I fear that poor dd hasn't suffered enough to get an A in English comp

[katilac]

Then my understanding of the prompt was wrong.  And I was wrong to make assumptions.  And I was wrong as it was two other posters who referenced RMP.  My apologies for all of this.   Do I need to clarify that at no time did I think you were serious about the shiny medals?   lol    I hope your daughter benefits from the class in some way.

 

Oh, she will. Suffering is good for the character, yes?  :lol:

 

BBM stands for?

 

Bolding By Me (meaning, I quoted you but added bolding to a particular sentence to make it stand out) 

[Teachin'Mine]

Oh, she will. Suffering is good for the character, yes?  :lol:

 

 

Bolding By Me (meaning, I quoted you but added bolding to a particular sentence to make it stand out) 

 

:lol:  Yes it is!   If nothing else it will give her something to write about!

 

And I'm relieved ... after searching what it could mean ...  :lol:

[Ravin]

I was thinking that a posthumous Medal of Honor was awarded this week to a man who refused to accept such a scenario during Vietnam.

 

I always found the lifeboat drill dire and uncreative. The teacher insists that their parameters must be met. But why? In some actual lifeboat situations the wounded were loaded into the boat and the whole took turns kicking it towards sea lanes.

In law school we're taught about a case where two men murdered a third and threw him into the ocean so they could survive. They were convicted, then sentenced to hang. Then the sentence was commuted since the young man they killed was no big loss anyway.

[Penguin]

This thread made me think of a few things:

 

Flannery O'Connor:  "Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days."

 

And Eudora Welty's One Writer's Beginnings.  Keen observation of the small, ordinary things in her life led to profound writing.

 

And, yes, I realize that both women were creative writers.  But many modern, strong expository essays weave in a narrative, personal component - essays that you will find in places like The Nation, The Boston Globe, and The New Yorker. Most of the essays in The Norton Sampler:  Short Essays for Composition have a first person element. 

 

Maybe this prof and this assignment missed the mark, but I don't disregard the skill of writing personal narrative.  It comes in handy.

 

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

This thread made me think of a few things:

 

Flannery O'Connor: "Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days."

 

And Eudora Welty's One Writer's Beginnings. Keen observation of the small, ordinary things in her life led to profound writing.

 

And, yes, I realize that both women were creative writers. But many modern, strong expository essays weave in a narrative, personal component - essays that you will find in places like The Nation, The Boston Globe, and The New Yorker. Most of the essays in The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition have a first person element.

 

Maybe this prof and this assignment missed the mark, but I don't disregard the skill of writing personal narrative. It comes in handy.

This may be an important distinction. That the point of the essay isn't the depth of the trauma but the way the writer considers the event and delivers it up for the reader's further consideration.

 

In that light, even minor incidents may be worthy topics.

 

Having said that, I dislike the idea that a college prof should be considered a safe place worthy of a confessional. I think he's trying to convey that students won't be reported to the administration for what they write. That is good. But a prof isn't entitled to be the recepient of a student's past traumas, especially when there it will be graded.

 

I could probably write a good essay about how it feels to be subjected to persistent interrogation about events and topics I've chosen to leave behind. (Some sarcasm there.)

[In The Great White North]

 

 

I think he's trying to convey that students won't be reported to the administration for what they write. That is good.

 

But not true.

 

There was a story a year or so ago about a student who was expelled (as a danger to society/other students/ ?) because of an essay he wrote for a class.  I'll have to google and see if I can find it.  I want to say I read about it on here, but am not sure. 

 

ETA:  Here's one story (I don't think it's the one I remember hearing about.)

 

http://www.tricities.com/news/article_4bf6e04b-9e09-584c-8785-895b2b75209d.html?mode=jqm

[Sebastian (a lady)]

But not true.

 

There was a story a year or so ago about a student who was expelled (as a danger to society/other students/ ?) because of an essay he wrote for a class. I'll have to google and see if I can find it. I want to say I read about it on here, but am not sure.

 

ETA: Here's one story (I don't think it's the one I remember hearing about.)

 

http://www.tricities.com/news/article_4bf6e04b-9e09-584c-8785-895b2b75209d.html?mode=jqm

Interesting. I hadn't heard of that one.

 

I was thinking more of underage drinking, drug use type material.

I suppose profs are mandatory reporters for some stuff.

[TechWife]

I haven't read all of the responses, so I don't know if this is repetitive. 

 

One of the things I don't like about these types of assignments is that they don't respect the private lives of the students. The idea that a college professor expects to hear the "deepest and darkest" about his students is offensive to me. Unfortunately, most college freshmen are also young and often aren't aware that they have a right to keep their private lives private and they are inclined to answer as questions are posed to them. Over sharing is not an attribute I find admirable and I certainly don't appreciate supposedly mature professors encouraging it. 

 

[Wheres Toto]

The problem with all of the prompt lists we can find is that they don't meet the 'then/now' criteria: what do I know/realize now, that I didn't then? You are supposed to come the realization while writing the essay. So, to use one of the examples from this link, 'why I fast' wouldn't work, because you already know why you fast before you began the essay, it is already part of your life. 

 

There is a huge emphasis on then/now and discovery. You are supposed to discover a greater truth as you write, not write about something you have realized or discovered in the past. 

 

Ironically, they are really setting students up to lie about a greater truth.  :001_rolleyes:

 

How do you write an essay about something you don't know?   :huh:   I think I have seen that question in the past and didn't understand it.  Do you just think about random topics, do some research until you hit on the topic that you learn something about yourself?    Or lie, which is what I think most will do.

[Mommyfaithe]

English 101= Social Engineering 101. Yep. That about sums it up.

[Penguin]

I haven't read all of the responses, so I don't know if this is repetitive.

 

One of the things I don't like about these types of assignments is that they don't respect the private lives of the students. The idea that a college professor expects to hear the "deepest and darkest" about his students is offensive to me. Unfortunately, most college freshmen are also young and often aren't aware that they have a right to keep their private lives private and they are inclined to answer as questions are posed to them. Over sharing is not an attribute I find admirable and I certainly don't appreciate supposedly mature professors encouraging it.

I agree 100%. Liking was not enough! There are less invasive ways to get students to reach deep and develop narrative writing skills.

[brehon]

Next up is a personal essay. Not just ANY personal essay, but an exploratory one that starts with an unanswered question, teaches you something you didn't know about yourself, and leads to discovery of a deeper truth.

 

That seems to be a tall order for one week and one thousand words.

 

Edited to add that you should all feel free to enter my 'give her a great prompt' contest. Shiny internet medals for the winners!

So, I suppose the Unanswered Question (capitalized because This Is Important) could be the importance of intensely personal revelatory essays in an English class.

 

The Unknown Personal Quality/Trait/Etc (capitalized because This Is Also Important) could be the intense irritation your normally æquanimitatem (Latin because, well, everything improves with a few Latin words sprinkled about) child feels toward people who inappropriately probe said intense personal episodes in their students' lives. (Lots of intensity there, huh.)

 

The Deeper Truth (capitalized because This Is The Mostest Important Thing Of All) could be that the professor is an intense idiot, but your child realized that sometimes one must simply play the BS game and that this is probably true throughout life.

 

 

 

Would that work? No? Too intense?

 

 

:)

[tex-mex]

This is a horrible trend that I noticed a few years ago at the elementary level. I was looking at a book about upping scores on writing tests and they described levels of increasingly edgy topics with a clear indication that the more sensational, a higher grade would result. It's bad enough at the college level but it was a huge turn-off to realize that this was being encouraged for younger kids.

 

:iagree:

(Coming off lurking mode...)

Sidenote: My son is attending a nearby college and lives at home.  He is with a rare liver disease and is with the Office of Disabilities on his college campus.  He is doing great thus far in his first weeks of Fall Semester.

 

Last night after my son's college (English) class, we were in the car driving home.  He suddenly remarked to me that the book he was reading was banned in some high schools.  (I read the book previously and it surprised me that it was a banned book...) But the professor brought up the subject that night in class.  

 

He said the class was split 50/50 over the idea it was banned and half of the class felt that 9th graders could read the book and "just get over it".  He and another fellow homeschooler felt differently and they said to each other that there would be no way they'd let their kids read it in the lower grades.  And how they both felt they were old enough to analyze the book from a more "mature" perspective. 

 

I did not say much, but kind of smiled to myself about his remark. LOL 

[bettyandbob]

But not true.

 

There was a story a year or so ago about a student who was expelled (as a danger to society/other students/ ?) because of an essay he wrote for a class.  I'll have to google and see if I can find it.  I want to say I read about it on here, but am not sure. 

 

ETA:  Here's one story (I don't think it's the one I remember hearing about.)

 

http://www.tricities.com/news/article_4bf6e04b-9e09-584c-8785-895b2b75209d.html?mode=jqm

 

I've tried to emphasize understanding the culture of your audience to my dc. That has been a difficult concept for my oldest. He's toned down opinions, but sometimes still can't get past the fact that being right can still land you in a heap of trouble. Although if you read my earlier post in this thread he has made progress. 

 

The young man in the linked story was old enough to have understood the lessons I've been trying to impart in my teenagers. Anyone on a college campus in the state of Virginia after April 16, 2007 should know that having guns on campus whether or not they are legal is problematic.  Anyone on a college campus in the state of Virginia after April 16, 2007 should know that writing about suicide and homocide will raise all kinds of alarms and cause the writer serious repercussions. 

 

So, yes, opening up in writing is something some (many) professors of writing encourage, but the student needs to be wise to the path they take in describing personal struggles. At the same time, I agree a good grade should not be dependent upon exposing one's most private thoughts.