HK, we read
A River Runs Through It in high school English -- so you know what the standards were in that teacher's class!
My mother used to tell of a class she had where the teacher didn't read essays. Nobody believed her when she told them so, and she actually proved it -- she handed in an essay with the first and last paragraphs on topic and all the insides a scathing commentary on the school, the class, and the teacher in particular. She got an A. Nobody ever bothered writing real essays after that.
I would definitely be tempted to try that, if I got the idea that a teacher wasn't reading the work. I have sent some commentary back on papers, and demanded better work, from time to time.
