I hate English Teachers. They’s so snooty and… where’s my thesaurus?

by aristan on May.27, 2004, under the paper

Rachel just told me that her English Teacher spent a whole class period picking apart the summer issue of Spark and finished up with “If you want to know how to write well, do what Spark is not doing.”

Sometimes I feel stabby.

I could begin with the fact that a newspaper isn’t a collection of essays that have sanitized and reworked hundreds of times for grades. No one (and by that I mean faculty or staff members) reads over our work before we go to press.

I’ve heard of several teachers who spend their time picking our work apart. Are your lives so devoid of meaning, your lesson plans so devoid of actual content that you have to pick on students?

You know what I think about?

If I want to use comma splices, if I want to spell everything fonetikally, if I just want to write everything in a encoded mirrored Prussian… I damn well will.

Of course, our boxes say ‘Free. Take One.” for a reason. You’re only supposed to take one, so if that teacher took 30+ copies for each class… then she owes me for the additional copies.

People need to learn there’s a difference between criticism and constructive criticism.

But what should I expect from someone who apparently is named after cheap candy.

5 comments for this entry:

Lauren
May 27th, 2004 on 3:34 pm
Sounds like someone needs to write an editorial.

“Want Spark to be perfect, so that there’s nothing to pick apart in your classes? Feel free to volunteer to proofread it.”
Aristan
May 27th, 2004 on 10:11 pm
Can’t let them. We do not allow others to read our work, especially staff members, before publication. Even Jenn, our advisor, doesn’t read it until it’s back from the printers.

It’s called ‘Prior Restraint’, and refers to the practice of witholding the publication of something because, for whatever reason, an authority outside of the paper doesn’t want it published.

Rachel did talk to the woman, and she apparently didn’t mean for it to sound the way she put it. But it still makes me mad.
matt
May 30th, 2004 on 8:23 am
Please know that our paper has also been used for great things in classes! Tracy Moore up at the North Campus passed out papers to his ACA class once, and it was when the blotter was in the paper, and he had them read it and write about what we wrote! He said all but one in a class of about 30 had good things to say about our paper. not just that the blotter was funny, but that the articles were great, entertaining and well-written, and that we were real researched and knew what we were talking about. —-He also said that a girl in there after class asked him what pussy is! (The blotter about the kid that was walkin around West Campus singing I need some pussy, i need some damn pussy.)

people used to lean over to me in my classes and complement our fuckin paper all the time. And other friends of mine say it’s great and that their teachers have used it in English classes and in Journalism classes, and the ACA classes. We’re popular, and people like our paper. Granted, it could get read more, but i think we exagerate that a bit. the bin in front of the Central High Building always gets empty, you know? Screw that teacher. maybe she doesn’t agree with some of our viewpoints we strongly suggest sometimes!
matt
June 3rd, 2004 on 5:46 am
did i mention screw that teacher?
Aristan
June 3rd, 2004 on 6:00 am
I think you did.