and disadvantages of a desktop computer." The question was really, "List the features of a desktop computer." So my answer was not wrong, but not a very good, clear answer. They wanted objective, I answered with the subjective. (Is that right? I still mix subjective and objective up..) Now I try and:
1. Make sure I understand the question, or at least am making my best guess, if there are Kanji I don't know?
2. Did I answer the question that was posed? Am I answering the way that the Sensei is looking for?
3. Did I use the reading as my source, or am I interjecting my own opinion or meta-speak, that no one cares about?
But I wonder: Is this an American thing? Most of my class has no problem with this kind of question. Is it our natural approach to "think outside the b*x"? (Sorry, I hate that cliche.) Is it the easy way out, to just say the first thing that comes into your head, question be damned? Maybe it's just me being rusty at this. Maybe it's me being thick-headed.