Well, my first year of graduate school is over. It's been a long, stressful road...this semester particularly was rough. I went from not working to working 2 jobs; not full time but a lot to deal with especially with the difficult courses I had to take. It's been nice having classes that aren't dual-level and have graduate students exclusively; the level of maturity and dedication is so much higher. It's a welcome change from early 20-something kids who are taking a class because they're forced or just taking it to cross a requirement off their list.

This semester is also unusual because I've been put in the position of having to defend my academic rigor--my standards. I've been told frequently this semester that I'm "anal" and "ostentatious" because I have high standards and don't think it's acceptable to half-ass something. I'm an English student. I read a lot of books--fiction primarily, but also nonfiction, poetry, and memoirs. I read adult, children's, and young adult literature. If that makes me ostentatious, so be it. It's also upsetting that the people making these comments are attempting themselves to be graduate students. Why is laziness acceptable? Why are low standards acceptable? This is work. It requires dedication and immense amounts of time. It means reading assignments not just once but twice or three times. It means researching above and beyond what's asked so one is ready for class. It means broadening one's scope and looking at things objectively and with an open mind. It means thinking critically about what is being said (at times, what ISN'T said). That, in a nutshell, is graduate school.

I also had an interesting conversation with a friend about the role of professors. He feels that it's okay to not be diligent or have high expectations for students of English if they're not going to actually be English majors. This thinking is as erroneous as possible. First of all, a professor must be diligent in their expectations. They must be able to show students where mistakes have been made. Writing and thinking skills are necessary for all areas of life and all disciplines. Professors do students no favors by being lax because students "aren't English majors." Furthermore, this friend himself, despite attempts at graduate school himself, shows major deficiencies himself in his writing--in terms of content, grammar, usage, but also organization. It's fine that he is content to dismiss those deficiencies by claiming to be a creative writer (and therefore creative writers don't need proper English conventions, apparently), but by desiring to teach students and have these relaxed standards he will only be perpetrating the false idea that it's okay for students to not understand how to properly write and structure an essay.

I never studied much in high school or as an undergraduate. Actually, in high school, I never studied. I probably could have been a 4.0 had I actually applied myself and took things seriously. I wasn't a straight-A college student and my study habits were a joke. I coasted and bulled my way through most classes. But education is also a divider--anyone who thinks otherwise need only look at Sarah Palin and the Tea Party crazies to see my point is proven. It separates those who can think for themselves from those who cannot.