Papers Elon Musk graded when he worked as teaching assistant auctioned for Rs 5.8 lakhs

Elon Musk's graded coursework papers, which were put up for sale earlier this week have fetched Rs 5.8 lakhs ($7,753) in an online auction conducted by Boston-based company RR Auction. The papers, which belonged to the entrepreneurship class of 1995 at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, were graded by Musk when he worked there as a teaching assistant. Interestingly, Musk himself was a student of Economics and Physics at the university before becoming the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, listed among the world's biggest companies ever.

Elon Musk: A tough-grading TA

Among the two auctioned papers, the first is an exam booklet with nine pages that are graded and initialled by Musk on the front cover with red ink with texts, "73, EM". In the answer sheet, Musk checked the points written by the student named Brian Thomas, striking off points for incorrect answers. Interestingly, it was Thomas himself who sent the papers to RR Auctions for sale as he came across his decades-old coursework. In the paper, Thomas had explained an "exit strategy" as a means to avoid a particular situation using objectionable words, which the Tesla boss underlined and wrote "graphic" over them deducting two marks for the same. 

(Image: Twitter/@RRAuction)

On the other hand, the second set is a five-page case study over a gardening tool idea where Musk graded and initialed on the first page in red ink by Musk with texts "8 1/2, EM." Talking about his decision to preserve his graded papers, Thomas said as RR Auctions' statement-

No one knew back then that Elon Musk would become the world's wealthiest and most iconic entrepreneur. The exam and case study both have Elon's unmistakable 'EM' signed in red pen on the front cover next to the average grades he gave me. He diligently marked up all 9 pages of the exam and 5-page paper, deducting points and checking off correct answers. He was a tough grader and didn't like my use of profanity.

Thomas also revealed that he had kept the papers as a souvenir from the course of Professor Myles Bass, whose assistant Musk was working as. He added that his selection of words in the paper was meant to be an inside joke for Professor Bass but ended up offending Musk.

Image: Twitter/@RRAuction