Its a position that many students are forced into every week. We walk into class and take our seats. The professor starts his lecture about whatever it is he decides to talk about. Everything is fine and dandy as you frantically take notes and occasionally day dream about whats for lunch.
Everything is going smoothly, until the professor finally hits a nerve. He has just brought up a political issue. He says "_____________" and it was completely against everything you believe. Maybe you just let that roll off your shoulder, but then he assigns an essay for the next class. The topic? You have to explain why what he said is right.
The dilemna? You want a good grade in the class! You work hard, study and strive to do your best. Now you have to decide whether you are going to follow along with the assignment and blindly write about something you disagree with 100%, or you are going to speak your mind and risk your grade in the process.
What would you do?
This has been a personal struggle for me. Sometimes I will take the assignment at face value and just get the grade. Other times I speak my mind and take the consequences.
My question...
What would you do (or have you done) in this situation?
-aved
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I find it hard to believe that you would get a bad grade for writing a cohesive paper that brings up valid points that disclaim the idea of whatever your being told to write about as being "right". Any professor would probably welcome this as creative thinking and give you a very good grade. I would just make sure you do a lot of research and actually write a very good paper.
The problem of working for letter grades instead of actual education is a huge problem in modern day education that needs to be addressed and confronted by students like you.
Too often people offer their opinions without the discomfort of "thought."
You shouldn't have to warp your opinion to get a good grade! That's unfair. All of my teachers try not to press their ideas on us. Even the really hippie ones don't say that their opinion is the "right" one. But personally, I would write exactly what I think, even if the teacher didn't agree.
I wrote a five page paper that flew in the face of everything my teacher said was right. If you write it well and back your point(s) up, you shouldn't be penalized. My paper was well-written, and actually earned an "A"!
it's sometimes better to speak your mind rather than agree with what someone says you should believe...tis why we have "freedom of speech."
If your paper gets a bad grade just because it was against the professor's thoughts, then you should bring the issue to your dean. We had to defend whether or not the Holocaust happened last semester, and our professor made it clear that as long as the paper was supported well, it would get a good grade.
~C
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