If a teacher says on Monday the test is Next Wednesday when would you think the test was?

<p>Personally, I wouldn’t have thought this was ambiguous at all. That’s why I’d be mad about it.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t have thought it was ambiguous either. If it’s Monday and I hear “next Wednesday,” that means the Wednesday of the following week. On reflection, I realize that there are people who might have a different interpretation, but I am not one of them and I’d be hopping mad to arrive two days later and have a test facing me.</p>

<p>I wonder if the teacher accepts answers on the test that are as incorrect as his/her own statement of the test day. </p>

<p>Yeah, I agree that “next Wednesday” spoken on a Monday refers unambiguously to Wednesday of the following week. I know that kids will often interpret an ambiguity in their favor, but that would not be the case for me here.</p>

<p>As a teacher myself, I try to be extra clear. When I remind students of due dates (because the syllabus is God) I say things like, “OK, papers are due next Tuesday, five days from today.” I literally uttered those words this morning.</p>

<p>In 1985, the semester I trained how to be a TA, I had to proctor a weekly exam in a lecture hall packed with 200 students. The first day, I announced that the period would end at (something like) “ten of two.” Boom: 10 hands shot into the air. “Is that ten minutes before or ten minutes after?” I had not realized my way of expressing time was not universal. “One fifty,” I quickly explained, and I never made that error again.</p>

<p>It’s really not that hard.</p>

<p>The teacher should write stuff like that on the board, clearly including the date of the test, and say to the kids, “Write this in your planner.” Giving critical information only in spoken form is inadequate for visual learners, students with executive function issues, students with hearing issues, and students who are still mastering English.</p>

<p>That said, this batch of kids probably have learned their lesson. The next time the teacher says “Test on name-of-day-of-week-here.” someone needs to raise their hand and ask, “Mr./Ms. X, is that name-of-day-of-week the ordinal-number, or the ordinal-number+7?”</p>

<p>This kind of thing is why I think I got my first job. I believe it was the end of the week before Thanksgiving and I was told to come for the interview the next Wed (or Fri–its been many years!) so I went the day before (or maybe it was Friday after?) Thanksgiving. I remember thinking it was an odd time to interview but hey, first job out of college, what did I know? I went, and was a week early. I credit that for making me a memorable candidate, and for giving me plenty of reason to follow up. I called because I wanted to make sure he hadn’t forgotten me due to my early interview. I wonder if I would have followed up if I hadn’t been worried about being forgotten as he did the other interviews. I got the job. (they actually hired 5 of us).</p>

<p>I think it’s weird she didn’t mention the test Tuesday. OP, is there any chance that your child is the type to look for excuses about why he/she didn’t study? I wouldn’t put it past mine to say that “everybody” thought it was next week…when really only a few of them were confused. Also, don’t kids usually know when they are at the end of a unit and due for a test? If they were done covering a unit or chapter that would be a clue the test was near.</p>

<p>I do agree that the word “next” would seem to be the following week. Hopefully, enough kids did poorly that she will curve or re-test.</p>

<p>I am curious, if on Monday the day after tomorrow is considered “next Wednesday” to this teacher, how would they refer to the following Wednesday? I guess he could say the test is two Wednesdays from now? For me, on Monday I would refer to the coming Wednesday as this Wednesday, or just Wednesday and the Wednesday the following week as next Wednesday. </p>

<p>Parent–“Wednesday after next”.<br>
This must be a regional thing–somebody should have raised their little hand to get clarification–especially if you weren’t ready for a day-after-tomorrow test.</p>

<p>It’s interesting that some people are assuming the teacher is a woman. Actually it’s a man. Second no DS isn’t he type to give an excuse for not studying for a test… Now if we were talking about my 8th grader then I might question it.</p>

<p>The teacher also told the class that if he had meant the test was the following week he would have said that the test is next week on Wednesday. So now the kids know to ask for clarification.</p>

<p>So he uses “next” to refer to the following week, but not for the days contained in that week? In my mind, this week contains this Wednesday, next week contains next Wednesday. Sounds like a great communicator. I would be worried about his communications skills as a teacher for the coming year.</p>

<p>gouf78, maybe you are right and it is a regional thing, but I am guessing the students in his class are in the same region. I don’t know why this bothers me so much, but little annoyances this like make me glad that my kids are long out of HS haha.</p>

<p>It follows you around. I’m in an organization that meets weekly but has extra meetings in between at times. Not “this COMING Tuesday, but the one AFTER that…” THIS coming Tuesday–you all got two days!" Constant clarification.</p>

<p>I would have thought the following week. Otherwise it would be this Wednesday or just plain Wednesday. The only time I find any ambiguity at all is when talking about the upcoming weekend when it is only Monday. This weekend feels weird and I have been known to say next weekend as we are just coming out of a weekend.</p>

<p>As the OP of the thread “Repetitive Anxiety Dreams,” I can attest that I used to have this very dream. You bounce into class in a great mood, only to see your classmates at their desks, with pen/pencil and “blue books” ready to go. You ask a classmate, “What’s going on? We have a test today?!?” The classmate smirks and replies, “Of course! You mean YOU DIDN’T KNOW? HAHAHAHAHAHA!”</p>

<p>I would have thought a week from Wednesday rather than “this Wednesday” in 2 days. I might have asked for clarification, but perhaps not.</p>

<p>This thread took an interesting turn when more people started asking if they themselves would have asked for clarification.</p>

<p>I think where gouf78 and I agree is that the onus really is on the speaker to anticipate confusions of this kind and do what it takes to make sure they don’t happen.</p>

<p>I have taken to always putting the day of the week, month and date whenever I schedule anything because it helps reduce confusion. It’s unfortunate no one asked in class for clarification–hopefully it is a lesson learned, sadly the hard way.</p>

<p>If the teacher meant in two days when telling the class on Monday, he should have said the test was Wednesday. If he said next Wednesday, I would certainly have thought he meant the Wednesday of the ‘next’ week. The teacher was wrong, in my opinion.</p>

<p>Why would you ask for clarification on a point that seems perfectly clear? Test next Wednesday, no “test tomorrow” reminder on Tuesday. It doesn’t seem ambiguous at all. When I was in school I remember kids over asking for clarification. Most points about when a test would take place, what the format would be and what would be covered were asked to excess if there was even the slightest window for variable interpretation. </p>

<p>The teacher sounds like a sadist. “Next Wednesday,” when said on a Monday, unambiguously refers to Wednesday in the following week (at least in my dialect). (This is so ingrained that I almost said “refers to next Wednesday” at the end of the prior sentence.) In my view, the teacher is intentionally taking advantage of a supposed ambiguity in the idiom to ambush poor, unsuspecting students. Most high school teachers are honorable. But there are a few bad apples among them. This teacher sounds like one of the unsavory ones. I’m totally serious about this. </p>

<p>I guess I would clarify the number as some teachers really are not as detailed as they should be. I agree that culture could play a role in this. Also, I thought there were usually written outlines of the exam times, too.</p>