And the pony you rode in on

I always find it interesting when students ask me, "What's going to be on the midterm/final?" The answer, of course, is, "Everything that has been covered in class or is in the textbook." What could be the cause of students thinking that I might go over material (other than as an aside) that I didn't mean to be important enough to test on? Well, now I'm reminded why. Thanks to Ernie's 3D Pancakes, I was referred to the Knight-Ridder article linked from the title above. Remember, just because someone promises you a pony doesn't mean you'll get one.