New Excuses

When I was in grade school, there was a set of typical excuses for not doing your homework, why a project was late, etc. Tonight, I spoke with my niece who said she couldn't do a piece of her homework because she couldn't get online. Well, my sister (her mother) is one of the last people on the planet who has dial-up. But that's not the problem. My niece says she tried to start the computer, but it froze, so she did a manual shut down. Try to restart? Nope. Can't just go old school and use books? Nope. The teacher requires web addresses. Keep in mind, her entire class was given laptops for each student to use (and take home). Can't connect using the laptop? Nope. It doesn't have a port for a phone line (which I find impossible to believe). What is more likely is that there is no internet connection on her laptop for her to access, as the school probably took it out. "Sorry teacher, the internet was down." Homework excuses have certainly changed since I was a kid. And my sister let her go to a dance competition today and some kind of expo yesterday without nearly a scrap of homework being done. Things are certainly different than when I was a kid.