Essays

I just finished scoring three classes worth of essays--one class on Crime and Punishment and two classes on a lovely poem called "A Story." Two out of three of the groups performed reasonably and in a strange turn of events they were the first two I scored. So I was feeling pretty good about the students and started on the third and last set of essays.

There seems to be some unwritten rule that the worse a student writes, the longer the paper is. Turgid and stiff presentation over four pages of very small handwriting makes me want to weep. Not only is the grammar, syntax, and diction poor but the understanding of the poem is shallow if it exists at all. One kid starts his paper by declaiming that the only job a father has is to teach respectful demeanor to his sons. After that, what else is there to write? Apparently four pages of junk because that is what I read. At least I have the lovely ones to think about but some of these just left me shaking my head. On several I asked them what they would do if I forced them to cut these down to two pages, which is what they are supposed to be--what can be omitted? Sometimes I think they will be fine if they just cross out every third word.