Being a teacher can be a bit…daunting. It’s quite a shock when 18, 19, even older students hand in work that is frankly…very poorly written. Clearly last minute. The product of not only not taking care but, sadly, a reflection of their high school experience as well. Teaching mostly freshmen I’m generally at that front line of “this is no longer acceptable, it’s time to grow up” work. I try and laugh it off usually, but the other day it really got me down. So I wrote the following essay in the style of some of the more…troubling…essays I’ve received. Nothing in here is from any paper a student gave me, nor is it really intended to insult-a look back at my work at the age of 18 would probably reveal at least similar, of not the same, shock.
Someday I’ll post some of my “hall of fame” quotes from papers, but for now if you want to know what grading papers can be like, take the following and multiply it by 15 papers. Enjoy.