Assignments he couldn't handle were like write an essay about why your middle school is THE best. Well he had evidence that his school wasn't "the best" and couldn't get past that. I said write an essay about three things you like about your school that makes it "tolerable", then go back and write the topic sentence to match (or come close) to the prompt. OMG you would think I suggested a crime against humanity. But he is now a junior in high school and he has got the hang of it. He really needed middle school to learn this and the arguing and carrying on was a phase he had to go through.
Good advice from you. I'll add that whoever dreamed up that assignment should get a big green
barf-out! badge.
I suspect that most of us who grew up in the US had to write at least one of those bogus essays. Mine was a mandatory contest called
What America means to me! I was only 12. Mrs. W. read the contest rules while Mr. S. marched around the auditorium carrying a big sign with the essay topic printed on it (along with lots of stars and stripes). The other teachers all looked very sincere --- kind of like Linus did when he was talking about the Great Pumpkin.
I had no clue what to write. The day before it was due, I cobbled up a draft describing an ancestor who had immigrated here. It included some drivel about how excited she was when she got off the ship, because she knew she had arrived in the promised land. My mom read it and said, "Actually, she wanted to get back on the boat and go home straight away. The pier stank and she didn't know anyone, not to mention barely speaking a word of English. Plus, she didn't have the slightest idea how she was going to travel a thousand miles to her sister's house in some exotic place she couldn't pronounce called
Ohio. She was a teenager and she was terrified."
Sigh. So much for that idea. I sure didn't win
that contest. So your son has my sympathies on that one, as does any other kid who has to write 500 words on why [insert theme] is SO INCREDIBLE!!!!!
