In the past week of class being back in session, one course has interested me more than the others. The conversations the class has together have been geared towards the freedom of writing, and the strict rules that professors set for essay writing at universities across the United States. I hadn’t thought about it much before the discussion topic was brought up, but the interesting thing was that it was extremely relevant to my life, and most likely to many of the students at Stetson as well.
During my first semester in college, I was excited for my English classes more than any others because I figured the assignments were going to be widely unique and fun to write about. Boy, was I wrong. If I remember correctly, the first major essay I was assigned ended up being on some obscure subject that I wasn’t very interested in, and I was supposed to write about the topic for at least seven pages. I knew I could say what I needed in only three, but seven was the minimum and the professor wouldn’t take no for an answer. Of course I ended up writing a little over the minimum, but I couldn’t have been less interested.
I think the problem today with assigned essays are the rules and regulations some professors set. The bar is so high and the expectations for any essay or piece for class is to fill it with words that sound academic. Or to write sentences that have meaning. I, for one, do not like to write essays. Less so when I have to fill it with useless words that seem smarter, but in the long run it’s the same thing you would have written in the first place, and harder to comprehend. For example, the sentence, “I need you to come to the store with me later.” is simple, yet says what it needs to get the message across. The thing which irritates professors about this sentence is that there isn’t enough vibrancy to raise it from a fifth-grade level to a normal college level. The sentence (in order to please professors) should read, “I don’t have the urgency to travel to the grocery store currently, however, I would enjoy your company when I commute to gather vegetables and various nutritious items from that location later today.” Now, that’s a bit of a stretch and I do admit that I’m being a bit facetious, but the expectations in college-level writing are, in my opinion, rather abhorrent and just plain gross.
Now, when we do write essays and papers correctly in the fashion that the professors would like, we tend to put in some “fluff.” It’s those sentences that you put into essays that repeat the sentences before them, or the long and unnecessary words you have to look up on Thesaurus.com. There are certain times when the “fluff” can be too much for a professor to look at, and can be the difference between an A or D on a paper.
Long story short, there are two extremes to the college essay: too simple, or too intricate. The fine line is what will either cost you your grade, or let you pass with flying colors, and I think that’s too much to ask of college students who want to pass a class and be free with their writing.
