a bored mind can be a dangerous thing
Or not dangerous really...but more likely to free associate in strange ways
OK, so my mind works strangely on a good day, which you may have already known, but today it actually came up with something that seemed to be so simple it surprised me that I had never realized this before. All through high school I hated having to write outlines for my research papers (or any other papers truth be told). I would often write the paper and then create an outline based on what I had written, which really irked several teachers over the years who noticed that the outline always mirrored the final paper too closely to have been created before I began writing. I don't see the problem, or didn't then, because my normal paper writing routine was always to write a rough draft after I had done the bulk of the research and mulled over the ideas for a few days, then I would type up the final paper based on whatever changes I deemed necessary after looking over the draft a few times (yes, she said type...don't forget this WAS the 1980's, so it wasn't like too many people had access to computers in their homes). There is a point to this ramble I think, but I seemed to have strayed a bit, so back to business. I am processing a collection at the archives that contains some student papers written 1950s to 1970s. The papers all start with the usual cover page and end with a references section. They also have, almost all of them, a table of contents, even if the paper is just 10 pages. It occurred to me as I was adding notes to my folder lists that I may have found a use for all those silly outlines forced on us in junior high and high school (please tell me I wasn't alone in this). They would make a nice table of contents wouldn't they? I mean not a fully expanded outline of course, but a pared down version would work great and probably have been a way to convince me that they were useful. That I think was the problem I had with them. They seemed a waste of time for me. I could write a decent paper without first writing an outline, so why should I be bothered to turn one in just to make the teacher aware that I could follow directions. That was how I saw it, I mean those same teachers who called me on the "outline after the fact" were also giving me 100s or As on the papers written sans outline. To say that's hypocritical is an understatement. Of course, it is possible that they did suggest the outline as table of contents to me and I was just too stubborn to agree or see it as useful at the time. I was like that in high school occasionally (maybe a bit more than occasionally, but hey…those weren’t all nice teachers either!). Looking back I think a lot of it was boredom. The class would be discussing the book we were given the day before, and the teacher would become annoyed that my responses weren't based on the assigned reading (for example the first 2 chapters), but were based on a later section of the book or on the text as a whole. Hey, I found the books interesting sometimes and so finished them in one night. That was what I did. Some weeks I would read 3 or 4 books as well as completing all class work, so I didn't see the point in limiting my reading just so the teacher could be more comfortable in class. I especially loved the days when no one had an answer to her questions (yes…I am picking on a particular teacher but won’t be vulgar and name names or even what grade I was in) and so when mine was the only hand raised she had to let me answer. A few times she reminded me what chapters we had read so that I didn’t “jump ahead and spoil the rest of the book for the class.”
OK, I think this is the end of my rant for the day. Though it wasn’t all rant I suppose. Just caught my attention at work today, and I so like to share!!
OK, so my mind works strangely on a good day, which you may have already known, but today it actually came up with something that seemed to be so simple it surprised me that I had never realized this before. All through high school I hated having to write outlines for my research papers (or any other papers truth be told). I would often write the paper and then create an outline based on what I had written, which really irked several teachers over the years who noticed that the outline always mirrored the final paper too closely to have been created before I began writing. I don't see the problem, or didn't then, because my normal paper writing routine was always to write a rough draft after I had done the bulk of the research and mulled over the ideas for a few days, then I would type up the final paper based on whatever changes I deemed necessary after looking over the draft a few times (yes, she said type...don't forget this WAS the 1980's, so it wasn't like too many people had access to computers in their homes). There is a point to this ramble I think, but I seemed to have strayed a bit, so back to business. I am processing a collection at the archives that contains some student papers written 1950s to 1970s. The papers all start with the usual cover page and end with a references section. They also have, almost all of them, a table of contents, even if the paper is just 10 pages. It occurred to me as I was adding notes to my folder lists that I may have found a use for all those silly outlines forced on us in junior high and high school (please tell me I wasn't alone in this). They would make a nice table of contents wouldn't they? I mean not a fully expanded outline of course, but a pared down version would work great and probably have been a way to convince me that they were useful. That I think was the problem I had with them. They seemed a waste of time for me. I could write a decent paper without first writing an outline, so why should I be bothered to turn one in just to make the teacher aware that I could follow directions. That was how I saw it, I mean those same teachers who called me on the "outline after the fact" were also giving me 100s or As on the papers written sans outline. To say that's hypocritical is an understatement. Of course, it is possible that they did suggest the outline as table of contents to me and I was just too stubborn to agree or see it as useful at the time. I was like that in high school occasionally (maybe a bit more than occasionally, but hey…those weren’t all nice teachers either!). Looking back I think a lot of it was boredom. The class would be discussing the book we were given the day before, and the teacher would become annoyed that my responses weren't based on the assigned reading (for example the first 2 chapters), but were based on a later section of the book or on the text as a whole. Hey, I found the books interesting sometimes and so finished them in one night. That was what I did. Some weeks I would read 3 or 4 books as well as completing all class work, so I didn't see the point in limiting my reading just so the teacher could be more comfortable in class. I especially loved the days when no one had an answer to her questions (yes…I am picking on a particular teacher but won’t be vulgar and name names or even what grade I was in) and so when mine was the only hand raised she had to let me answer. A few times she reminded me what chapters we had read so that I didn’t “jump ahead and spoil the rest of the book for the class.”
OK, I think this is the end of my rant for the day. Though it wasn’t all rant I suppose. Just caught my attention at work today, and I so like to share!!