BioLit

        There were two other English classes I ended up taking in college besides the two semesters of sophomore English. One was Bio-Literature, co-taught by an English teacher and someone from the biology department. I can’t remember now anything that we read – Voyage of the Beagle was in Anthropology. (What a great book!) Well, I seem to recall that the required reading for Bio-Lit was worthwhile, but if I have a mental block it is probably because neither of the teachers was particularly impressed with my writing – what I thought were heartfelt and well-worded answers to the exam essay questions. In truth, my writing was probably a lot of lofty words with little substance – not very good at all. And they, the teachers, I guess, did not endeavor to offer tips for improvement, while I was too thin-skinned to ask for help.

        One thing I remember clearly from Bio-Lit was the day before one of the exams, some of the kids from class asked if the exam was going to be graded for grammar and spelling! A lot of these classmates were the same people who whined in organic chemistry class my freshman year when the teacher proposed changes that would mean no grades on the transcripts. Whoa – the kids did not like that! They were going to medical school dang it! And medical schools want to see grades like “A” next to the class “organic chemistry” – not “N/A due to newfangled feel good touchy feely proctoring instead of exams – but rest assured organic chemistry has been learned”!

        So for Bio-Lit, the students were complaining that since they were wanting to get into medical school, they should be graded in Bio-Literature more for the biology learned rather than the English written – hence they should not be penalized for poor grammar or incorrect spelling. They need to have an “A” that means good science. There would be something completely wrong with the universe if they, heaven forbid, ended up with a “B” and had to explain at the med school interview the “B” was because they were stressed out what with all the science they had been learning in all their classes and then some obsessed English professor unfairly graded based on grammar! Come on! Grammar? Really? And then the medical school interviewer would sympathize and all would be right in the universe once again – but why not skip all that and just relax on the English part of the exam?

        Both professors let the students know exactly what they thought about people who think they can ever be careless with grammar and spelling – especially at the college level! Poor pre-med students – couldn’t catch a break. I’m sure they each got his or her “A” – the incident merely upped the stress levels a little.

        I got a B – didn’t have to explain it to anyone.

324 20151120 BioLit