Frustration
Okay, I should really be working on an English paper right now, but I am too frustrated to even think about it. I was sitting in class, pretending to pay attention, when the teacher announced our assignment: write an autobiography. Fine. I can do that. She went on to say it would be 20 pages, minimum. That didn't sound fun but I could live with it. Today we were to write about our families. There's nothing really wrong with that, either. Then she dropped a bomb. Our assignment was to be handwritten.
Now, I know this may not seem to be a big deal to most people. What's so wrong with writing a paper out on paper? To be honest, it's not that huge of a thing. As a matter of fact, I have only one problem with the assignment: I cannot write anything a) on cue or b) by hand. The sight of blank notebook paper scares me like nothing else (and trust me, I'm scared of a lot of things). Typing allows me to write pages and pages, decide I hate what I wrote, and delete it or save it for another story. Writing a story by hand means there's more thought put into it before I put it down, completely destroying the creative process. I know I can write; my Mom calls it my "first love". I know the fundamentals of grammar and sentence construction; why should I be subjected to copying down words from a notebook to computer? Will I learn from it? No. Will it help my writing? No. Will this assignment accomplish anything? No. So why do it?
When I (as nicely as possible) pointed out to the teacher that I cannot write in a notebook, she yelled at me as if I had just informed her that I was, in fact, planning on revealing her deepest, darkest, secrets to our superintendent. The rest of the class thought this was great, as I "never get yelled at". I beg to differ. I am not generally on my best behavior in that class; I guess you could say I am a bit of a ringleader. If I have a problem, I am not afraid to voice it. I have been much more argumentative in the past; today I was making a conscious effort to reign my frustration in. It took all of my self control to just glare at her rather than lash out. I even got yelled at for not completing the assignment we had not started yet! In case you can't tell, I am slightly annoyed.
Our class recieves points for showing the teacher our rough drafts (handwritten). When our last assignment was announced, I had writers' block and ended up not having any progress to show at the end of the hour. Accordingly, I received a zero for that day's work. To be fair, I was not overly upset about this. A zero out of ten didn't destroy my grade. Last time I checked, I still had a 99%. Obviously I can afford to lose a couple of points -- not that I would try to! Basically, there is no point in my forcing myself to write a paper that will completely change when I type, just to get a few points that won't really affect my grade.
What it all comes down to, is that there is no point to what I am currently doing in English class. I don't understand what the point is -- why are we writing the same paper twice? The teacher claims we can revise better if we handwrite our paper first; I, for one, revise as I type. This makes my rough draft much closer to my final copy, meaning I can edit more deeply and turn in better-written papers in less time that it would take to write a paper, type it, turn it in, revise it, and turn it in again. If the point of school is to waste time or make all students think the same, my school is certainly doing its job.
Now, I know this may not seem to be a big deal to most people. What's so wrong with writing a paper out on paper? To be honest, it's not that huge of a thing. As a matter of fact, I have only one problem with the assignment: I cannot write anything a) on cue or b) by hand. The sight of blank notebook paper scares me like nothing else (and trust me, I'm scared of a lot of things). Typing allows me to write pages and pages, decide I hate what I wrote, and delete it or save it for another story. Writing a story by hand means there's more thought put into it before I put it down, completely destroying the creative process. I know I can write; my Mom calls it my "first love". I know the fundamentals of grammar and sentence construction; why should I be subjected to copying down words from a notebook to computer? Will I learn from it? No. Will it help my writing? No. Will this assignment accomplish anything? No. So why do it?
When I (as nicely as possible) pointed out to the teacher that I cannot write in a notebook, she yelled at me as if I had just informed her that I was, in fact, planning on revealing her deepest, darkest, secrets to our superintendent. The rest of the class thought this was great, as I "never get yelled at". I beg to differ. I am not generally on my best behavior in that class; I guess you could say I am a bit of a ringleader. If I have a problem, I am not afraid to voice it. I have been much more argumentative in the past; today I was making a conscious effort to reign my frustration in. It took all of my self control to just glare at her rather than lash out. I even got yelled at for not completing the assignment we had not started yet! In case you can't tell, I am slightly annoyed.
Our class recieves points for showing the teacher our rough drafts (handwritten). When our last assignment was announced, I had writers' block and ended up not having any progress to show at the end of the hour. Accordingly, I received a zero for that day's work. To be fair, I was not overly upset about this. A zero out of ten didn't destroy my grade. Last time I checked, I still had a 99%. Obviously I can afford to lose a couple of points -- not that I would try to! Basically, there is no point in my forcing myself to write a paper that will completely change when I type, just to get a few points that won't really affect my grade.
What it all comes down to, is that there is no point to what I am currently doing in English class. I don't understand what the point is -- why are we writing the same paper twice? The teacher claims we can revise better if we handwrite our paper first; I, for one, revise as I type. This makes my rough draft much closer to my final copy, meaning I can edit more deeply and turn in better-written papers in less time that it would take to write a paper, type it, turn it in, revise it, and turn it in again. If the point of school is to waste time or make all students think the same, my school is certainly doing its job.
posted by missdragonfly at 9:06 AM
5 Comments:
I totally agree with you! I also have a hard time writing a paper out on paper. When I am typing on a computer my thoughts flow better and I don't get stumped as easily. I do not feel that writing it on paper makes a better paper, as a matter of fact the paper I have begun to write with the same requirements totally sucks right now because I am not allowed to type it first. If your teacher is anything like mine he/she sounds like a complete retard....asking for 20 pages...and then expecting you to spill them out at his/her command! If you ask me the teacher is going for quantity....and so he/she is rushing to make it look like something is being accomplished however he/she is still expecting excellence. People have different styles of writing and they also have different ways of gathering their thoughts...if typing is easier for some and writing is easier so be it but don't require that the student HAS to write it out...that is completely GAY!!! NOTICE: if there are any errors in this comment they are dedicated to all the retarded English teachers!
I also agree with you guys! English teachers around the world, not just in the United States, treat students in this manner. For instance, I am from Canada and my teacher would not allow me to marry my high school sweetheart because she didn't believe it would last. Because of this my entire life is ruined, I am now a pot head that has no life. I'm living in a basement with a bunch of my fellow drugies. My boyfriend, as a result of what my teacher said, went on a drinking spree and was killed from the combination of alcohol and drugs. He did this not only because of what she said, but also because the day he went to approach her, he saw her sitting in her living room, sewing...in her bra. And to top things off, my family died in a tragic plane wreck only two weeks after the incident with my boyfriend. She never even came to the funeral to give sympathy. When I returned home after the funeral, all of my family's cats swarmed around me. I couldn't help but think of how my family died and so I knew it would be perfect revenge if I sent them to my teacher. I thought that maybe that would help her to be reminded of all the pain she's caused me. Did I mention my teacher hates cats. And you know what happened next?! As one of the cats went to pounce on my teacher's head, a giant squirrel beat the cat to the pounce and bit my teacher's nose off!
Wow, that sounds like an extreme problem. I think that teacher who ever she is needs to calm down a notch and not hate your class. She gave you a 20 page paper the last part of the semester, thats rough ......I no longer like your teacher either. he/she is taking it over board just a little...no ALOT. Stupid perosn anyway. Some Teachers think they have all the power in the world when they just have control issues...sounds like yours. If I was you I would tell some of the other faculties about this stupidity. Its just rediculouis, specially if you are seniors. Maybe this Teacher had a poor child hood and wasn't very popular. Thats no reason to take it out on you. I have a teacher that takes her anger out on one student the majority of the time and that student hates it. Do you have that same problem? WEll I suppose I better go and milk the cow...hope you get this gayor lesbian teahcer thing figured out. Best of look.......Milking girl
I agree three, that teacher has issues. They need to get rid of that @#$%@$% as soon as possible before she ruins you guys anymore. I have contacts with one of the Harding county kids and I hear that she has a problem with one of the students in class. Thats not fair for this person. This person is a good person and doesn't deaserve to be picked on by the teacher. Espaecially when it affects their grade. why does she hate them anyway. Oh it just makes me anry that the teacher would do that. Single out a poor inicent victim. Maybe the kids who do SPECIAL favors for the teacher have good grades that must be it. They should tell the poor kid to do something SPECIAL fo rthe teacher if you know what I mean. I saw a picture and thats just gross beyond compare...I mean I would jump her but thats besides the point. Later Hiphop 69
I don't know what we are YELLING ABOUT!!!
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