MLA Documentation and Other Petty Technicalities

[scem0]

Am I the only one who is sick of teachers who forget about their job-teaching?

My math teacher (well, one of them, I take two math classes), gets very caught up in technicalities. If you don't do your HW in pencil, minus five. If you don't write your name, minus five. If you aren't sitting in your desk when the tardy bell rings, minus five.

My English teacher does the same thing. She is obsessed with MLA documentation. If you don't follow their guidlines on citation, then you get docked major points. Seems to me that if you make it clear what or where your source is, you should get credit.

This can be expanded to a broader topic, homework in general. I have never been much of a homework kind of guy. I learn the material though, I just listen in class. Teachers assign homework because people talk during class and don't learn what they are supposed to.

For example, I understand what we did in Pre-cal today, yet I'm going to have to spend 30 minutes doing pointless problems and I'll probably lose points because I forgot to write out all the steps while doing blah blah blah with my sine equations.

I think homework is such a babyish thing. If someone can't learn the material in class, then it is their job to learn it outside of class.

This thread is inspired by tons of Statistics homework, tons of Pre-cal homework, tons of Government homework, on top of tons of college essays to write and tons of applications to fill out.

scem0

[homerjward]

i agree 100%. especially about mla citations. i "collaborate"t on pretty much all my homework. me and like 3 or 4 of my friends do like 1/3 of it then all share answers. doesnt work on papers though... there's people who faithfully do all their homework and are like perfect stuff and still get c's which means there must be something wrong with homework

[PlaceofDis]

i totally understand, but its the only way to standardize grading i guess

its not very effective, i have enjoyed the way in which i have been given homework these past four years in college, except with a few classes

see i too learn in class, or on my own, its what works for me, tests i do horrible on, panik attacks and such, essays i can do though since writing is one of my best spots, for example, in my engl. 471 (british novel since 1900) class, we had a two part midterm, first half was identifying quotations, second was an essay, i did crappy on the quotes (although i did read most of the books and knew everything about them and the authors) but the essay i nearly aced

i was going to be a HS Teacher, but i found the college level to be more of what im looking for, so i can understand the need for homework, but its isnt always the most practical or effeciant way of teaching students who dont pay attention in class, after all those are the students who probably wont do the hw anyways

some classes i have had have given me too much petty work to do, which ruins the class and the learning experience for me, because its overwhelming a student with work that really isnt needed. other classes give me a few papers and sometimes a lot of books to read, or just texts to read, and i excel at those classes, because i dont have to be bogged down with studying or doing small stuff that wont help my grade all that much and just ends up making me frustrated with the teacher and class in the end...

ps. sorry for the bit of a rant there...

[saabmp3]

The technicalities matter in the end. When you get to college, most prof's don't require you to do homework, but it's the best thing you can do. HS teachers are just trying to get you on the right path. It may seem stupid now, but when the prof goes over 10% of the material for the course in class, it's your responsability to do the other 90% of it by yourself...at home...working....

You might not like it now, but it's supposed to be teaching you good habits.

BEN

[scem0]

The technicalities matter in the end. When you get to college, most prof's don't require you to do homework, but it's the best thing you can do. HS teachers are just trying to get you on the right path. It may seem stupid now, but when the prof goes over 10% of the material for the course in class, it's your responsability to do the other 90% of it by yourself...at home...working....

You might not like it now, but it's supposed to be teaching you good habits.

BEN

That's definitely true, but it teaches the exact opposite. Many of my peers seem to think that they will get the material served to them on a silver platter in college. They don't realize that usually a professor doesn't assign homework. It's their job to learn the material.

scem0

[saabmp3]

That's definitely true, but it teaches the exact opposite. Many of my peers seem to think that they will get the material served to them on a silver platter in college. They don't realize that usually a professor doesn't assign homework. It's their job to learn the material.

scem0

Everybody who wants to should be able to make it through a public high school. It's not rocket science. College on the other hand.....

Reserve a college degree for somebody who earns it and deserves it.

BEN

[camobag]

Just so the original "poster" knows, homework in high school is like intelligence in George W: there's not a lot. If you intend to go to college then you have to understand that homework is everything--different homework, however. I understand that you're having trouble with MLA format, I had the same trouble. But seriously, once you get to college and are required (hopefully) to write numerous essays, MLA isn't that hard. You also learn how to use the manuel efficiently. Right now I'm learning a whole new citation format for law school and it sucks because it's totally new, but I am getting better. So, sorry about the homework but just get used to it. Trust me, it's not as bad when you just accept it.

[Peyote]

Like another poster said, MLA isn't hard. It's VERY easy to look up in your MLA handbook what the right way to cite something is. If you take the time to do it, and do it right, your teacher won't have to spend as much time on it. But it's something you have to know if you are going to college. Besides, you don't even have to LEARN MLA....that's what the handbook is for. The only thing you need to learn is that you need to use MLA.

The reason for MLA is simple. Imagine what a pain in the ass it would be for someone else to try and decipher your own made up citation system, along with the individual citings of all your other classmates. And Don't forget that you'd likely have inconcistencies in your citations from one to the next.

You want your teacher to do their job so bad, but don't seem to care to make it easier for them to be able to do so.