Today, I forbade a student in the writing seminar I instructed from continuing to present his disturbing poems about demons. He responded to this by convincing nearly every other student in the seminar to write and read out loud several of his poems. FML
Collection
Halloween
A failed costume, stolen candy and a very real scare: Halloween, the one night when fear is allowed.
Today, my new creative writing teacher informed the class that we should consult him before writing anything "dark or disturbing." I only took the class because my therapist recommended that I join the class so I could freely express my darker thoughts without her help or a fear of being judged. FML
Today, my teacher read my story about a haunted house for a class assignment. She liked it very much and turned it in to the office to be sent into a state writing competition. An hour later, I was called to the office where the guidance counselor called my work "disturbing" and said I "need help". FML
Today, my boyfriend came across an old poem I wrote. I like to write horror stuff, but he was disturbed, called it “silly” and “sad”, and said he didn’t want to have a girlfriend who thinks about stuff like that. I'm now discouraged from becoming a writer. FML
Today, I was reading my students' Halloween stories I made them write for my creative writing class in high school. One of my students wrote about attacking me. She got my street address perfect and everything. FML
Today, one of my classmates got bullied and the whole class got to wrote 2000 words about that. FML
Today, I submitted a poem for my English class. I had fun writing it, so I wrote a second which was not nearly as good. My procrastinator of a friend never did his, so I gave him my extra poem. Mine was given a 75% while "his" received a 93%. FML
Today, a parent of one of the students I teach called me to complain that I was teaching her child "lies" and "fairytales". I was teaching them about the Holocaust. FML
Today, a student set me on fire while I was lecturing my class about proper lab safety. FML
Today, I gathered the courage to participate in a class discussion. My professor laughed at me. FML
Today, we wrote Valentine's Day poems in class. I wrote a very depressing poem about how I was rejected by all the girls I like and how it hurts to be alone. When it was read to the class, they laughed and told me it was hilarious. Even the teacher. FML
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Top comments
MrConcise 35
Actually, I kinda agree with the student. **** your censorship, OP. Stephen King has written many masterpieces.
drayloon 50
Is it a creative writing course? You shouldn't be forbidding a student from writing about what they want then, as long as isn't criminal.
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Comments (124)
trulypar 34
What could have "possessed" them to do that for your student? :-)
suri23 11
Outplayed, OP.
Sathane 21
Why exactly is he not allowed to express himself as he chooses?
ProfessorMctitie 20
The same reason why we dont want mass murders to express themselves. You dont even know what the student was saying about demons so how can you defend him...
a1_z9 10
If he wants to write professionally it wouldn't do him harm to listen to his teacher and widen his skills beyond demon poetry writing and learn consideration of his audience, very rarely do you get payed just for being yourself.
jude_iscariot 7
What? That makes no sense. Mass murderers express themselves through MURDER. If they want to express themselves otherwise, they are allowed. Charles Manson makes music and art, for instance.
Champignon_fml 19
#49, if just about the entire class supports this kid by copying his poems and reading them aloud, I think "consideration of his audience" isn't an issue here. Also, forbidding someone from presenting poems will not magically "widen their skills", it just shows the teacher's inability to cope with a subject that is obviously not an issue to anyone else in the classroom. Also, no one ever mentioned that this kid wants make a living out of writing demon poems.
a1_z9 10
I meant audience as in the teacher, when you're learning they often take the same role as a client or employer. If the demon-boy isn't prepared to take the teacher's feedback and show he can write on more than one topic, why is he in the class?
Champignon_fml 19
Well... First off, teachers of creative writing seminars aren't "clients" or "employers". They are supposed to offer guidance on how to improve writing skills and express creativity. Compare it to art teachers - they're supposed to teach techniques for creative expression. It's impossible to act like a "client" or "employer" for the entire concept of literature because it's got such a broad spectrum of genres that no matter what you write, there will always be an audience for it. Second, forbidding someone from presenting a poem is not "feedback", it's censorship. Feedback would be the teacher telling the pupil what's wrong with the poem and how to improve it. Nothing good comes out of just telling people they can't do something without properly explaining why. The fact that just about the entire class supported him tells me that the problem lies with the teacher, not the pupil or his poems. Third, the OP only says he forbade the student from presenting poems involving demons. They never said the student only writes about demons, so I do not share this assumption. And if it were true, it only makes the teacher's reaction much worse because in that case, there may be a reason that needs to be taken care of (eg childhood traumas). And fourth... well, he's probably in a writing class to improve his writing technique, not to have a teacher ban him from presenting stuff because they don't agree with the theme.
worldclassrager 41
Smart kid...
S_Gnu 17
That's metal.
amberdea404 28
I would have voted no on this in moderation.
jude_iscariot 7
Good for all of them - speaking out against censorship.
Ichiya 29
Not all censorship is bad. Should we allow children to view **** simply because its bad to censor it?
awesumous 16
Fail all of them. If they gonna gang up on a teacher, u need to let them know who is boss!!! Also, contact all of their parents... some wont care, but it'll thin out to only kids with parents who don't care. Then fail them. Also detention
jude_iscariot 7
Yeah, fail them for their free speech!
calucalay 13
Wow I can honestly say that if a teacher failed my child for not "respecting" the teacher and supporting creativity and freedom of speech then I would gladly pull my child out of the class and put them into a class with a realistic teacher who understands that people are creative in their own ways. I am so sick and tired of the whole "show them whose boss" views for teachers guess what that doesn't make you a good teacher. Your concern shouldn't be showing them whose boss, it should be teaching and supporting the students.
Zebediabolical 45
If a teacher failed my child for not "respecting" the teacher and supporting creativity and freedom of speech I'm pretty sure I would do everything in my power to remove that teacher from the classroom. Permanently.
rldostie 19
As a writer and a creative writing co-professor, I have to side with the student on this. Instead of trying to censor his work, try to get him to work on themes or a relevant tone. WHY is he using demons in his poetry? If it's just for a reaction, then explain why that doesn't make good poetry. If he's trying for something deeper, then explore it. Just because YOU don't like the content doesn't mean HE has to change what he's writing.
S_Gnu 17
This is an excellent response, why the hell is it getting downvoted?
Champignon_fml 19
This needs more upvotes. If a student in a writing course uses disturbing imagery frequently, the proper reaction isn't to forbid him from presenting them. Work WITH him instead of against him. You're a teacher, not a censorship agent. You're supposed to discuss topics instead of banning them. If he writes about demons so often, there must be a reason. Why don't you get to the bottom of that first? For all you know, he's using poetry as a way to process traumatic events and all you're doing is telling him not to do that.
TallMist 32
From the fact that you were the only one disturbed by this (Based on the fact nearly all your students sided with the guy you banned from making poetry), I say YDI for using censorship on the sole fact that you and nearly you alone found it disturbing. You may have had every right to if you wanted, but that does NOT mean you should stop him from expressing himself based solely on if you liked it or not.