I have to learn how to say "NO"
Maybe I'm just a masochist or I have a really bad memory (nope, that's not it) - or maybe I just believe the best in people/situations and that things get better. I shouldn't. I was wrong to think that.
I agreed to be judge for the second year in a row of a student writing contest about diversity. Now I know what you're thinking, that this sounds like it wouldn't rank very high on the levels of hell scale. If you're thinking that, you would be wrong.
There are more than 200 entries. The winners are announced on Feb. 18. The judges decisions have to be in NO LATER THAN Feb. 10. That's right. I got a week to drudge through thecrap not so good stuff to get to the top three. Not so good stuff like the kids who keep talking about how diversity is great because it means different kinds of food for them to eat and different kinds of music for them to listen to. And, maybe when you're 13 that is diversity to you. Maybe I am expecting too much of these middle school kids.
So far I've read 20 and already there has been entirely too much use of the word "coloured" (um, don't the teachers give a little lesson on diversity and whatnot before sending the little kiddies off to write these works of openmindness and acceptance). I also did not miss the Grade 8 student who used the word "bastien"...I'm thinking if he knew what it meant he'd know how to spell it.
Yes, this is what I'll be posting about for the next week: how very disappointed I am in the next generation and how they can't express themselves good. There will, of course, be the few shinning lights that make me resist the urge to pay a visit to the local schools and yell at the teachers and educate the students (I hope).
On the bright side, being a judge does create endless conversation opportunities where I recount excerpts from the entries to my friends and colleagues for my own amusement (I did this A LOT last year - used it as date/getting to know you fodder. This year new people will be subjected to it...and the few people who stumble upon my blog. Hello there. Please come again!)
I agreed to be judge for the second year in a row of a student writing contest about diversity. Now I know what you're thinking, that this sounds like it wouldn't rank very high on the levels of hell scale. If you're thinking that, you would be wrong.
There are more than 200 entries. The winners are announced on Feb. 18. The judges decisions have to be in NO LATER THAN Feb. 10. That's right. I got a week to drudge through the
So far I've read 20 and already there has been entirely too much use of the word "coloured" (um, don't the teachers give a little lesson on diversity and whatnot before sending the little kiddies off to write these works of openmindness and acceptance). I also did not miss the Grade 8 student who used the word "bastien"...I'm thinking if he knew what it meant he'd know how to spell it.
Yes, this is what I'll be posting about for the next week: how very disappointed I am in the next generation and how they can't express themselves good. There will, of course, be the few shinning lights that make me resist the urge to pay a visit to the local schools and yell at the teachers and educate the students (I hope).
On the bright side, being a judge does create endless conversation opportunities where I recount excerpts from the entries to my friends and colleagues for my own amusement (I did this A LOT last year - used it as date/getting to know you fodder. This year new people will be subjected to it...and the few people who stumble upon my blog. Hello there. Please come again!)
posted by Danielle @ 9:20 PM
1 Comments:
At 2:15 PM ,
Vicki said...
Try reading fanfic. You wonder at the literacy of some people...
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