For generation upon generation, teachers and pupils have been locked in a head to head battle in the arena that is the world of homework. The back and forth sees teachers give pupils work that they know will do them the world of good in their learning, while the other laments the loss of their free time given up to continue their education. 

Whether it was to head out into the street with friends to play football, spend an evening chatting with friends and foes on MSN Messenger or to discuss the ins and outs of the lives of various members of One Direction, pupils have long had distractions that get in the way of doing their homework. 

And for years, there has been one rather amusing constant; the excuses that can follow when pupils are faced with a less than pleased teacher, homeworkless and without a plan. Of course, there's the classics such as the dog having eaten their homework, but the good people of Reddit have asked people what the very best excuses they've ever heard were, with hilarious results. 

We take a look at a few of the best. 

At one with nature

School pupils are rarely as lucky as Reddit user maleficuslues' friend, who once managed to convince their mother to be a co-conspirator in their bid to get away with not having done their homework. 

The excuse? The parent in question had excused the pupil from completing their homework because they felt it was more beneficial for them to experience the natural beauty of a particularly breathtaking sunset. 

Million dollar question

One Reddit user spoke of a creative student in their class at high school who capitalised on a popular TV show's format to get off with not doing their assignment. 

When asked where their homework was, the student informed the teacher that their uncle had been a contestant on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire the previous evening, and they had been asked to sit by the phone all night in case the call came from Chris Tarrant and the Phone a Friend lifeline. 

Animal troubles

Ok, so we all know the problems dogs can cause with their unquenchable appetite for homework, but one pupil found trouble with another animal when they tried to reach their assignment one morning. 

One Redditor tells of a student in their class who told the teacher the unfortunate tale of a hapless turkey, which got confused and ran headlong into their garage door, rendering it unusable and leaving the family unable to prise the door open. How unfortunate that their completed homework was trapped in the car inside. 

The bizarrely true

One teacher struggled to believe a pupil had the confidence to even suggest that while swinging his school bag, the strap broke and sent the bag flying onto the back of a passing lorry. 

However, they were shocked a few hours later, when recounting the story to colleagues, when another teacher, laughing, corroborated the unfortunate student's story. 

The brash tactic

And then there's the story of the fantastically brash student who took the excuse for not handing in their work to an all new level. 

Rather than claiming their work had been stolen, lost, eaten or otherwise damaged, one pupil claims to have told their teacher that they asked their mother to check their work...only for their mum to be so impressed that she promptly took the paper to have it framed. 

If there's one time of year that injects fear into the minds of teachers and pupils alike, it's the exam period. In a time where the whole year's work comes together and pupils have the chance to show off their knowledge and set themselves up well for the future, it's a worrying time for both themselves and the teachers who have imparted knowledge to them. 

But if one thing can really help to ease the stress, it's a good old fashioned laugh, and some pupils even seem to carry this philosophy into the exam hall with them. Over the last few years, there's been a trend for teachers to share some of their favourite ever exam answers, and some of them show that school pupils have some of the sharpest wit and humour around. 

Here, we take a look at just a few of our very favourite exam answers we've ever seen on the web. 

Question: In Spanish, ask your sister to do the following…
Answer: I don't even have a sister.

As simple as it gets to start us off. We've all been in a modern languages class where we had to explain various simple tasks to a theoretical brother/sister/mother/father/penpal, but this stubborn pupil was having none of their teacher's apparent lack of attention to detail!

Question: Name six animals which are native to the Arctic.
Answer: Two polar bears, four seals. 

To be fair to this pupil, the examiner didn't actually say they wanted them to name different animals. With the skills to look for loopholes as small as this, perhaps this intrepid pupil's future may lie in law rather than in the biology exam they were sitting when they came up with this excellent answer. 

Question: What are your three main aims for the future?
Answer: 1. Get a girlfriend; 2. Kiss her; 3. Rule the world. 

It all started so well for this young megalomaniac, too. Content with finding the love of their life and experiencing their first kiss in the early days, it soon escalated for someone who may have watched a few too many episodes of Dexter's Laboratory. Scary stuff!

Question: A company wants to open its new fashion factory near Birmingham. Is Birmingham a good place for this? Explain why.
Answer: No. The people in Birmingham are not very fashionable. 

Not great news for the people of England's second city, but this child is not impressed by their colour palettes and choices of outfit. We're pretty sure the teacher did not expect this budding Versace to have quite a cutting analysis when discussing the geographical suitability of a factory, but it certainly made us laugh. 

Question: In no more than 50 words, explain the concept of risk.
Answer: This.

Sometimes there's the funny and witty, and other times the deep and clever answer. Rarely do the two ever meet. However, here we come across an answer that manages to combine both. With one simple word, the witty pupil manages to answer the question succinctly, but also with the sort of swagger and wit that almost deserves a round of applause. We would give them an A+.