Comments on: Making the grade

By: Bitter

Bitter — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:07:41 +0000

I guess I’m not completely upset that some people noted her writing style and other issues in their criticism. It’s partly a credit to her that it’s because we’ve seen adults write at that level. I know I have because I spend most of my week editing others. It scares me what some consider professional. On the other hand, it might be helpful for her to know that she shouldn’t grow up to be one of those adults.

I also have to say that one reason people might be biased on assuming someone older is because most blogs are written by those who are a little older, and many websites have restrictions for children. What do you know, Wordpress.com has such a restriction. If she’s not 13 yet, she’s in violation of their terms and willfully presented herself as older. Yes, I realize that kids lie all the time. And yes, I realize that it may be a difference of one or two years which would still allow for the literal 6th grade writing level. However, I think it’s fair to point out that there are reasons people would have a bias toward someone older.

By: dave

dave — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:53:22 +0000

She has great potential to be a professional journalist.

By: SayUncle

SayUncle — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:00:55 +0000

6th grade? I’m impressed.

By: Joat

Joat — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:59:54 +0000

In here defense she mentions that this is for a 6th grade class and that would make her 11 or 12. It reads about the same as most main stream anti gun types writing, 4 years of college for journalism and you end up writing at a sixth grade level.

By: SayUncle

SayUncle — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:49:09 +0000

not supposed to pick on her. be nice and make your point.

By: vinnie

vinnie — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:46:29 +0000

UUUhhhhm guys….. I took a look around the blog. We are picking on an 8th grader or so.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:07:05 +0000

I enjoyed her use of a larger font and the red colouring. Nothing says persuasive and well reasoned more than screamer letters.

By: Yu-Ain Gonnano

Yu-Ain Gonnano — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:38:30 +0000

Vinnie, that sometimes is a indicator of comment moderation. It may just not be released yet. Time will tell if it is left in moderation purgatory.

By: vinnie

vinnie — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:38:36 +0000

Well she learned reasoned discourse quickly. Only my comment shows up, and it goes away if I view the page from a different computer.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:15:55 +0000

Ahh, nothing like good fisking material. I could resist and provided her a “nice” response to her ignorance. Here’s hoping her instructor is actually objective and finds it on her blog.

By: mike w.

mike w. — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:51:05 +0000

That was a paper? Something she’s actually going to turn in? There’s not much substance to it, she doesn’t make much of an argument, there are NO citations, and her grammar is terrible.

Then again our schools don’t exactly stress writing. I remember proofreading papers for people in college that were so terrible I only fixed half of the mistakes I found. They’d get the paper back and get a “B” for something that I’d consider barely passable in a college level class.

By: drstrangegun

drstrangegun — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:59:01 +0000

This is typical of the quick and dirty research that most schools allow their students to get away with. Cites? Quotes? Facts? Not important.

I weep for the future.

By: Breda

Breda — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:00:51 +0000

Is this is project for a remedial English class?

By: James

James — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:37:27 +0000

F.A.I.L.

Try quoting real numbers and statistics next time, or pick another subject where in you will not be as biased and ignorant of the facts, kiddo.