Teachers sometimes underestimate how literally students will take instructions, especially when it comes to getting out of an assignment.

So when a group of students’ biology teacher demanded that everyone “copy the next ten pages,” they saw an opportunity of a lifetime.

By the following morning, the entire class showed the teacher she should have chosen her words a bit more carefully.

Keep reading for the full story!

Teacher should have made her assignment clear

We were raising heck in biology class in 1971, and the teacher told us to “copy” the next 10 pages of the textbook.

One student then had a bright idea that would change everything.

I told my friends not to worry, that I’d take care of it.

I went to my dad’s office, ran off ten copies of the textbook pages, and handed them out the next day.

The students were quick to defend their malicious compliance.

The teacher tried to say this wasn’t acceptable, but I reminded her she said “copy the next ten pages,” and the whole class backed up my claim.

Sounds like this teacher should have been a bit more clear with her request!

There used to be paper invented for this very purpose!

Kids still try their hand at this kind of malicious compliance in modern classrooms too.

Sometimes you have to work smarter, not harder.

This commenter points out that many teachers still wouldn’t tolerate this kind of behavior.

These students sure taught their teacher a lesson that day.

And after that day, the teacher never used the word “copy” quite so loosely again.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.