Perhaps the most difficult task for the educator is to evaluate a student's writing. An important reason for this difficulty is the educator's concern that the evaluation process is too subjective; that is, the "correctness" of a paper is perceived by the student as only the educator's unsupported opinion. This concern usually is the product of habitually seeing education as a process of right or wrong answers, whether this perception is viewed by the educator or by the student. While objective tests can examine the student's comprehension about facts and figures, written papers about ideas and opinions offer a challenge, because the student's paper cannot be evaluated by the same criterion as a true-false test about knowledge that is certain.
For this reason, writing is given little priority by educational technocrats, who emphasize processes rather than rhetoric. Objective tests are satisfactory to determine whether a student has minimal knowledge required by the boards of education, and the student's standing can be readily determined by the grading scale. However, to employ rhetoric means having to evaluate differences in ideas, which has become politically unacceptable in the schools, because differences create friction. For this reason, education in this country centers primarily on vocational skills where struggling with words or with ideas is not so important.
An objective scale is impossible for evaluating writing. In reality, like the mythological "average student," there is no such thing as an average paper. The reason is because papers deal with ideas, not with answers. Ideas cannot be viewed in terms of being average or above-average, but only as being clear and logical, or unclear and illogical. Ideas may express truth or error, but never are these ideas "average." Therefore, the evaluation of papers centers on whether students successfully express their ideas in a clear and compelling way. While important for proper communication, grammar is not the emphasis when evaluating the student's work. Only after the educator has considered the presentation of the message are concerns about spelling, grammar, and mechanics addressed. A short consultation with students about their papers should suffice to help with the next writing project. Unfortunately, since the technocratic establishment is hooked on GPAs, educators must assign some letter grade according to the current system of "education."
The F paper should be rare. Students are not so completely devoid of ideas that they cannot organize or discuss a topic. If students fail, the reason will be their failure to acquire a working knowledge of grammar, not because they lack ideas. The only real question for the evaluator will be to determine the difference between the A, the B, and the C paper. Typically, the difference between mediocre (C) writing and better-than-mediocre (A/B) writing is that the better writer uses transitions between thoughts and uses specific support in the form of examples, illustrations, and anecdotes. Regretfully, most students use language that a politician uses—trite phrases, vague generalities, and noncommittal hedging. The difference between the A and B paper is the writer of the A paper has written a nearly flawless product.
1. While not necessary, you should consider reading the essay aloud to the student. If the reading reveals weaknesses in logic and grammar, have the student revise the paper before any further evaluation. As you read the paper, writers themselves will discover their own errors or lack of logic.
2. The second reading is to find failure in communication.
3. Use a check mark to indicate lines that have grammatical or spelling errors. Students are now required to discover their own errors without the educator's "correcting" the paper for them. If you are inclined to give the student a hint, you may consider placing Sp, G, or M with the check mark.
4. You should always create a short paragraph that will serve as the end note.
5. Miscellaneous considerations
6. Assign a letter grade. The criteria below are used by colleges when assigning a grade to the paper. Papers are evaluated for content and organization, as well as for grammar and mechanics. Most college professors assign a failure to any paper with three major errors in grammar. Some colleges are even stricter regarding grammar.
The following examples are actual submissions by first-year college students. These essays are provided in order to acquaint high-school students with the type of writing they can expect in the college classroom. While these are in-class essays, the same criteria apply to argumentative and research papers as well. The two poems referenced in the question were discussed in class, and the students were permitted to refer to their book and notes. These essays were written under a time restraint of forty-five minutes.
QUESTION: Explain how "patriotism" is questioned in "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "In Response to Executive Order 9066."