We were told to write a 3,000-word book report over a school holiday. Then we got a new English teacher, and our old one forgot about the report. As only three of us had done it, the rest of the class didn't want us to hand in the work, in case the teacher made them do it, too. So we didn't. But was it fair for us to have slogged for nothing when others didn't do the work at all?

Fair? FAIR? Are you mad? If you're expecting life to be fair, then your school has not yet taught you one of the most profound facts of life. If life were fair, how do you suppose so many buffoons prosper and flourish? “All life,” as Damon Runyon said, “is six to five against.”

Look, the point of doing the book report is to have read the book and marshalled your thoughts on it. Whether it is marked or not, you are still wiser for having read the book, and having reflected upon it, than those classmates who have sidestepped the assignment - just as someone who trains until he can run 100m in ten seconds is fitter than Michael Moore whether there are sporting officials present to log his speed or not. You make it sound as though you've been treated unjustly. That would be the case only if you found nothing rewarding in reading the book.

It's possible that you've been infected with the disease of today's education system, in which learning is the poor relation of examining, and where the officials in charge believe it vital to let no more than six weeks pass before subjecting every schoolchild, whatever his age, to a fresh exam - presumably in the belief that the more you weigh a pig, the fatter it becomes.

But one thing you should also learn at school is social solidarity: for to dump your classmates in doodoo to appease your sense of injustice would be the most unethical act of all.

What's your view? And do you have a dilemma of your own?
E-mail Joe Joseph

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