英国剑桥的珀斯中学学生犯错后不会立即受到惩罚，而是得到十秒的自我开脱时间，如果能在十秒内用巧妙的言辞为自己犯错找到借口，便可免受惩罚。该校校长称，不会允许学生谎话连篇，但无伤大雅的善意谎言是可以接受的。他表示，在很短的时间内用言语让自己摆脱困境是人生中很重要的一课，可以锻炼学生的交流能力。这位校长在一次采访中表示，作为校长，他希望通过十秒钟自我开脱的方式培养思维敏捷、能言善辩的下一代。有人抗议称校长此举意在把学生培养成说谎成性的政客，不过一位辩论专家却对此称赞有加。
Students at the Perse School in Cambridge, England, can avoid punishment for minor offenses, provided they can come up with quick, clever excuses for their transgressions within 10 seconds.
Telling a lie can get you on Santa's naughty list, but it could get you on the Dean's list at one British school.
Students at the Perse School in Cambridge, England, can avoid punishment for minor offenses, provided they can come up with quick, clever excuses for their transgressions within 10 seconds.
Headmaster Ed Elliott won't allow complete B.S., but "white lies" may be acceptable.
"It's a great lesson in life to talk your way out of a tight corner in a very short period of time," Elliot told the BBC.
Rewarding a child for lying may seem counter-intuitive, but Elliot believes he's fostering important communication skills.
“As head I like to play my part in creating a quick-thinking, communication ‘savvy’ generation, by giving students who have committed a minor offense 10 seconds to talk their way out of a punishment," he told the Cambridge News. "Many rise admirably to the challenge, and in so doing develop the charm and eloquence needed in the next generation of British entrepreneurs and wealth creators.”
The school's alum includes luminaries such as Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, but Elliott suggests his "lie-dea" may give current students the right verbal skills to succeed in the world, according to the Telegraph.
Some wags have protested that Elliott is merely training students to be politicians, Geobeats.com reported, but rhetoric expert Sam Leith thinks it's a brilliant idea -- no lie.
"You can see this being a really important life skill and actually politicians, some of them, are the absolute straight arrow, but often the ones who get further are the artful dodgers," Leith told the BBC.
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