Whenever I think back on my middle/high school education I become a little bitter!

When I read in Spandel that formulas are "restrictive," that "instead of lifting students up . . . they effectively keep them in place" (121) I immediately called to mind a story that I read in an education class my sophomore year and I am hoping someone can help jog my memory. It was about a little boy who was instructed to draw flowers and he began by creating all different colors of flowers until his teacher told him that the his flowers weren't any good and that the petals must be red. Well after a few years this boy transferred to a new school and was again instructed to draw flowers but this time the teacher said they could be any color. The little boy, however, continued to draw red flowers. I think this story can be applied to what has been discussed in this weeks reading, that once you are given the "right formula" it becomes difficult to create a path of your own, even when given the freedom. This story also inspired a song so if anyone is familiar with either one I would appreciate it if you passed the info along to me.

After some of the experiences that I had it school it amazes me that I ever decided to major in English Lit or that I ever decided to teach. My 8th grade English teacher took the 5 paragraph formula to the extreme. The class would "choose" a topic and complete their "research" and when this portion of the assignment was done she would put a transparency on the overhead that resembled a Mad-Libs game. We would fill in the blanks and wa-la the perfect essay was created without anyone in the 8th grade having to produce and independent or creative thought. None of us learned anything from this method and I began to hate writing. In particular, I hated that we had to begin out final paragraph with "In conclusion..." Of course I was never one to keep my mouth shut so I questioned why we had to begin our last paragraph in this manor and she actually answered "How else will anyone know that this is your conclusion?" How about the fact that it is the last paragraph? How about that I make some concluding statements that tie all of my points together without treating the reader like an idiot? Now every time I read the statement "in conclusion" I cringe.