Today, my teacher gave me a 0% on my personal narrative in my writing class. His only comment on the whole paper was, "Too long, didn't read." FML
Collection
Fall
Dead leaves, the first cold of the season and an umbrella flipped inside out: fall, the season of grace.
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, 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 asked my classmate to look over my essay. His comments were longer than the essay itself. FML
Today, the feedback my teacher wrote on my English assignment was so horrible that it took me half an hour and help from both my parents to decipher it. It turned out to be a scathing criticism of my "poor communication skills". I hate my teachers. 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 got a history project back that I worked very hard on. The teacher didn't bother to write any feedback, besides, "Did you even understand the assignment?" on the back. FML
Today, I got a paper back that was given a zero for suspected plagiarism. Everything I wrote was my own thought and analysis. My instructor basically thinks my paper is smarter than I am. He won't listen, even when I explain my thought processes throughout the piece. FML
Today, my English professor bragged to my entire class about how good my essay was. He kept on saying great things about it for the duration of class. To my surprise, he'd given me a C-. When I asked why, his only response was: "I'm a hard grader." 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, I met my teacher after school to talk about a paper on which he gave me a low grade. I told him that I felt it was wrongly graded and he agreed. He lowered my score. FML
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Top comments
steelersfan501 17
That's horrible, try taking this to the principal. It worked when my Spanish teacher did the exact same thing to me.
monagro 22
Was there a word/page limit? If so, YDI. If not, FYL.
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Comments (100)
NostalgiaFreak9 43
I hope he loses his job, because people like that deserve to lose their job if they choose not to do it.
hardcorefan16 22
You should go complain. That's what teachers do there suppose to grade papers and ******* read them. You should really tell someone. That isn't right at all.
InfiniteSunshine 32
This is a personal narrative, so often it's difficult to put limits on the amount/length of writing, since personal experiences vary in length needed to accurately describe them and often depends on the individual. However, if the teacher did give a limit, which you then went over, that is a little bit of your own fault. But, that is still not an excuse to to completely fail you, and also to just not read it at all, whether it was too long or not, reading papers is part of his job. Also, unless it's incoherent rambling, length does not determine the legitimacy and strength of the paper, so at the very least you should get some marks. Go higher up and report his behavior because it's unfair and wrong.
kirkaygri 18
Very true, but if given a limit, you need to pick a subject you can explain within that limit. If what you want to write about is too broad/detailed, you need to choose a different subject. But I do agree with giving a failing grade, if the student went blatantly went over the limit without regard for the directions of the assignment. School is more about learning to follow rules and blending with society in a functioning way than it is about actually learning most subjects.
mylifeinflowers 2
While this may not necessarily be the case, personal narratives are one of the most frequently used formats for college admissions (they're used in the common application, which is huge) and those have very strict length limits. In those cases, going over the limit would automatically disqualify students from being considered for admission. I know many teachers try to incorporate this into their lesson plans to help prepare students. I don't know if it's the case in this situation, but there are a lot of good reasons to deny a student credit for writing a paper that is too long. Personally, I would have no issue returning a paper to a student who didn't meet the requirements (either too long or too short) without editing, but I would give them the option to revise on their own and resubmit. We don't really know if OP had that opportunity or not.
Ihavegas 22
put a 10 infront
Koalabiter 6
And fail because it's not MLA format.
ThrottleJockey 36
I had a similar experience in my senior economics class for our final report. The only real criteria for length was in that it had to be at least 5 pages. I was having a bit of difficulty coming up with a topic so my teacher, knowing that I was a bit of a car nut, came up with one for me. The exact title he gave me was, "How Was The Automobile A Catalyst For Change In America?" I had a blast writing it and turned in a 23 page report. He did the same thing to me as OP; 0% and "too long, didn't read." I showed him the report syllabus that HE have us and pointed out that there was no set length limit. He reneged, read it, and awarded me a 100%.
chinaski7628 32
If the teacher sets no page maximum, then you (or OP) should not be penalized at all for writing a long paper. I'm glad your teacher adjusted your grade. I love it when students become excited about researching or writing on a topic. I'm careful to always set page limits (and I strictly enforce them), but when a student finds a topic they're passionate about, I'll usually set up time outside of class to help them write additional "chapters" beyond the required essay and I'll usually give extra credit for it. I've also helped students get their extended pieces published. It's important to follow assignment guidelines for class submissions, but those guidelines don't mean that you can't extend your writing for your own purposes.
tigerthepredator 16
This fml was tl;dr
TeacherTeacher 11
If you were given a maximum length limit and exceeded it, you deserved to fail. You cannot follow directions. If you were given no length limit, talk to the teacher. If you get no satisfaction from the teacher, talk to the administration.
cm0112 11
Yea I'm pretty sure a teacher isn't allowed to give a student a 0 Bc he doesn't wanna read it.
Etweens96 25
Id report this to the superintendent or the board, it's obvious your teacher is targeting you for some superficial reasons. I'm sorry this happened to you Op, I hope this gets resolved
MaiqTheLiar 11
M'aiq always says "Talking less is saying more".