I suppose you could refer to this as a rant, but I see it as a persuasive writing. I carefully wrote this with the thought that I’d be able to turn it into some sort of presentation to give to my school. Whether it be though a speech, or posting up on the walls. I want it to be read/heard. So please, pass this on. The only thing I ask is to leave it uncredited, and do not take credit of it. I don’t want credit of this for one simple reason: We all think think this. Or at least the majority of us do. Anyone could write the work I’ve put on this paper, but becuase I haven’t seen anyone do so, I did.

Correcting School’s Corrections

            Every two days at Mitchell High School we have a black day. Teachers will give out homework to do, and bring back – completed – on the next black day. The way teachers correct papers is quite funny though. Some like to correct them while the students are working on their next assignment, some like to take them all home and spend all night working on them, then, there’s the instant class correct. This is where the teacher says, “Pass your papers to your neighbor to correct.” This can become a problem, don’t you think? The “instant correct” method of correcting papers is – to me – the least effective, and most disliked way of correcting. I’m here to change the teachers that do use this method. This is not going to be me saying it’s the teachers fault. I’m not going to rag on them, as they probably get enough of that in class. I’m going to focus on more why it’s a bad system to use.

            First thing, kids screw up. It’s plain and simple. We do. We can misunderstand what the teacher is saying, and check something off as right when it’s not, or vice versa. We might also just completely not hear what the teacher says. Though that probably means we’re doing something wrong. Still, it happens.

            Secondly, the exchanging process. It doesn’t matter if you pass to the right or left, or how many people you skip along the way. Sometimes, you just don’t want other people seeing what you put on your paper! You may not have known answers to problems, and took a wild guess. This makes you look stupid to the person that is correcting your paper, right? I know I’ve made myself look pretty dumb a few times. Another thing that can happen when passing papers is giving your paper to someone you don’t necessarily like. Oh, great, now to show off your smart skills to this person.

            Through personal experience, I know this happens too. You’ve got no friends in the class, and no one knows you. The teacher tells you to trade papers, and about three seconds later, everyone’s switched besides you… You sit there, and stare blankly at your paper… Now you have to look even dumber, like you didn’t have a clue what just happened. Time to raise your hand and tell everyone you have no friends.

            Or correct your own paper, and hope you don’t get caught “cheating.” I’ve done that a few times, never have gotten caught though. When I do, I know I’m going to be mad, and the teacher will not understand the fact that I do not want anyone reading what I put on my paper. The answers I put on paper are for my teacher’s eyes only. If I knew that the paper was going to be given to a peer, I would probably word, and answer many problems differently.

            The last reason this is a bad method is because of the cheating. Let’s say, when the teacher tells you to trade papers, everyone trades with their friends. If those friends don’t have the answer, sometimes they will put the answer in for each other. I see this a lot in our buildings. It annoys me how easily our papers can be cheated on; all it takes is a friend.

            So please, teachers, this method of correcting papers is ineffective, insecure, and sometimes, makes kids not want to do the work in the first place. I believe we need to return to the method where the teacher does all of the correcting – not the students. You may have plans, you may have many papers to correct, you might even get behind on grading; but I think that this particular method of correcting has proven to be more of a problem than a way to correct.