Today's subject is constructive criticism.
Let me set the context:
I had only one English teacher from Grade 7 to Grade 12. An excellent educator, Mr. Redmond taught me strong grammar skills and an early love for literature. I feel bad for the guy because I feel as if he's been very hampered by teaching in a small Christian school; not so much in a financial sense (though that's true) but more in the sense that what he's able to teach in literature classes is fairly constricted by the school's own standards, not to mention the fact that he has very little time to communicate with other educators and benefit much from any sort of national or regional discourse. He really cared about our education, teaching my class the same chapter sometimes 3 times in a row. He once referred to some of us as having "mud for brains," a fairly apt assessment that brought him a bit of backlash from parents more concerned with hemlines than their children's ability to communicate in any sort of coherent way.
I then went to "Maranatha Baptist Bible College." I tested out of English Composition I and straight into English Comp. II, of which I remember very little. We learned very basic ideas in regard to writing research papers and resumes. In that class I first met the girl who later dated my best friend, a relationship which resulted in several of us getting expelled (I came close but somehow made it through), a marriage, several children, and entertaining stories for publication at a later date. I took some literature classes from a Professor named Miss Wilfong and in those classes, learned to appreciate William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. Not until later would I actually learn how to research and discuss them, but at least I was turned on to them and received a bit more instruction on the technical aspects of writing a paper. In retrospect, I'm surprised she was allowed to teach either of those authors at all, but she had tenure and the college had very little interest in the liberal arts other than to condemn most of it, so they probably just didn't ask.
After two years at that college, I ended up at Southwestern Michigan College, a local community college with campuses 5 minutes and 25 minutes from my house. At SMC, I really learned to love literature thanks to a couple professors whose names I forget now. In Contemporary American Literature class, I read "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and my life was changed. While there, I actually learned how to pick up on themes, allusions, character development, and that sort of thing on more than a very broad, general basis. However, as much as I loved my instructors there and think they're doing a good job...it was a community college, and the education matched that.
I'm now at a university for the first time. My first actual literature course (I took Great Characters, a wonderful and enlightening course, in Spring '03 but it was mostly focused on personality and temperament as opposed to the whole of the literature) is coming to an end. "Beats & Hippies" is my favorite class I've ever taken and I plan to study the authors and themes indefinitely. The professor of "Beats & Hippies" is the chair of the department and an excellent teacher. He and another instructor have really influenced my learning and ability to write and critique at a much higher level than I even realized was possible. They hand papers, assignments, and tests back to me with detailed comments on how I can improve, what I'm doing well, the weaknesses of my arguments, and so on. I'm blown away at how much I'm learning now. I absolutely love the feedback and for the first time in my life, I'm beginning to feel confident in something. Last night I got back my term paper for "Beats & Hippies." Dr. Skau wrote two pages of feedback in addition to in-text comments, most of it in regard to weaknesses and problems with the paper. My grade? A-. Importantly, I actually
understand the comments he and Dr. Latchaw give me and able to incorporate those ideas into my future writing.
My roommate and I have conversations about writing from time to time, and we both agree that constructive criticism is essential to writing. If I want to hear "great writing, you're awesome" about a piece, I know quite a few people more than willing to dish that out and do so sincerely. However, I'd rather have my writing torn apart and critiqued almost ad nauseum, because that's what I actually learn from. At 26, I'm finally getting that, and I feel as if my own writing is improving and that maybe, just maybe, I can do this.