"Does English Class Oppress You, Too?"

I don't know if it's just me, but lately I've been feeling more and more frustrated with college, with schooling, and with the entire education system, not only in this country, but worldwide.

It seems like nowadays (or maybe always, I can't really ascertain for myself) the "people telling you what to do" system of living has managed to get it's greedy paws on just about everything, especially when it comes to education. From the time I was little, I remember learning about how I should write, the famous 5 paragraph system, the intro-body-conclusion scheme, and the strikingly lurid outline format which I battle vehemently against to this day.

Of course, I realize that when we are young these things are actually somewhat useful. At a young age, our ideas are fresh, newborn babies looking for a mommy that will tuck them into their bed just the right way. So, expectedly our pseudo-mommies (usually grade-school teachers, the really nice ones that don't give you C's on your mid-term papers) teach us simple way of expressing ourselves in ways that make sense to the rest of the world around us. And for that, I am much appreciative.

My frustration, and I believe many of ours', begins once we start high school. By then, many of us already know how we should write, or at least what style best befits the assignments given to us by our now not-so-lovable professors. Certainly, there are particular cases where this may not be, and which require just a pit more training, some more time on the potty before we hit the big time (that grown-up toilet can be quite scary at first!). So, some further tending to never really hurts, it just bugs us a bit.

But, then, after we finish high school, and go on to college (if we so choose to), we should be done with spring training, right? Nope.

I learned this lesson better than most. After graduating high school a fairly well-groomed writer (not to brag, but I was accustomed to A's or 90's on most of my essays and papers), I figured College Writing classes would be a breeze, after all, I had just finished about 10 years of pre-gaming--assuming we all start learning how to write for real around 3rd grade--in which I did just fine. Then, the first C+ came, and I was shocked.

To my surprise, my writing style was not structured enough, it lacked appropriate order, it wasn't simple enough to not complicate the reader. "Maybe you should try writing some outlines beforehand, Brian," she (my English 101 professor) suggested.

What was my response? A resounding NO! By now, at 19 years old, I'm tired of being told how I should write, or being deducted points for not fitting into the style which my professors deem appropriate. You ever hear of a little thing called oppression?

Okay, so I exaggerate, but only just a bit. The human mind is beautiful, it allows to contemplate and consider things at lightening paces, to absorb like a sponge countless information in an instant (like let's say, before a Bio exam *cough cough*). We shouldn't be discouraging ourselves to fit into a "style", but rather being encouraged to let our opinions flow like a gorgeous waterfall of ideas.

I know this may not sound politically correct, after all, I rarely am. Still, some of you have to agree, sometimes don't you find yourselves having to read over your opinions innumerable times, adding and deleting on Microsoft Word, before you figure out just the right wording, and find yourself at least partially content with your work? I know, I do. And I'm sick of it.

If our goal is to just learn, or to be able to talk and write eloquently and free-flowingly, then we should be urged to do so; not to fit those thoughts into a system which might not make sense to us, or which we might necessarily just not like. The reason why kids aren't expressing themselves on paper as much today isn't because they're stupid, it's just because they get condoned for not using the right words, for sounding to fancy, for sounding to dumb, or for having too many spelling mistakes.

Now, the more conservative of you (if there are any of you out there) could fully disagree with me. Maybe even think this is complete bullocks. All I know, is that I want to write, for writing's sake. I want to say what I want to say, and not have to scan it over a thousand times to make sure it fits into some pre-ordained style which I might find pretty fricken' lame.

So, my conclusion: Write. Your way, not your teachers'. If they give you a hard time, fix what you want (or until you find yourself happy with what you've written), and give it back. If they don't like it, then forget them. We are ourselves too gifted, each and everyone of us, and too capable of making something beautiful to simply be satisfied with complacency, and with the machine's restrictions.