manipufix
Inception of an alternate situation relying on subjective interpretations of selective events occurring given no evidence to the contrary, helping to eliminate all doubt to the evidence presented, while glossing over pesky facts to help realize the greater good.
Student to Professor -

"You never show up for class and turned in all your work late" - Professor
"I didn't show up to class because as much as I should I know. That was mainly because they changed my work schedule in the middle of the semester. I needed the extra hours to pay for class."
"All your work was still late." - Professor
"I realize this and I expect a penalty for it; however, my work was late because I did a superior job on what is admittedly a challenging subject. But as as you can see from my work (he said knowing that it would be a TA grading it) that even though I was late I have gained a limited but solid understanding of the material, and for that I am grateful because I will be able to use it later on in my studies and ultimately in my professional career"

From this exchange the professor will feel that he has adequately scolded the student yet is a solid instructor from the student's admission of his gained knowledge of the subject matter. The student will have recovered from never attending class due to being unable to wake up in time because they were up drinking all night and still have their half-assed work accepted by the professor so that they can once again slip-by through the shitty American secondary school system.

Student to Friend
"Dude I totally fucked up my economics class. I had to manipufix that shit" - Student
"What did you do?" - Friend
"I stroked the professors ego and bullshited a project at the last second." - Student