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One of the stupidest things that I recall in my life is: Art Class.
I remember being graded on my artwork. I recall how I was supposed to follow certain rules and guidelines to do art correctly.
I know exactly what you're talking about! I had an English teacher in high school who criticized a poem I'd written because it was in (hold onto your hat, if you've got one) free verse, as opposed to good old, traditional iambic pentameter. After that day, my opinion of that teacher--as well as teachers in general, come to think of it--went down a couple of degrees.
I know exactly what you're talking about! I had an English teacher in high school who criticized a poem I'd written because it was in (hold onto your hat, if you've got one) free verse, as opposed to good old, traditional iambic pentameter. After that day, my opinion of that teacher--as well as teachers in general, come to think of it--went down a couple of degrees.
I know exactly what you're talking about! I had an English teacher in high school who criticized a poem I'd written because it was in (hold onto your hat, if you've got one) free verse, as opposed to good old, traditional iambic pentameter. After that day, my opinion of that teacher--as well as teachers in general, come to think of it--went down a couple of degrees.
I think this is so sad. Teachers who criticize free writing (of any kind) harm more often than not.
I was lucky. I actually had a teacher in college (English 101) who praised free writing. For our final term paper he gave us a list of quotes and we had to pick one and write what it meant to us. As soon as I saw the quote I wanted to use I KNEW I had to write this as a free verse poem. I did so and received an A. The teacher also asked me if he could keep that copy because he wanted to use it for future classes. I was young and let him keep it. (Ah, I still have my own copy!) I feel honored that he wanted to use it.
This is what teachers should encourage.
Sorry, that was a bit off topic, but it does fit in because negative teachers can hurt a student's progress. We witness that negative progress every single day on these forums.
I've always been a writer and am a nerd who loved English classes. Somehow I managed to get a ton of teachers who helped me develop my skills.
I wish this was the way ALL teachers were/are. Sadly, they too are only human.
Art teachers are not supposed to teach creativity. The are supposed to teach the mechanics of the various mediums that can be used for free artistic expression. You can't paint if you don't know how to clean a brush or prepare a canvas. An artist must be two things: A creative person, but also a craftsman who understands the physical properties of the materials he is using as an artistic medium. The latter, craft, must be learned. Don't expect the artist to reinvent the wheel. A sculptor can't sculpt until he knows what rock does when you hit it with a hammer.
Similarly, if a literary artist is to effectively create works, he needs first to be well-grounded in the properties of the building blocks (words, phrases, punctuation marks, orthography, paragraphination, font, etc.). He must lean the craft of using the tools.
(Yes, I said "mediums" to distinguish it from "media", which is likely to be interpreted wrongly by some readers. "Mediums" are oil, charcoal, pastels. "Media" is (yes, I said "is") a singular phenomenon in our culture comprised of magazines, TV, film, ways that artistic works can be disseminated.
My husband and I are particularly annoyed by an advertisement that has been on television for some months now. It is an advertisement for a college. The young man, who is proud and happy with his results from attending the college says, "me and my brother". I wouldn't be interested in that college.
Found this one today, and couldn't help but post it here.
Sounds painful!
Going into a Comma doesn't sound nearly as painful as going into a Colon, which would be exposing your Asterisk, and could result in a Full Stop, which is worse than Dieresis.
Going into a Comma doesn't sound nearly as painful as going into a Colon, which would be exposing your Asterisk, and could result in a Full Stop, which is worse than Dieresis.
Indeed--the prospect of getting punctuated doesn't sound like fun, at all.
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