Why do I hate the writing assignments in my English class?

Question

There are a lot of valid reasons to dislike writing assignments. I am often curious about individual answers to this question.

Answer 1

Unfortunately many districts and curricula ignore actual writing instruction. For anyone, student or adult, we tend to dislike what makes us feel confused or lost, and with writing, students are often not given enough guidelines or actual instruction.

Maybe students are told, "Write a paper about x. It's due on this date." Okay.. but where does one even start a task like that? For a lot of people, they've had to figure that out all by themselves. And that's a difficult process full of frustration and self-reflection, two things that are hard for anyone! No one is born knowing how to form a research question, gather sources, organize their thoughts, write an introduction, etc.

Also many students feel, very rightfully so, that there is some "secret" academic language that they don't know how to speak... or that there is a specific "way" they are expected to structure their paper and no one ever told them!

I've seen first-hand that breaking down the writing process and actually instructing writing in a collaborative way makes for much more competent, confident, and happy writers.

Answer 2

On the first day of each semester, I always ask my students how they feel about English classes and writing assignments. The students are usually divided--50% either like or don't mind English classes, 50% dislike or hate English classes.

Before going to college, I was solidly in the "dislike English classes" group, but in college, I somehow learned to love my English classes. Why?

For me, much of my dislike for English came because, in middle school and high school, I wasn't allowed the freedom to express myself authentically. My writing assignments were almost always some form of boring regurgitation: read this in a particular way, analyze this in a very particular way, write in a very particular style, and come to a very particular conclusion. The totality of all of that together was dreadful!

At the heart, English has to do with communication, and most people enjoy aspects of communication. People enjoy talking and texting with friends, they enjoy posting things, they enjoy exploring meaningful questions, sharing secrets, feeling, opinions...

What people often do not enjoy, are communications in which they feel forced to be inauthentic.

For many students, the trick to hating English less, is learning that it's okay to be authentic in their English assignments. Often, students will have to stick to a particular writing format, and particular style (if they want a good grade), but there is always room to express your authentic self, even in academic writing.

It is okay to be yourself in your writing! You do not have to conform your thoughts, research, conclusions, and opinions to that of everyone else. If everyone simply followed, how would we ever get somewhere new? And for some of you, following is precisely why you hate English.

When necessary, stick to the formatting requirements (length, topic, thesis, support, conclusion...), stick to the style format (MLA, APA...), stick to any research guidelines (types of evidence and support), but be brave enough to express your true voice. Express you! Not everyone else.