Wasteful writing

[DanTrentfield]

Today is the s***iest day of the semester. I got the assignment of writing an interpretative essay on War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. So raising the question: Why is this "necessary" for a chemistry degree? What do I learn from it? Better writing skills? No. I have no need to "perfect" my writing skills because I can write perfectly well already. The degree of "Writing perfection" that schools demand is preposterous and frankly whoever thought "Let's make students who don't give a flaming flying pigs**t about perfecting their writing write long essays that have been written millions of different ways for no intensive purpose whatsoever" should be drawn and quartered if they are still alive. This wastes my time, I could be researching kinds of cytokines and biochemistry applications to begin to fathom a way to carve out a living for myself. But no, you get War and Peace. Why do I need to "prove myself"? Why are people wasting my time by force feeding me laborious literature when I've proven I'm not a useless idiot? And to what end, what do they hope to accomplish? Education comes through curiosity about the world and how it works, that's why I was obsessed with radiation and nuclear weaponry and power applications at age 7, when I first picked up a book called Great disasters of history and saw the mushroom cloud from Castle Bravo and the terrible effects of the radiation wrought by Chernobyl. The inability of the educational system to recognize proficiency and deficiency in students will be the end of me, not everyone is equal intellectually, as not everyone has an IQ of 60 or an IQ of 230. I can see continual mathematics because it is a linear field, but there is excess writing, excess moral study, and not enough actual history, and not enough scientific exposure. 

Edited September 26, 2017 by DanTrentfield

[studiot]

I agree that technical people are not usually philistines who need force feeding some culture and I thought that this hangover from the days of arts softening was dying out. +1

 

Do you get a choice of liberal studies and does it affect your marks or progress?

[DanTrentfield]

1 minute ago, studiot said:

I agree that technical people are not usually philistines who need force feeding some culture and I thought that this hangover from the days of arts softening was dying out. +1

 

Do you get a choice of liberal studies and does it affect your marks or progress?

Yeah, I thought the residual force feeding of arts was dying out too. 

Well, to put my "choice" simply: I have to take a lit class because it gives me the credit hours I need. And it was this, or liberal arts because all the other classes for extra credits are full.

[Sensei]

Are you complaining because of having to read book, or you are complaining because of having to write essay about it.. ?

This book has 1000-1300 pages (from what I can see on Amazon). It's 1000 pages/30 pages read per hour = 33+ hours of reading.. I feel your pain here..

(maybe schools should start from learning fast reading techniques first.. ?)

 

Well, every student has stronger and weaker areas. One of the role of schools is to enhance people in their weaker areas.

I think the all books to read should be known prior semester, so student will be able to read them during summer vacation time, 2h per day multiplied by 60 days is 120h. Enough for reading 120h * 30pages/h = 3600 pages of books.

 

Edited September 26, 2017 by Sensei

[CharonY]

50 minutes ago, DanTrentfield said:

No. I have no need to "perfect" my writing skills because I can write perfectly well already.

I sincerely doubt that. Among my colleagues there are only a handful that can write really well. And those happen to be those that actually are doing a lot more writing than the rest of us (e.g. text books vs regular papers and grant applications). Even in more mundane and simple writing exercises (I mean lab protocols rather than actual papers) only a handful of students get things alright without significant amount of coaching. Those that did well often had creative writing or lit classes. So while you may not benefit from it,  there are others who do. 

[DanTrentfield]

20 minutes ago, Sensei said:

Are you complaining because of having to read book, or you are complaining because of having to write essay about it.. ?

This book has 1000-1300 pages (from what I can see on Amazon). It's 1000 pages/30 pages read per hour = 33+ hours of reading.. I feel your pain here..

(maybe schools should start from learning fast reading techniques first.. ?)

 

Well, every student has stronger and weaker areas. One of the role of schools is to enhance people in their weaker areas.

I think book to read should be known prior semester, so student will be able to read them during summer time, 2h per day multiplied by 60 days is 120h. Enough for reading 120h * 30pages/h = 3600 pages of books.

 

I'm complaining because I have to write another essay..... I love writing technical papers on science but when it comes to this..... Blah.... it frankly infuriates me to no end how no matter how well I write these same kinds of assignments keep showing up like ghosts in a nightmare, long thick book, equally taxing essay expectations, grammar Hitler professor (He is that bad...), all to fulfill credits for a degree that doesn't have anything to do with this. 

13 minutes ago, CharonY said:

I sincerely doubt that. Among my colleagues there are only a handful that can write really well. And those happen to be those that actually are doing a lot more writing than the rest of us (e.g. text books vs regular papers and grant applications). Even in more mundane and simple writing exercises (I mean lab protocols rather than actual papers) only a handful of students get things alright without significant amount of coaching. Those that did well often had creative writing or lit classes. So while you may not benefit from it,  there are others who do. 

I was attempting to prove the point that yes, I can write a paper just fine. "Perfect" is the incorrect term I agree, but I can write papers just as well as anyone else in my class, what begs the need for my writing to be unrealistically good? I can write well enough to make even the most technical of reports quite engaging, or so my chemistry professor says. I get the point of people benefit from this, but that's where the inability of schools to recognize the proficiencies and deficiencies of students in one area versus another comes in, for example I can write these things just fine, 85-95% grade average. But my reasoning is, why is education one size fits all? If we're spending so much money on sending people to college (I have a scholarship myself) then why don't we create a dynamic system that changes what courses you do and don't have to take to a reasonable degree? I think the whole reason why I posted this is because I'm pissed that this is my 17th year of education and I'm still writing the exact same kind of paper on just a larger denser book. And thinking how all these people in my class have to write this as well and among them there are only two or three people who honestly need this instruction. I am frankly overwhelmed because this cuts into my study time for other classes which means I have to get up at 3:30 to finish up work for chemistry that is due tomorrow. 

Edited September 26, 2017 by DanTrentfield

[CharonY]

I have the feeling that you are not complaining about the type of assignment per se. Rather, it seems the essence that you have to do something that is not fun to you. In that regard, it is a decent preparation for a life after a degree. 

Writing, btw., is an incredibly transferable skill and there is always room for improvement. It seems that your goal is "good enough", which is fair and it does not seem that you get the most out of it. However, I am certain there are many who write very well, but continue to improve by testing their ability for critical reading of dense literature and their ability to synthesize their thoughts into an enjoyable essay. That, in essence, is one of the goals of higher education. Not to pass some arbitrary bar (for the most part) but rather continued self-improvement.

However, there is no magic formula how that can be achieved by the instructor or any kind of system. Rather, it has to be a collaborative effort between the student and the instructors. The latter provide a framework in which they offer ways of learning, mentorship and means to assess improvement, the former has to figure out a way to utilize it to their own benefit.

 

Edited September 26, 2017 by CharonY

[DanTrentfield]

7 minutes ago, CharonY said:

I have the feeling that you are not complaining about the type of assignment per se. Rather, it seems the essence that you have to do something that is not fun to you. In that regard, it is a decent preparation for a life after a degree. 

Writing, btw., is an incredibly transferable skill and there is always room for improvement. It seems that your goal is "good enough", which is fair and it does not seem that you get the most out of it. However, I am certain there are many who write very well, but continue to improve by testing their ability for critical reading of dense literature and their ability to synthesize their thoughts into an enjoyable essay. 

Right you are. I am merely bruised and sore of having to write essays.

[studiot]

I have to say that I almost completely with Dan on this, since I can't see the benefit of an essay on that book.

Far , far better would be a communication skills course. One that included multiple media that would help far more in both Dan's future career and benefit the people he interacts with far more as well.

This might avoid the following poster that I photographed on the noticeboard of a leading Scottish University this year, advertising no less than their language society!

The first pic shows the board, the closeup shows the spelling mistakes.
It isn't only technologists that make them.

 

 

[iNow]

https://www.aacu.org/leap/what-is-a-liberal-education

Quote

Liberal Education is an approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g. science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth study in a specific area of interest. A liberal education helps students develop a sense of social responsibility, as well as strong and transferable intellectual and practical skills such as communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings.

The broad goals of liberal education have been enduring even as the courses and requirements that comprise a liberal education have changed over the years. Today, a liberal education usually includes a general education curriculum that provides broad learning in multiple disciplines and ways of knowing, along with more in-depth study in a major.

 

[Area54]

On 26/09/2017 at 8:16 PM, DanTrentfield said:

Today is the s***iest day of the semester. I got the assignment of writing an interpretative essay on War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. So raising the question: Why is this "necessary" for a chemistry degree? What do I learn from it? Better writing skills? No. I have no need to "perfect" my writing skills because I can write perfectly well already. The degree of "Writing perfection" that schools demand is preposterous and frankly whoever thought "Let's make students who don't give a flaming flying pigs**t about perfecting their writing write long essays that have been written millions of different ways for no intensive purpose whatsoever" should be drawn and quartered if they are still alive. This wastes my time, I could be researching kinds of cytokines and biochemistry applications to begin to fathom a way to carve out a living for myself. But no, you get War and Peace. Why do I need to "prove myself"? Why are people wasting my time by force feeding me laborious literature when I've proven I'm not a useless idiot? And to what end, what do they hope to accomplish? Education comes through curiosity about the world and how it works, that's why I was obsessed with radiation and nuclear weaponry and power applications at age 7, when I first picked up a book called Great disasters of history and saw the mushroom cloud from Castle Bravo and the terrible effects of the radiation wrought by Chernobyl. The inability of the educational system to recognize proficiency and deficiency in students will be the end of me, not everyone is equal intellectually, as not everyone has an IQ of 60 or an IQ of 230. I can see continual mathematics because it is a linear field, but there is excess writing, excess moral study, and not enough actual history, and not enough scientific exposure. 

War and Peace is the first book I have not been able, ever, to complete. I've been attempting to read it for about fifty years, starting again every decade or so and never getting past page 150. Good luck.

On the other hand, with reference to the highlighted text where you assert no need for improvement, perhaps you will learn about the value of paragraphs.