Today, I lost a grade on an essay, because according to my teacher, I put much more detail into my analytical essay than I should have. FML
Collection
Fall
Dead leaves, the first cold of the season and an umbrella flipped inside out: fall, the season of grace.
Today, I got my graded essay from my teacher. Earlier, he'd said that it was "too specific", and that I should change it to be "more general and debatable". Now that I've got it back, the first comments on the paper are, "Your thesis is too general, be more specific." FML
Today, I received a terrible grade for an essay I worked really hard on. I had two friends, one being an English major, check it over. However, apparently I "clearly didn't use spellcheck" on this essay just like the last one I submitted to her. FML
Today, I had my teacher look over my essay before turning it in. He said it was extremely well-written, so I handed it in. When I got it back, the feedback he left said it was one of the worst essays he'd ever read. FML
Today, I got a writing assignment back. After meeting with my professor specially after class and meticulously combing through every word of that paper, I got a low D. Turns out, he graded me down on every suggestion of his that I took. FML
Today, I asked my classmate to look over my essay. His comments were longer than the essay itself. FML
Today, after finishing a two hour essay exam that will determine the future of my career, I realized I misread the question. FML
Today, I turned in an essay after staying up late to work on it. I was away when the teacher assigned it, so I'd asked my friend what the subject was. It transpires that she'd given me the wrong one, all because she was mad at me for not returning her pencil. FML
Today, after turning in a paper that I worked really hard on, I got it back with a grade of 0. In the feedback section, my professor wrote: “In all my 37 years of teaching, this is by far the worst essay I have ever read.” FML
Today, I got my language final exam back. It was a 10-page essay front and back, and I saw that I received a D. The teacher told me the plot was too hard to follow and it jumped all over the place. It turns out he forgot to read the back of every page. FML
Today, after submitting a 500-word essay to a writing contest, I found out that I lost to someone who wrote 3 sentences. FML
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Top comments
annarcheer 19
Honestly you need to talk to someone about that because you don't want to end up with a crappy grade because your teachers an idiot.
genericfmluser 17
I am saddened by the American school system.
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Comments (116)
annarcheer 19
Honestly you need to talk to someone about that because you don't want to end up with a crappy grade because your teachers an idiot.
doctor__who 19
A lot of times too much detail can over complicate something. It's like that guy who always wrote five page essays to show off but most of what he wrote about didn't make sense at all.
annarcheer 19
If you lose an essay grade that can ruin your whole overall grade so I defiantly think he needs to talk to his teacher and see what was wrong.
devildog562 33
While I agree op should ask them what thy could do in the future, the teacher isn't dumb for grading it accordingly . To much detail can take away from the over all thesis and thusly distracting from the points or objective of the paper.
awkwardeer 26
"Defiantly" ....Ugh, seriously..?
mellajella 14
If the teacher put in the directions to not be that detailed then OP deserves it.
annarcheer 19
#41 sorry for my mistake gosh.
doctorhook86 25
#1: That's ridiculous, because there's nothing here to suggest that the teacher is an idiot. An analytical essay should analyze relevant details, but not all details are relevant. Writing too much is almost as bad as not writing enough.
Mr23 9
#41, are you still not tired of pigtily pointing out spillchucker mistakes? It's 2015- grow up.
genericfmluser 17
I am saddened by the American school system.
NotPatSajak 11
The american educational system is a joke.
subscript 15
You're not alone
flopstar 21
Yes, us Americans have it sooo bad!
doctorhook86 25
#2: I'm saddened by it too. If it were better, perhaps more FMLers would've voted YDI. Being concise is a valuable skill. Too much (irrelevant) detail is a major weakness in academic writing, and the OP's teacher didn't do anything wrong.
Retaheki 27
Why is it that when one person does something unliked, that person is hated, but when same happens to an American, all of America is unliked? My (American) school teachers teach us to be concise, but still analyze details. Obviously you'd lose points if you weren't concise. It seems that the teacher didn't specify to be concise, so this would be an FML.
dizzyspanks 7
essays can be too long you know... this is probably op's fault for not being concise
Enkeria 30
That sucks OP. It happened to me twice in high school. Try talking to your teacher. If that doesn't work then maybe go to the head of the department and discuss it. Best of luck to you!!
shadowpeanut117 7
yeah you should talk to another teacher principal or someone its not fair.
AddictGamer 16
Great. Thats as if a teacher said; 'you put too many fairies in a fantasy book'. What happened to appreciation for hard work?
doctorhook86 25
#5: Nope, that'd be more like spending five chapters describing the fairies' wings when the reader really just wants the princess to go rescue the dragon-in-distress from the evil knight already.
Christofu01 8
My english teachers have told me before that the endings of my creative writing pieces aren't plausible.... I thought it was called creative because you make up your own idea. I doubt that everyone told JK Rowling that the Harry Potter books sucked because it wasn't plausible.
PurpleMyth 28
That is definitely NOT legal. Try talking to the principal or super attendant
Steve95401 49
I had a super attendant the last time I flew. The school superintendent might be a better person to talk to.
RainEliseWolf 16
I'm pretty sure it's not illegal for a teacher to criticize a student's essay.
MDoremis 38
It's up to the instructors discretion how he or she grades a paper, not any law enforcing body.
needagoodlaugh 34
I would love to see the law written that dictates how teachers must grade things. We obviously can't make decisions on our own so the police should have laws to monitor our education now. Ok, sarcasm over now.
Morning_fml 22
Sadly stupidity is legal.
doctorhook86 25
#6: Oh noes! Call teh police! Somebody doesn't like their grade! I'm sure the FBI will want to add this guy to the Unfair Teachers Watchlist.
ohSNAPyall 27
Hi, Super Nintendo Chalmers!
shiffizzle 13
As a fellow writer, don't worry about it. Grades are bullshit if you feel that it's some of your best work. Not everyone sees your perspective or understands your writing like you always do.
ohSNAPyall 27
Or, you could take the criticism, try to understand it, and learn a new skill you can apply to your writing.
shiffizzle 13
Or you could stand behind what you wrote and discuss it over with the teacher. The teacher isn't always right.
dragonrider1959 18
The problem was "too much detail". The criticism has to at least make sense
Steve95401 49
Isn't it the point of an analytical essay to go into great depth?
JustinJK 21
In college there are minimum page limits as well as maximum. You can have points deducted for making a paper too long.
doctorhook86 25
#9: Being compelling and concise is more important than being complete. Stick to what's relevant instead of rambling around the topic.
RedPillSucks 33
relevant detail.
1dvs_bstd 41
This sucks because teachers are generally really stubborn and sometimes very very surprisingly dense. But maybe.. just maybe you included irrelevant details in your analysis because when I was doing IOPs and IOs I thought I nailed it until grades come out. If your teacher gave you a bad grade because you went too indepth, he/she is really stupid.
VoldooPed 20
Talk to your parents or headmaster, this isn't fair, plus, everyone loves a little more detail!
doctorhook86 25
#10: Only in Intimacy FMLs.