We have had a few days of very wet and windy weather and right now it is 48 outside. Two days ago it was about 90 so this is a sudden change. Even the weather service cannot keep up because I checked their forecast and they say the low today will be eleven degrees higher than it is right now.
So far I have only one student asking for help with his college essays. I did get queries from two others but they haven't produced any writing to critique as yet. The young man is such a nice kid I want to send his father a note to thank him for doing such a good job but I am not sure how good his English is. The family speaks Russian at home and that causes some problems with the boy's writing no matter how smart he is. Higher than a 4.0 gpa, all good scores on national exams, and he wants to go to Caltech. As I have mentioned before, I don't write these essays; I advise and suggest. This student, like many students, thinks that using passive voice and what is called future pluperfect in Latin, though I think it is now called past perfect in English, sound more educated. That's total rot but so common I don't react as aggressively as I used to, but this kid's first essay was filled with the total rot.
Recently, because it is election season, many people have been complaining about the bad outlook for the United States. Donald Trump's slogan is something like, "Make America Great Again." The students I work with, like this year's young man, are often first generation Americans. They are all optimistic and grateful, eager to help solve problems. Anyone who is pessimistic about the future should help a young person go to college.
If your child is applying to college this fall, read the essays. Present tense, active voice are the default choices for these essays. Besides being easy to remember so that tense inconsistency doesn't happen, present tense combined with active voice clarify the argument and enhance the sincerity.
No comments:
Post a Comment