making the grade
“Jason,
I am sorry that you don’t find this class challenging. I can see that your writing is so much better than the writing of your classmates, but, sadly, most of your classmates need to learn to write those boring outlines, boring topic sntences, and, in general, papers that make sense. I have just responded to your first posting, before I read the rest of your responses. As I said, the decision is up to you. If you pick a topic that is challenging for you, you will very likely write a better paper than if you picked a topic that bores you.
I don’t want anyone in this class to feel the way you do. I do not want you, in your own words, to “belittle yourself,” and “lower your potential and creativity solely for a passing grade”. What part exactly do you find “inaccessible and unstimulating“? The fact that I am asking you to respond to a prompt? Unless you have plans to become a creative writer popular enough to write on absolutely any topic of your choice, in the real world, your choice of topic will more than likely be constrained by a specific setting. In the real world, we usually have to write for a specific occasion on a specific topic, and the real art is to make our writing interesting and personal even under these “constraining” circumstances. Far from trying to curb your ideas and writing talent, I am trying to give you an opportunity to learn to have a more control over those ideas and creativity, so both can be at your command when you need them.
You are one of the best writers in the class, so it would be odd if you could not get a better grade than a C. Please tell me what part specifically you find so oppressive and how, in your opinion, we could make it less so.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Mirka”
Professor Jichova,
I understand your views of the “real world.” However, I have never been one to think this way. Everything that I engage in, be it art, writing, math, sports, community service, etc., I do solely for myself. I do not look constantly to some higher power (in a physical, social sense) for guidance as to where I should direct my life.
Therefore, if for example, I am given a sculpture project to complete, I will try as closely as possible to follow the given assignment. Yet, I will not stop when I have determined the result to have satisfied the requirements given. I will stop only when I have satisfied myself with the result. If this end result is a bit out of the original scope of what was asked and my grade suffers, in the end I will be more wholly satisfied.
I use this example because it is a concrete example from another class in which I am currently enrolled. Both art and writing are largely subjective. The difference though, is that when art bridges or overrides the boundaries of the ‘system,’ no argument is made if the result is superior. It seems many times in this class (perhaps with composition classes in general) creativity must be abridged if one is to meet the given criteria.
For example: when do we see explicit theses or a topic sentences for every paragraph in the essays we have read for the in class assignments? Certainly not in every one! Yet, they all manage to portray their arguments in a clear, and most importantly, interesting way. This is what I wish to have to opportunity to do.
When I think of writing, I do not think of working in an office and writing monthly progress reports on Emerging Trends in the Auto Insurance Industry (as does my father). Perhaps I could write a clear and concise analysis of something that to me is utterly boring, but I do not wish to. When I think of writing, I think of literature. I think of essayists, columnists, travel writers, whomever. But in any situation, I do not see myself performing any of these tasks, or any other, for someone else. Always, it would be done for my own benefit. If someone else were to appreciate or benefit from my work, I would be doubly pleased, but I could never give myself over as a function of someone else’s ideas.
So when you ask if the problem is simply that I have to respond to a prompt, the answer is both yes and no. I agree with you that “the real art is to make our writing interesting and personal even under these ‘constraining’ circumstances.” But, I would like to be able to find something that interests me within these constraints. I understand the need for a prompt, but I see the prompt as a starting point. As if to say, “Here’s what you have to work with; make something out if it.”
Also, I do not assume that the faults of such a structured system, or even the faults of this class, lay in your hands. This is my first semester of college, after four years out of school. Perhaps I was just expecting too much, and you have only become the arbitrary target of my frustration. But, in the end I believe it is mostly in my own hands to successfully complete this class. If so many others can deal with such insignificant problems, so can I. But again, it comes down to conformity.
Thank you for listening,
Jason
I failed the class in the end. Somehow, Japanese and French are no problem, but English, I just can’t seem to master.
