The "Cultural Context" Excuse

[Cyberman]

This is why I never liked English class. You could basically write anything, and the teacher might say it's good, or might say it's bad. I liked maths. 2+2 = 4 thanks very much, no stupid discussion.

I remember in English class I submitted one my final projects, and the teacher said, "This is a B". I got one more chance to "improve" it. I asked what I needed to go to get it to an A. She said, "I can't tell you that."

Fuck off! What stupid subject is this? You don't even know what your own criteria is?

So I made it sound more like the kind of drivel she writes. I got an A.

Back when we had Technical Drawing class - basically draftsmanship - at school, I remember once some exercise we'd been given to do. I took my finished work up to the teacher for his evaluation and he went through it in great critical detail, telling me exactly what was wrong with it and to do it all again. So I went back to my draft table, put the drawing away and did precisely nothing to it. Next lesson, I took it to him again, literally unchanged, and he told me it was so much better. In fact, he couldn't praise it highly enough. I got full marks and a lesson in life he never intended.