Did you write papers in high school? [Added: Special Accommodations?]

I wrote a term paper or two and several small papers.

Not a senior thesis.

It was so much harder then, going to the library and lugging home multiple books, keeping notes from each, with the information for the citation.

The ease of information availability now days, when my kids were writing papers in school it was so much easier.
 
Icky Mettle said:
I went to a high school that was all about preparing us for college so we wrote a decent number of papers. No senior thesis though. I and most of the folks I went to high school with thought high school was much more rigorous than college.
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College was so much harder for me.

I pretty much slept through high school and only did the minimum to graduate. I so wish I had known how much it would help me in life had I studied and really learned to study.
 
heelinhell said:
Back in the day I wrote many HS papers and papers at UNC.

My HS English teacher taught us how to write a paper which served me well at UNC.

1 ) Tell the reader what you are going to tell them, then
2 ) Tell them what you are telling them, then
3 ) Tell them what you told them

the secret to writing a perfect paper/essay...
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Allegedly advice from Aristotle, a student of Socrates. To paraphrase "The Godfather," "Leave the hemlock, take the writing advice."
 
05C40 said:
In high school when writing papers, I always had "Warriner's English Grammar and Composition," 1965 edition by my side. I inherited it from my older brother and even wrote my name in the book as closely mimicking the way my brother did as I could. I also had a copy of Strunk & White's "The Elements of Style," that I frequently consulted. I even made Xerox copies of Chapter 10, Glossery of Usage, from Warriner's book that I stapled to the back cover of "The Elements of Style." While I am retired, I have a desk in my home and both these books are within arm's reach of my where I sit when writing something on my computer.
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"The Elements of Style" was definitely an important resource required by my high school teachers
 
Wrote papers for my AP classes in English Lit and American history. Yep, I knew all those things.
 
Anybody have any idea whether or not your own kids are writing papers and learning these things?

Of course I ask because I am encountering increasing numbers of students who seem to have written a reasonable amount but without having had it corrected nor had the rules of grammar and punctuation brought to bear on their work.

Perhaps it is Covid...Freshmen and Sophomores in college today were at that parallel stage (9th and 10th) grade during the pandemic.

This also brings me to a discussion that maybe belongs in the War on Universities thread but can go here just as well and that is Special Accommodations.

These days an increasing number of students receive several testing permissions. This generally comes after applying and undergoing a testing/review process. The most common are:

1) Extra Time for Taking a Test
2) Test-taking in an environment that suits the student
3) Availability of Study Guides at least a week ahead of time
4) Special dispensation for missing classes (no penalty)
5) Special dispensation for leaving a class (and returning) that is in session (no penalty)
6) Special dispensation to use electronics (laptops or other devices)

From my point of view this has essentially eliminated the Pop Quiz or any unannounced activities that might cause stress or anxiety. There are ways of dealing with this, i.e., work-arounds, but they require creativity.
 
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