The Shining Source

But I'm reading a pupil's work and it goes like this:

"I am writing to say that I want to stop wars its the three S's Silly, Stupid and Scary. I mean, whats the point in having it if it destroys the population and nobody wants it to happen! It all started when 9/11 happened after that george bush said that we were going to war well america were going to war to get revege but then george said that britain should as well and stupid Tony blair agreed. I don't know men these days so stupid"

I am an English teacher, not a History teacher, but do I still correct her for saying it all started four and a half years ago?

War as unfortunate as it may be is a boon to the technological development of the human race. Almost all of the creature comforts that we have come to know and love stem directly from an invention or concept divised in a time of war. From canned food to the GPS system, War just seems to bring out the best and brightest inventive minds of our time and put them to work.

9/11 is the culmination of centuries of conflict and unrest in the middle east. There has NEVER (to my knowledge) been a peaceful period of time in that region of the world. It is also the clash of two different ideals, both of which unable to agree/stop what they are doing to eachother. What has assured worldwide peace (to a degree mind you, there is still ethnic cleansing and tribal warfare raging in parts of the world) is the concept of Mutual Assured Destruction. A Product of the cold war MAD is the result of a build-up of several hundreds and more likely thousands of thermonuclear weapons who's destructive power we have truly yet to behold.

Men are not stupid, as a matter of fact neither sex is really 'smarter' than the other. Development is based purely on education and intellectual evolution, despite hormonal differences (and the side effects they produce) physical differences, and sociological differences both sexes are perfectly even in their purpose and function. The idea of a Patriarchal society has been relevant for quite some time, and although women have recently received additional freedoms and opportunities (some still yet to recieve in other parts of the world) they have not quite yet influenced society to adopt an even keel between the two sexes.
To inject Personal Opinion: Neither sex should dominate. I firmly beleive in a policy of moderation, or equal share. Especially within the family unit both sexes must work together to build a successful and happy life together. However the only way to get there is to share responsibilities so that neither sex feels that they have been left out or stuck with a stereotype that demands they do certain things merely because of what sex they are. Men can show humility just as Women can display strength. This 'battle of the sexes' type thinking is purely bollocks and I cant wait for the day it is thrown in the rubbish.

*hands in paper* sorry for the slashes teach..

You know, the sentence structure of that pupil is so ridiculously bad that I really have no way to extract any meaning out of it.

That is, any meaning other than that he utterly sucks at English .

But was as a boon to the technological development of the human race..I'm not fully sure of that one, because it may become harder for scientists to exchange knowledge in a long protracted war. I can see how it helps unemployment and overpopulation though.. O_O

That was by an 11 or 12-year old student, by the way... just so you know

I'd also mark her down for using the american dating system, if shes refering to september the 11th 2001, it should be 11/9, not 9/11. Edit: But then I'm just really really british and get worked up on stuff like that.

9/11 is a name for the event, and she uses it as an event name, not as a date.

As for your questions Newts, I thought it depended on what type of writing it was as to whether it needs to have more correct facts?

Creative writing is creative ; ) and there was another type, I forget it's been a while, transactional or something, where we had to use our opinions based on real things.  A small mistake like the number of years might not cause marks to go down but would cause a comment at the bottom of the paper saying "check your dates!" or some such.

I used to draw my teachers little people at the bottom of my papers.  Most teachers told me not to time and time again and one teacher got so pissed off that I wouldn't do as I was told that I failed an assignment I did quite well on.  I knew I should have gone with the stick man stuck inside a hole underground rather than the dog trying to bite its own tail.

12 years old and already with an opinion. I didn't have an opinion until i was 19.
In any case Newts, try to keep an unbiased position regarding the content. In my first year in college i wrote an outstanding paper describing the behavior of churchgoers during mass and my very religious teacher gave me a D, refraining completely from writing any grammatical or structural criticism to fill any white space with little comments of the type: "how can you say that" or "when i go to church ..." or "i disagree because...".
I was very mad, especially since i had gotten very positive feedback from my peers.

I made sure I corrected her capital letters and sentence structure without, in a Fawlty Towers-style, mentioning the war.

I also have a list of great test answers coming soon.

Yeah I know, I'm just over british