As a senior at Veritas High School, students have to create and present a project (handed down by the current English teacher) in order to qualify for graduation, and for my senior class, we had to present a portfolio with some basic requirements. The presentation came in three parts: opening speech, portfolio presentation, and then closing speech. And, even being someone who despises public speaking and all it entails, I was perfectly fine with that. It was a clear set of requirements that I could easily fulfill. I had plenty of time to prepare my speeches and practice them long in advance. I could do that.

As always, I made my conclusion speech about something I personally cared about, namely my characters. It was my speech, I could do what I wanted with it. Joan, my English teacher, was perfectly OK with that. She loved the way I spoke about my characters and used them to describe various aspects of myself.

Now, I'm not particularly comfortable talking about myself in a direct a manner, so I worked around it, found a "creative" solution to what most people would just bull right through and use the same copy-and-paste format (goals, plans for the future, what you do beyond high school, which college you plan to go to and basically just telling what is what) without any extra thought required. I found a way to show them who I was without telling them. Isn't that what people say writers should do?

Oh, but the teacher sitting in judgment of my final speech (all the teachers at Veritas had to do this, given how few of them there were, and Joan was heading the whole thing, so... that left a different teacher sitting in on my speech, who only had the guidelines to follow, given she wasn't an English teacher by any stretch. Admittedly, because of that, I don't truly blame her.

She did not comprehend that I was, perhaps tired of the "tried and true" (dull and uninteresting) methods of writing a speech. And she decided to use the same old arbitrary copy-and-paste format to grade it. Yes, I understand I technically didn't meet the exact "format" given, but I had long thought of those as guiding posts for people who have no clue where to start, just as they were meant to be, not the strict and straight format to follow.

I don't follow format because its boring, dull, and uninteresting. Everyone will do the same thing because they "have to" or because they don't feel like making the effort to change things up. Formats don't set you apart from the masses. Isn't that the point? To not be among the many? I may not like it, but isn't everything a competition to these people? Why should I follow guidelines if they aren't needed? Guidelines on what to write in an assignment, writing formats, they are like training wheels; these are a good place to start, but eventually they simply aren't needed.

I have my own ideas thank you very much. I don't need your arbitrary limitations to come up with a good research project, and I don't need your arbitrary guidelines to come up with an interesting speech to show you what I'm about.

My biggest issue with the way she graded the assignment wasn't even the grade itself (more than likely, I got a B on it or something. I don't quite recall) but what she docked me for. Certainly it was partially for an actual issue (I talk too fast. I know that, I can't really help it, and I was slowing down quite a bit as is. I won't complain if people can't quite keep up with the pace at which I speak. That is technically a problem I should work on even though I most likely won't) but her biggest problem with my conclusion was that it didn't follow the "requirements" of the what was supposed to be in the assignment. Which is funny, given the one who gave me the assignment never mentioned such issues before and I actually read it aloud in class (we all had to) and Joan had to know fully the contents of all my speeches well in advance.

OK, to put this in perspective, not only did Joan not mention anything, but Chris (my directed-study teacher, and a history/English teacher at Veritas) also sat through and listened to my conclusion speech (they wanted it to be double-checked by another, not a terrible idea by any means) and, surprise, surprise, the only issue he noted was that... I was talking too fast.

But, Stephanie (no one is asking) what's the point of this little story? Are you just complaining about some past assignment that holds little meaning given you didn't even fail it? Admittedly, that is part of what I have been doing. The other part is trying to make a point.

If teachers are supposedly all for creativity, why are there so many arbitrary guidelines that are forced into an assignment, especially if following said guidelines would be to the detriment of the student's work?

I am not saying said rules should not exist. Those rules/guidelines are to the benefit of people who don't know writing very well, who aren't going into a career based in writing and for people who just don't know where to start. No, the only thing I'm saying is this: if a student has come up with a creative way to present or complete a project assignment and even made it better that it needed to be, in spite of not following all the arbitrary assignment rules (maybe its a word count issue) why would you downgrade them for it?

They actually went above and beyond what they were supposed to do. They didn't follow exact formula, no, but they did find an interesting way to complete an otherwise boring assignment. It is fun and interesting to read. It shows genuine care and thought. If this is the case, these things should be encouraged, not something to downgrade your students for.

Downgrading a student for using a creative means to complete an assignment discourages them from bending arbitrary rules (arbitrary, in this case, meaning guiding posts that are basically expected. Ideas that are unoriginal by their very nature, but would be a good place to start for someone without the know-how) in the future, and will most likely cripple creative thinking!

So long as it is in fact, good work that the student is producing, I see no reason to downgrade them for not following all the "rules" of the assignment. But, of course, that is just me.

(Of Note: This is an English assignment I was talking about. Math and science don't exactly follow the same rules... so take this with a grain of salt. Or a whole teaspoon of it...)