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>He’s right in the sense that real essays don’t have to take a position and defend it, but teachers insist on thesis statements for the same reason bikes for th

by zecho 15y ago

>He’s right in the sense that real essays don’t have to take a position and defend it, but teachers insist on thesis statements for the same reason bikes for three-year olds have training wheels: otherwise the student-writer will fall over. This part got to me. Falling over is important. Why wouldn't a teacher allow a student to fail? I think the real issue with essay writing ultimately stems from a one-chance-only, end-all, be-all system of grading. (Which is also a gripe across many subjects, as it tends to produce Swiss cheese-like education.) I was lucky enough to take composition courses in high school that focused on writing a single essay over the course of the entire semester. There was literally no other homework. Just draft after draft of the same essay. The teacher did hardly any lecturing and spent most of his time working students over intellectually, forcing us to sharpen our essays. I think if you want to teach writing, this is the way to do it.

aidenn0 15y ago
Falling down is only useful if you know you've fallen down. It is challenging for a teacher to do that when parents yell at you for giving their kid a bad grade. Of course, that's a whole different topic
- zecho 15y ago
  That's exactly what I'm saying. The point of essay writing, or doing quadratics or reading about the Civil War isn't about getting a good grade, it's about learning something new, retaining that new information and applying it to future learning. The method of grading and class structures (in that a D-level student starts another year/semester with a clean slate along with all the A-level students from the previous year/semester, despite their obvious deficiencies) is insane when you think about how people actually learn. Grades are a way to motivate through fear of failing, not through interest in a subject. Failure is a natural part of learning and I think people know intuitively when what they're doing isn't working correctly. But then, I'm a fan of the Montessori method, which focuses far more on process and progress than it does specific outcomes at predefined times. It's hard to translate that method to University, which uses the traditional method of grading. The want of grades has actually caused some Montessori schools to include them superficially to appease parents.

by zecho 15y ago

aidenn0 15y ago

Falling down is only useful if you know you've fallen down. It is challenging for a teacher to do that when parents yell at you for giving their kid a bad grade. Of course, that's a whole different topic

zecho 15y ago
That's exactly what I'm saying. The point of essay writing, or doing quadratics or reading about the Civil War isn't about getting a good grade, it's about learning something new, retaining that new information and applying it to future learning. The method of grading and class structures (in that a D-level student starts another year/semester with a clean slate along with all the A-level students from the previous year/semester, despite their obvious deficiencies) is insane when you think about how people actually learn. Grades are a way to motivate through fear of failing, not through interest in a subject. Failure is a natural part of learning and I think people know intuitively when what they're doing isn't working correctly. But then, I'm a fan of the Montessori method, which focuses far more on process and progress than it does specific outcomes at predefined times. It's hard to translate that method to University, which uses the traditional method of grading. The want of grades has actually caused some Montessori schools to include them superficially to appease parents.