I abdicated from High School education in England in year 9, but not sure what grade that is in the US - probably about 13/14 years old.
Just stopped attending, and failed it all.
So I can’t comment on high school essay writing as I did none of it!
At University though, we needed a clear structure to our argument and presentation of sources from the literature, but as far as I am concerned within those confines creativity was very high and rewarding.
This formulaic approach seems bizarre to me if this is what goes on in the US
My experience at public school was that you did well if you parroted what the teacher believed, and did it in awell structured way re paragraphs, etc.
There were far more highly conscientious ‘swot’ types than those who could genuinely be called ‘gifted’.
My degree would have been a First Class Honours if I had not - IMO - had a very public disagreement with one academic who refused to answer a simple question for me in a seminar…
We did a pre-essay piece and even though I took his guidance, he marked me down terribly for it after our altercation
I am not too bothered, but his behaviour was unacceptable in a learning environment, and I stood by my principles and didn’t fold on him because he had letters after his name
It’s not fair, but that’s the humanities…
You can get 100% grades in maths, but in humanities your grades don’t generally go above 80% ish… And like you say, some people like to have their beliefs bestowed on others for their own gratification it seems to me
To be fair there’s nothing wrong with being conscientious I had been told more than a few times over the years that I’m highly intelligent, but had always doubted it was true.Not having a degree made me think very negatively of myself . About 2 years ago I joined a FB group discussing high range IQ tests. I expected to be kicked out of it sooner rather than later due to not being up to scratch, but have been told by various people on it
.
That sounds sad, such essay writing.
Schools kill lust for life, creativity, curiosity and courage to think and act outside of fixed boxes. In my experience. I wish we changed the school system (ours as well as yours). Sorry for my negative view on schooling. I actually highly value teachers who are still capable of making something good of it within the limits of this system. Son had a real good one for a few years.
No need to be sorry. I left school in 1975. Back then there was no ‘2e’/'gifted but learning disabled(US). There was no help for EF deficits. The adjustment from prep to public school (child to teenager) was hard.
First 3 weekly report I got 2 ‘gammas’(really bad)due to being disorganised. There were boys getting alphas(really good) from the very start,and they continued doing so throughout their time at the school… Most were highly conscientious swots rather than ‘gifted’…
When you’re being bullied(and the only escape from it is when your bullies are asleep in the dorm) it seriously damages your self belief/confidence/worth etc It’s not a good environment for being at your cognitive best.
It didn’t pay to ‘think and act outside of fixed boxes’,as you put it so well.
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