Is this *really* what I want to do with my life?

[sanpaku_backup]

I don't really know how to explain the pain of grading papers without sounding petulant and anal. You have to have done it to believe it. Grammar and spell checkers are supposed to help ensure that college seniors can write comprehensible English, but something has gone terribly wrong with the papers I've read so far. Let's just leave it at that.

The only recompense is the unintentional humor that results from people not reading their own papers. Would putting them up here make me look like too much of a bastard? Probably, so I'm putting them in my private journal for the time being.

Comments

[flw.livejournal.com]

Put them up! Put them up as "Friends Only", then no one need know. You can control who reads these thing-a-ma-bobs.

Re:

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

Umm... pending outcome of moral dilemma, see other thread in this post.

Course I could just email them to you.

[ex-fauxpas266.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?itemid=21439985

Re: Ay yi yi

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

Whoa. Holy heck. Thanks for reminding me that Someone Is Watching. And since this is a current class, I guess some twinge in the back of my mind decided not to publicly post. I do have the tiniest amount of sense.

That said, it raises the whole issue of what these here journal-thingees are supposed to be. Are they meant to express your life and all the things in it, or are they meant to be platforms for spouting off? Clearly the standards of the former model are much looser. (Of course, the article was in academics anon, which is clearly a forum, and thus bound to be dangerous.)

When I started doing this, I really only intended it to be for Frank and Library_grrl since I know them IRL. I enjoy other journals, but I see that people censor themselves a lot once they are part of a community. One of the people on my friendslist got busted twice for saying mildly negative things about people she worked with. Is it depressing or comforting that no one is really entirely anonymous, even in cyberspace? Etc.

Anyway, as a fellow nitpicker I'm sure you can imagine the hell of being sentenced to read papers that are really awful. On the other hand, as a student, you might not appreciate the idea that your work could serve as fodder for some undertalented teacher's spiel to his friends. That said, do you think it would be unethical to put a few choice quotes on friendslist? Or just obnoxious?

Re: Ay yi yi

[flw.livejournal.com]

Well, I certainly don't have a problem with it. Laughing at the weak is what makes us better than them. You owe it to your students to publicly humiliate them. How else will they learn? Seriously, put them up as "Friends Only" ... How can we help you if you won't help us? You're doiong it in the spirit of love. Love is good! Accept your love. Confront your love. And then, post the moronic papers you've received as "Friends Only".

Re: Ay yi yi

[ex-fauxpas266.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I got a kick out of reading the piece that wildsoda (or whatever her name was) posted. It was so horrifyingly BAD. But from an "ethical" standpoint, it makes me uneasy.

Publishing a few passages in friends-only entries, that is probably in a gray area. For purely selfish reasons, I'd say go for it ... but whether or not it's ethical should be your decision. Yeah.

Related story: Once I was taking a speech class that was required to get into a California State University. We were to have a few assignments in which we'd videotape ourselves giving speeches; the teacher would watch them at home and grade them there. On the FIRST DAY of class -- probably within the first 15 minutes, before anyone had become comfortable with one another or developed a rapport with the teacher -- the teacher said, "Yeah, sometimes someone will turn in a video that is just SO BAD, that I'll invite my friends over and we'll all watch it, laughing at it." That is just EVIL. Pure evil! I dropped the class on Day 3, and decided to go to a University of California instead.