“I teach English at a community college in Queens. I love the job, but I hate grading papers. I’d prefer to just have one continuous discussion about Shakespeare. I envy the math teachers who can just put their tests through a Scantron machine. Placing value on a student’s writing is much more nuanced and complicated. What if they have great ideas but their English language skills aren’t as developed? What if English is their second language? What if they’ve faced major challenges in life? Do I ignore those things? Or do I consider context while grading? I want to set high standards and prepare my students for what comes next. But so many of them already have a self-defeating attitude. And I don’t want to discourage them any further.”
