First things first, read this excerpt from Mark Gurman’s 9to5mac article on Apple Senior VP of Retail Angela Ahrendts’ pitch, suggesting Apple Watch as a back to school gift:

Besides talking about improvements to business sales, showing off the Apple Watch in store, and stating that a “global solution is coming shortly” for promoting Apple Music in stores, Ahrendts used her own personal experience with her children to introduce a new Apple Watch sales tactic. Ahrendts told employees that the Apple Watch is “the greatest back to school item this year” as it can be used in the classroom without a teacher seeing, unlike with a larger iPhone. “I don’t think the teachers have caught on to the Watch yet,” Ahrendts said, adding that retail staff should tell students to “jump on it before the teachers do.”

Now switch gears to Andy Faust, writing for WatchAware, in response to this quote:

Classy.

A company that for the last 20 years or so has made education one of its primary focuses (via Mac discounts for schools, August student promos, iBooks textbooks, and other longstanding measures) is now undermining all those inroads by cynically trying to sell a niche product to pupils as a classroom distraction. Even more unfortunately, taken in the above context (which, frankly, is the only context to take it in), Ahrendts seems to be openly advocating for far worse than that.

Indeed, Apple’s senior VP of retail and online stores appears to be specifically pushing Apple Watch as a convenient way for students to cut corners. While the most damning line from the block above is a summary of an unpublished internal video to sales employees, Gurman — who apparently watched the thing — sums up the intent well enough. Plus, Ahrendt’s actual quotes completely support the notion. This lady is practically saying, “Hey kids, you can use Apple Watch to ignore your teacher and cheat on tests!”

Hard to disagree with Faust’s point. It sure seems like Ahrendts is pitching the Apple Watch as a cheating tool. This is not what I’d expect from Apple or from Ahrendts.

UPDATE: Commenters and Twitter mostly seem convinced that Ahrendts did no wrong here, that any suggestion that Ahrendts had cheating in mind was all a twisted interpretation. That being said, Gurman’s article contained two quotes:

• “I don’t think the teachers have caught on to the Watch yet,”

AND

• “jump on it before the teachers do.”

If these quotes are accurate, they certainly convey a sense of pulling one over on the teacher. This is not the sort of message I’d expect from Apple.

As to comments that suggest that the Apple Watch can’t be used for cheating, consider this: At the very least, you can send yourself an email or text with a hard to remember formula, or some critical history dates, ready for recall as needed.

Only Angela Ahrendts can say what she meant by her remarks. All else is individual interpretation, myself included.