When I reminisce high school English class being well prepared and confident is not the fervent feeling that fills my stomach. In my English classes being nervous for writing assignments and late, frustrating nights completing these vague assignments was the norm. It seemed every teacher had their own rubric for writing papers and it was always their way or the highway. I enjoy mathematics because of the firm structure math has that makes every class easy to adapt to, solving for x is the same whether it’s algebra or calculus. English on the other hand is all relative and there is no common technique to follow to write a blog, formal paper, or even an informal email.
To add to this ambiguity in high school teachers would never inform you of what they were looking for so it took the majority of the semester to figure out how to receive a good grade just to switch classes and start from scratch without a smidgen of knowledge of what the teacher was looking for again. My sophomore year for instance my American Literature teacher required us to follow the “funnel” method for the introduction where the first sentence was very broad and eventually got narrower until the last sentence was your thesis, setting up the rest of the paper. If we did not follow this method we were guaranteed a C best case scenario. My following semester in American Short Stories class I wrote the first paper following the funnel method as it had been pounded into my brain the previous class just to receive a C with the comment, “Great paper but I am not a fan of the funnel method.”
Another pain about English is due to the fact that I am not clairvoyant and cannot read my teachers minds I am forced to spend countless hours trying to arrange meetings with them to talk about the current paper were writing and then rewriting the entire paper just to still feel clueless on what the teacher is really looking for in this assignment. In high school these futile, stressful hours of work to accommodate my teacher’s unspoken guidelines eventually went unnoticed according to my grade so I employed a different method; I befriended my teachers, bonding over common interests such as sports teams or hobbies so that rather than grading the words on my papers they would grade the name at the top of my paper.
Although my method of befriending my teachers did satisfy the grades on my report card it was inefficient at preparing me for college writing and writing when I enter the “real world”. Therefore I have dug a hole for myself which I will have to climb out of if I want to pass this class or any other writing assignments in my college career or write a good application for a job after college.
Wow, so I wasn't alone. I completely understand where you're coming from- your teachers sound much like some of mine. Just remember that this kind of attitude didn't end with high school. While annoying and troublesome, if we learn how to satisfy these kinds of people it will be invaluable once begin trying to make our way in a world that is full of them.
ReplyDeleteI had similar problems with teachers setting different rules and guidelines every year, each claiming to know that their's was the right way or the way that college professors will want us to write. It was frustrating but I also learned many different writing techniques and methods so when I have to write a paper for college level english, I can remember back to the techniques we learned in high school to help me.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good post, Graham. You express yourself clearly and articulately, and you're very up-front about your experiences. These are the ingredients for good blogging. Hopefully in college writing, with the emphasis on content rather than form, the whole process will be less frustrating.
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