As a retired math teacher married to a retired math teacher with a science-teacher daughter, I have seen more than my share of stupidity, from students, parents, fellow teachers, and administrators. One of the joys of all the "new standards" crap was having to give essay-type questions on every test. Students (and some parents even) used to get upset with me because I would correct spelling and grammar on their essays. How dare I ?!!!
I'll leave you with my favorite essay story though, which has nothing at all to do with spelling or grammar - just stupidity. I'll preface this with a little background info:
Back before internet days (yes I'm that old) if a student had to write a paper, they would have to research it at a library in actual books or periodicals. Copy-paste was not an option, nor was scanning, although there were "copy machines" available for a price. It was a grueling task at times, involving a lot of reading, note-taking, and typing.
DH was teaching middle-school math at the time, and had a student who was struggling to achieve a passing grade, despite a lot of after-school help. She just didn't "get" math. So, as a last straw attempt to justify a passing grade for her, DH told her that if she could write a paper about a famous mathematician, he would give her the points she needed to bring her average up to passing. He gave her a list of possible names, and she chose Euclid. Two weeks later I heard uproarious laughter coming from the living room where DH was reading the assignment. The opening sentence to this 3 page paper went like this:
Euclid - a town in Ohio, named after the famous mathematician. She went on to describe the climate, population, industry, etc. of Euclid, Ohio.