Yes I’m sure you know by now after reading my blog that I love writing. Problem is sometimes I find myself abhorring the idea of going to English class. Hopefully this post will make it more clear to me why exactly I don’t like English class even though I love the subject itself.
- All English teachers love limiting their students to certain topics. Ever get the “You can’t write about this!” or “You can’t say that!” lecture? Let me tell you, it is not fun to be restricted from certain topics. Writers love having full control, taking the reins, and embarking on a journey wherever they wish to go. Don’t hinder that for us.
- The teacher repeats concepts that all writers have known since the day they learned to write. “A noun is a person, place, or thing.” “Verbs modify nouns.” “Capitalize the first word in a sentence.” “Don’t split an infinitive.” “This sentence is a dangling modifier. Does anyone know what that means?” Of course, I do. I am a writer for goddess’ sakes.
- Teachers tell you what they expect from your paper. “It has to be this long in this kind of font with these wide of margins with only a certain number of paragraphs.” Great so I can spend half an hour writing the paper and an hour formatting my paper.
- You, sometime in your life, will work with people to create one cohesive essay, poem, or presentation, among all of you. No problem right? No. Big problem. Writers do enough work already. Do not make them do more and force them to give credit to other people who can’t tell the difference between affect and effect or when to use me and when to use I.
Oh, the struggles that all writers must endure.
*Spare some time to check out the second post: Why I Love Writing But Still Hate English Class (Part 2)
I’ll thank you in advance.
Herminia Chow 
I love number 4! I always had a hard time with collaborative English projects (which they still make you do sometimes in college!). I’m fine working together to do math problems or fill out a worksheet in any subject, but writing is too subjective and too personal.
Although now that I’m thinking about it, it might not be bad if you only had one partner and you were in an Honors English class…Do they have those where you’re from?
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Hey Nichole,
I always hated collaborating with people in English class and I’m disappointed to hear that I will have to deal with this problem in college or university too. Thanks for the heads-up though.
I’m still in high school and number four stemmed for a bad experience but I rather have one partner who truly has a passion for English and writing than five other partners who don’t.
Unfortunately, my school doesn’t offer Honors English. I wonder what it would be like to be with like minded people who excel in writing.
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