Annoying school projects?

[Aunt Spiker]

Everyone's done at least one school project that was like nails on a chalkboard!
Discuss. . .


My only one I've done aside from essays is my current project for art: a newsprint portfolio. 25 newsprint articles on something art-related - all cut nicely, commented on, attached neatly to sheets and placed into a notebook - presentation counts, lots of particular rules to follow, papers to write to include as well.

Literally THE WORST medium to work with. I've had to *not* use certain good articles because they've ripped while I've been carefully cataloging and analyzing them.
ARG! and finding art articles isn't the easiest thing in the world - though Iv'e had help from family who are kind enough to send me things they find.

So ridiculous -I swear I can't wait to be done with this tedious and sensitive thing.

 

[Josie]

In one of my education college classes, we had to fill out a giant cursive handwriting book because the professor said that she has noticed how adults cannot write in cursive well anymore. I bet the book was almost an inch thick. I'd fill out 5-7 pages at night while watching TV or right before I went to bed.

In research class, we had to write a 10 page research paper with sources. Blech. I'd much rather do creative writing than boring crap like that. In one class, we had to write a paper and I inserted my personal touch of sarcasm. I got an okay grade, but the professor wrote a note that not every teacher would appreciate my "voice".

 

[Aunt Spiker]

LOL

I completely ignored an assigned essay topic because it annoyed me - wrote 2 papers, instead . . . one explaining my purpose and reason for ignoring her assignment and the other was my substitute assignment in it's place.

She gave me an F

:rofl

 

[Josie]

LOL

I completely ignored an assigned essay topic because it annoyed me - wrote 2 papers, instead . . . one explaining my purpose and reason for ignoring her assignment and the other was my substitute assignment in it's place.

She gave me an F

:rofl

Heh. What was the assigned essay and what did you write in place of it?

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

Everyone's done at least one school project that was like nails on a chalkboard!
Discuss. . .


My only one I've done aside from essays is my current project for art: a newsprint portfolio. 25 newsprint articles on something art-related - all cut nicely, commented on, attached neatly to sheets and placed into a notebook - presentation counts, lots of particular rules to follow, papers to write to include as well.

Literally THE WORST medium to work with. I've had to *not* use certain good articles because they've ripped while I've been carefully cataloging and analyzing them.
ARG! and finding art articles isn't the easiest thing in the world - though Iv'e had help from family who are kind enough to send me things they find.

So ridiculous -I swear I can't wait to be done with this tedious and sensitive thing.

Any and all writing assignments.

They are usually dry topics, that have been done ad naseum.
Plus I hate writing long drawn out stuff, when I can be real pithy with it and get the point across.

 

[Hoplite]

It wasn't the type of assignment it was the requirements.

It was a Sociology class with a professor that had...a very esoteric view of things.

We had to do SOME kind of presentation about some aspect of our society. That was LITERALLY the entire assignment and all the directions. I thought, "Ok, fine, I'll pick something I know and does well to demonstrate." That's when the fun stated.

NOTHING was right and NOTHING met his requirements. My first proposal was to do something on martial arts. That got the "That's a perfect idea! But it's too broad. Try to be more focused!" Alright, well, how about a presentation about the various forms of martial arts and what they're generally used for? "GREAT idea! I love it! But it's too focused, try to be a little more general."

GAH!

I decided to change tack and I asked about doing a presentation about political ideologies and the various range of them, some very basic information regarding each, etc etc. "Hmmm...it's a great idea, but why dont you focus on a more productive aspect of our society?" **Twitch twitch** I changed it around a little and asked about doing a presentation about the role of labor relations and unions in the workforce. "I love it! Very focused. But I dont think anyone here could really RELATE to that."

At this point I was ready to beat her with a notebook.

Zen Buddhism? "Too far-reaching"
Transhumanism? "Too esoteric"
Paganism? "Too hard to relate to"
Welding? "Too scientific"
Asian films? "Too frivolous"
Pyrotechnics? "Too dangerous" (I didnt get it either)
Sexuality? "Too racy"
File sharing? "Too controversial"
Cooking? "Too ordinary"
The role of open world games in social contact? "Not everyone plays games"
Non-monogamous relationships? "Too hard to relate to"
Censorship in America? "Too obvious"

By the way, I'm not making up this list. This is the list of topics I presented to the professor and the summary of her response. After a while of this, I finally said "**** it!" and basically ignored the assignment. The due day came and NO ONE had ANYTHING ready. An entire MONTH had gone by and the professor had not accepted ONE SINGLE proposal that ANY of the 36 students in the class had submitted to him.

When facing the prospect of dinging an entire class the equivalent of a full letter grade, he wisely decided to pretend the project didnt exist.

 

[RosieS]

500 index cards summarizing 500 childrens' books with 500 words per card. The most miserable summer I've ever spent. The librarians were ready to set up a cot and let me just sleep over. The final exam was 500 multiple choice questions about "The Wind in the Willows"! I never wanted to murder anyone so badly ever.

Regards from Rosie

 

[Diogenes]

I completely ignored an assigned essay topic because it annoyed me - wrote 2 papers, instead . . . one explaining my purpose and reason for ignoring her assignment and the other was my substitute assignment in it's place.

I once faced an English exam where I was required to write an independent assessment of William Faulkner based on previously assigned reading of a short story, his Nobel prize acceptance speech, and somebody else's critique of him. I essayed that while the short story was good (it was the only thing I had read), I had also started to read Absalom, Absalom the previous summer; after three densely written pages, I still hadn't come to the end of the first sentence, so I set it aside forever. Thus, the short story alone was insufficient for an assessment of his writing. His Nobel prize acceptance speech was his opinion of himself and the critique was someone else's opinion; neither was useful in writing *my* assessment of his skills.

I had a B going into the test and an A coming out, so my teacher apparently had a sense of humor.

 

[Josie]

500 index cards summarizing 500 childrens' books with 500 words per card. The most miserable summer I've ever spent. The librarians were ready to set up a cot and let me just sleep over. The final exam was 500 multiple choice questions about "The Wind in the Willows"! I never wanted to murder anyone so badly ever.

Regards from Rosie

Good grief. When was this?

 

[RyrineaHaruno]

Let see, I had to build the court house from To Kill a Mocking Bird out of Popsicle sticks. It took me a month just to finish it. I even built the freaking desk, the Judges Bench, and the chairs that the town set in from Popsicle sticks................. This was during my tenth grade year at my high school for a English 4 project.

 

[RosieS]

Good grief. When was this?

This is one of those prereq. courses of children's literature for an MS in Education. For reals.

Regards from Rosie

 

[MKULTRABOY]

Im not looking forward to my international security policy paper or my post soviet politics analytical essay... or my international political economy analytical essay.

dont wanna :'(

 

[Josie]

This is one of those prereq. courses of children's literature for an MS in Education. For reals.

Regards from Rosie

Good Lord. I had to read 50 chapter books and 50 picture books for one of my M.Ed classes, but 500 is just ridiculous.

 

[molten_dragon]

My senior design project. The topic of the project was boring, but the worst part was that my group was 25 people. The logistics of trying to get people together to do things were a nightmare.

 

[Aunt Spiker]

Heh. What was the assigned essay and what did you write in place of it?

I was suppose to identify and write about a story which concerned the developmental mindset of a young girl - who didn't want to grow up.
She had certain things we had to discuss in it: acceptance of 'the passage to womanhood' and so on - and I just didn't like it . . . took my F with a smile - still earned an A in the course.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

Good Lord. I had to read 50 chapter books and 50 picture books for one of my M.Ed classes, but 500 is just ridiculous.

Not trying to be a jerk but what the hell does that accomplish?
It seems like an incredible waste of time and for a masters course no less.

 

[Josie]

Not trying to be a jerk but what the hell does that accomplish?
It seems like an incredible waste of time and for a masters course no less.

It was for a Masters in Reading Education to get acquainted with the books that kids are reading. I think it's a great idea. Teachers (especially reading specialists) needs to know children's books backwards and forwards so they can better help other teachers. It really sucks when I hear a kid go up to his teacher and say something like, "I want to read a fantasy book....can you help me find one?" and the teacher has no clue where to even begin because she doesn't read children's books. Librarians shouldn't be the only source of that knowledge...teachers need to know too.

Also many lessons that I teach don't come from a textbook, but just a book from the library. They're better anyway.

 

[Josie]

I was suppose to identify and write about a story which concerned the developmental mindset of a young girl - who didn't want to grow up.
She had certain things we had to discuss in it: acceptance of 'the passage to womanhood' and so on - and I just didn't like it . . . took my F with a smile - still earned an A in the course.

Hm....I think that sounds interesting.

What did you write instead?

 

[Aunt Spiker]

Hm....I think that sounds interesting.

What did you write instead?

I wrote on the same subject - but focused on a girl's relationship with her father and how it affected her pre-teen years, instead (I'm drawing a blank as to the story I wrote it about, though). Sort of related - but it differentiated away from the aspects of femme-passage that she wanted us to focus on.

I just felt that topic was *too* personal and *too* weird to write an essay on.