Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Here's my new plan: instead of doing a Master's about Tolkien...I'll just read the Lord of the Rings again. That seems like it will be much less work. Maybe I'll read Siegfried too. There's a lot of things I'd like to read, and after these summer classes I'll finally have time to do it. Woot! Three more months to go!

I'll never understand the way English profs mark. I was expecting a high-90s in my Crakespeare midterm, but got shockingly less, even though all she wrote on my paper were things like "Well put," Very good," "A clearly excellent response: sophisticated analysis and effective writing," "Full and thoughtful response," "√√√." And it isn't even that I write bad; I consider myself a pretty darn good writer (I'm arrogant in that way). And even so, content should matter more in this level of English class than how well one writes. Personally, I think the writing well should be stressed more in 100 and 110, and good writing should be rewarded more there than it currently is. There are a lot of people out there who haven't the faintest grasp of the English language, and I often wondered how they managed to speak. So why, then, do people who obviously have a fantastic command of English not get recognized for it in their classwork? I just feel like there's no point in trying if a half-ass job will get me just the same results as if I actually try. Profs, take note: your lousy marks are inhibiting my potential!

1 comment:

Amy said...

From the prof's markings, you obviously have a lot to improve on. I agree with you. My english prof said I had a great final, which evidently means I deserved the 75% I got on it. The prof told us that the english department has a standard of keeping low grades/averages in the lower level english classes. I guess if you have a sub-par mark, it makes you work harder in your upper years or something. I think the moral of the story is to major in something that's marked easier.