My high schoolers needed to do a history report on moments that changed the world…

[Quorra2.0]

How on earth would you know the quality of an assignment without reading it first?

How on earth would you know that 9 students choosing McDonald’s produced quality work? There’s just not enough for papers to not get flagged by plagiarism software. At all my kids schools they limited how many students could choose a specific topic. This was for their benefit. They also allowed them to check their work for their percentages so that they had opportunities to make changes before final submission so that the paper wasn’t more than 10% matching another.

I don’t know, because I haven’t read their papers. You’re accusing them of plagiarism because they chose the same topic? How would you know whether they do use plagiarism software or not? And I’m sure whoever was grading would notice if nine kids had the same paper.

I said it would be difficult for 9 high school students to write 9 papers on the first opening of McDonald’s as a moment in history that change the world and maintain 10% or less similarity. Idk, a lot of high schools use it because it makes it easier for teachers and is a good tool to help prepare them for college writing.

[Quorra2.0]

How on earth would you know the quality of an assignment without reading it first?

How on earth would you know that 9 students choosing McDonald’s produced quality work? There’s just not enough for papers to not get flagged by plagiarism software. At all my kids schools they limited how many students could choose a specific topic. This was for their benefit. They also allowed them to check their work for their percentages so that they had opportunities to make changes before final submission so that the paper wasn’t more than 10% matching another.

Is this report even graded? It was an assignment for the entire high school student body, not just one class. Depending on the size of the student body, I can understand the number of students picking McDonalds. This year is the 70th anniversary and so lots of articles, shows, etc. focusing on McDonalds. Also, if just a thought project rather than a history paper, why not choose something kind of fun and relatable?

Hmmm good point. Those are factors not given student body size and whether it’s graded assignment. This year would be McDonald’s 84th anniversary 70 years ago was when Kroc became a franchisee…

[WellPreserved]

How on earth would you know that 9 students choosing McDonald’s produced quality work? There’s just not enough for papers to not get flagged by plagiarism software. At all my kids schools they limited how many students could choose a specific topic. This was for their benefit. They also allowed them to check their work for their percentages so that they had opportunities to make changes before final submission so that the paper wasn’t more than 10% matching another.

Is this report even graded? It was an assignment for the entire high school student body, not just one class. Depending on the size of the student body, I can understand the number of students picking McDonalds. This year is the 70th anniversary and so lots of articles, shows, etc. focusing on McDonalds. Also, if just a thought project rather than a history paper, why not choose something kind of fun and relatable?

Hmmm good point. Those are factors not given student body size and whether it’s graded assignment. This year would be McDonald’s 84th anniversary 70 years ago was when Kroc became a franchisee…

I stand corrected!

I don't know the type of school OP's kids go to, but my daughter went to IB schools 1-12th and these types of assignments were given to the student body regularly. It was used as a check to see if students were able to write a clear paper and/or present. IB is really big on research and presentation skills so it was an opportunity for students to practice. What they chose to present wasn't nearly as important as their skills in presenting.

Just as an aside, I was struck by (but not surprised) by the Western centric responses by the student population. A student population in another country or with a nationally diverse student body would probably pick different "moments". In Zambia, where my daughter went to part of high school, I totally could see some students picking the opening of Nando's rather than McDonalds.

[Slimshandy]

How on earth would you know that 9 students choosing McDonald’s produced quality work? There’s just not enough for papers to not get flagged by plagiarism software. At all my kids schools they limited how many students could choose a specific topic. This was for their benefit. They also allowed them to check their work for their percentages so that they had opportunities to make changes before final submission so that the paper wasn’t more than 10% matching another.

Is this report even graded? It was an assignment for the entire high school student body, not just one class. Depending on the size of the student body, I can understand the number of students picking McDonalds. This year is the 70th anniversary and so lots of articles, shows, etc. focusing on McDonalds. Also, if just a thought project rather than a history paper, why not choose something kind of fun and relatable?

Hmmm good point. Those are factors not given student body size and whether it’s graded assignment. This year would be McDonald’s 84th anniversary 70 years ago was when Kroc became a franchisee…

It’s the entire 10th grade class, so approximately 200 students in the School

It’s not graded but there are winners, like 1st place, 2nd place ect…the top winners get to go to regionals, which is all the high schools around, and then the winner of that gets $1000 and a trophy or medal of some sort.


Sort of an emotional double edged sword around here, my daughter did not place in the top, she worked very hard, for a month putting this together, it was a 15 page report with graphs, charts, ect… My son did place, to be honest, he didn’t try very hard, he put it together the day before it had to be submitted interviewing two friends and his dad, then edited that into a mini-documentary. So there’s a bit of her feeling an unfairness, but it’s just one of those “life isn’t always fair” kinds of things…


ETA: None of the McDonald’s made the top five.

[Olioxenfree]

How on earth would you know that 9 students choosing McDonald’s produced quality work? There’s just not enough for papers to not get flagged by plagiarism software. At all my kids schools they limited how many students could choose a specific topic. This was for their benefit. They also allowed them to check their work for their percentages so that they had opportunities to make changes before final submission so that the paper wasn’t more than 10% matching another.

I don’t know, because I haven’t read their papers. You’re accusing them of plagiarism because they chose the same topic? How would you know whether they do use plagiarism software or not? And I’m sure whoever was grading would notice if nine kids had the same paper.

I said it would be difficult for 9 high school students to write 9 papers on the first opening of McDonald’s as a moment in history that change the world and maintain 10% or less similarity. Idk, a lot of high schools use it because it makes it easier for teachers and is a good tool to help prepare them for college writing.

Any subject matter may have some similarities. To say that you would automatically give them a bad grade solely because multiple students covered the same topic (and who knows if the students even know what their peers chose prior to completing the assignment), regardless of their quality of work and how well they completed the assignment, would make someone a pretty crappy teacher. High school and even college academics use software to detect percentages of similarities because they are looking for blatant plagiarism, for a kid who copied a paragraph from the internet, not because every single assignment must be ground breaking with all entirely unique findings compared to their peers in order to accomplish the assignment.

[WellPreserved]

Is this report even graded? It was an assignment for the entire high school student body, not just one class. Depending on the size of the student body, I can understand the number of students picking McDonalds. This year is the 70th anniversary and so lots of articles, shows, etc. focusing on McDonalds. Also, if just a thought project rather than a history paper, why not choose something kind of fun and relatable?

Hmmm good point. Those are factors not given student body size and whether it’s graded assignment. This year would be McDonald’s 84th anniversary 70 years ago was when Kroc became a franchisee…

It’s the entire 10th grade class, so approximately 200 students in the School

It’s not graded but there are winners, like 1st place, 2nd place ect…the top winners get to go to regionals, which is all the high schools around, and then the winner of that gets $1000 and a trophy or medal of some sort.


Sort of an emotional double edged sword around here, my daughter did not place in the top, she worked very hard, for a month putting this together, it was a 15 page report with graphs, charts, ect… My son did place, to be honest, he didn’t try very hard, he put it together the day before it had to be submitted interviewing two friends and his dad, then edited that into a mini-documentary. So there’s a bit of her feeling an unfairness, but it’s just one of those “life isn’t always fair” kinds of things…


ETA: None of the McDonald’s made the top five.

That's really interesting. Was the same prompt given to all 10th graders in participating districts? Are they re-presenting at regionals or given another prompt?

[Quorra2.0]

Is this report even graded? It was an assignment for the entire high school student body, not just one class. Depending on the size of the student body, I can understand the number of students picking McDonalds. This year is the 70th anniversary and so lots of articles, shows, etc. focusing on McDonalds. Also, if just a thought project rather than a history paper, why not choose something kind of fun and relatable?

Hmmm good point. Those are factors not given student body size and whether it’s graded assignment. This year would be McDonald’s 84th anniversary 70 years ago was when Kroc became a franchisee…

I stand corrected!

I don't know the type of school OP's kids go to, but my daughter went to IB schools 1-12th and these types of assignments were given to the student body regularly. It was used as a check to see if students were able to write a clear paper and/or present. IB is really big on research and presentation skills so it was an opportunity for students to practice. What they chose to present wasn't nearly as important as their skills in presenting.

Just as an aside, I was struck by (but not surprised) by the Western centric responses by the student population. A student population in another country or with a nationally diverse student body would probably pick different "moments". In Zambia, where my daughter went to part of high school, I totally could see some students picking the opening of Nando's rather than McDonalds.

Oh no, my was if they are advertising or saying its their 70th anniversary I was wondering why. I don’t watch commercials often anymore, they annoy me.

We do tend to be western centric. The general topic of moments that changed the world, there’s so many that it’s a good topic. Some of the chosen topics though seem like missed opportunities to see outside ones bubble.

[WellPreserved]

Hmmm good point. Those are factors not given student body size and whether it’s graded assignment. This year would be McDonald’s 84th anniversary 70 years ago was when Kroc became a franchisee…

I stand corrected!

I don't know the type of school OP's kids go to, but my daughter went to IB schools 1-12th and these types of assignments were given to the student body regularly. It was used as a check to see if students were able to write a clear paper and/or present. IB is really big on research and presentation skills so it was an opportunity for students to practice. What they chose to present wasn't nearly as important as their skills in presenting.

Just as an aside, I was struck by (but not surprised) by the Western centric responses by the student population. A student population in another country or with a nationally diverse student body would probably pick different "moments". In Zambia, where my daughter went to part of high school, I totally could see some students picking the opening of Nando's rather than McDonalds.

Oh no, my was if they are advertising or saying its their 70th anniversary I was wondering why. I don’t watch commercials often anymore, they annoy me.

We do tend to be western centric. The general topic of moments that changed the world, there’s so many that it’s a good topic. Some of the chosen topics though seem like missed opportunities to see outside ones bubble.

I totally agree!

It really was a good prompt. I admit that when OP posted, I spent the day at work thinking about the topic and trying to challenge myself to not only think globally, but about the entirety of human history and the meaning of a "moment". It was fun for me but I'm kind of geeky like that.

[Quorra2.0]

Is this report even graded? It was an assignment for the entire high school student body, not just one class. Depending on the size of the student body, I can understand the number of students picking McDonalds. This year is the 70th anniversary and so lots of articles, shows, etc. focusing on McDonalds. Also, if just a thought project rather than a history paper, why not choose something kind of fun and relatable?

Hmmm good point. Those are factors not given student body size and whether it’s graded assignment. This year would be McDonald’s 84th anniversary 70 years ago was when Kroc became a franchisee…

It’s the entire 10th grade class, so approximately 200 students in the School

It’s not graded but there are winners, like 1st place, 2nd place ect…the top winners get to go to regionals, which is all the high schools around, and then the winner of that gets $1000 and a trophy or medal of some sort.


Sort of an emotional double edged sword around here, my daughter did not place in the top, she worked very hard, for a month putting this together, it was a 15 page report with graphs, charts, ect… My son did place, to be honest, he didn’t try very hard, he put it together the day before it had to be submitted interviewing two friends and his dad, then edited that into a mini-documentary. So there’s a bit of her feeling an unfairness, but it’s just one of those “life isn’t always fair” kinds of things…


ETA: None of the McDonald’s made the top five.

Ahh that’s so disappointing. I think she had a great topic and it sounds like she did a well thought out project.

[Pjmm]

Did your Dd just focus solely on the invention of plastic or did she include how its invention not only changed the world in that moment but the future both positive and negative impacts? The first would be fine but I hope the teacher graded her higher if she did the later, including extra credit points. Coronavirus pandemic would have been a good topic as well, it’s very broad not only have human and societal impacts but environmental, medical science, etc.

I would not have been impressed with any of the McDonald’s ones though tbh. They weren’t the first or even the oldest fast food restaurant.

Yes but it's extremely influential in our culture as well as its intrusion into others. Is there a country that doesn't have a McDonald's? Other than maybe North Korea? If the paper is thought out it's a fine topic. I've heard worse.

There are 195 countries, 196 if you recognize Taiwan as independent from China. McDonald’s has locations in 99. They do not have locations in Iceland, Barbados, Jamaica, Russia just to name a few.

If it was 1 student, I’d think it possible but multiple students, the probability is slim that they’d be well thought out papers. I didn’t say it was the worse, I’ve heard worse as well, just wonder how engaging this teacher was if so many students picked the start of McDonalds.

She could've been very engaging. I wouldn't have thought the start of mcDonald's to be a world-changing event but there's an argument to be made for it. Personally I wouldn't dismiss it just because I think there are better subjects. I'd be interested in what the kids had to say. I also think it's about the argument as others said. Is the student persuasive? Do they make good points in their paper? That's what I'd want to know.