“It’s like finding out Santa Claus doesn’t exist.”
That was my student’s response on discovering that jacklopes do not actually exist.
She’d been planning on doing her Independent Research Project on jacklopes. She’d already invested some time in doing some internet research, and this morning she came up to me and asked, “Are jacklopes real?”
I told her they weren’t, but she had to go look them up herself in actual hardcopy, the Wildlife Fact-file binders that we keep on the reference shelf. They weren’t in there.
I offered that she could still do her IRP on jackalopes, just focusing on the cultural meanings and reasons behind the phenomenon. Also she could discuss the potentials for genetically engineered organisms.
She’s still considering it.