The Long and Short

This semester I have drawn the short straw and am stuck in classes with all the anal students and irrelevant commenters. This doesn't always bother me as much as it is this semester, but then, usually I only have one irrelevant commenter in one of my classes, and the obsessive compulsives keep their disorders to themselves.

My technical writing class, however, brings out the worst in all people. I suppose this is what I get for taking technical communication, which is marketed to science/engineering types, who have a higher tendency toward obsession with detail. This, however, is extreme. And I do not exaggerate. I have lived with many obsessive compulsives, and I have a high tolerance for it, but this is beyond my ability to deal with.

Take, for instance, typical grading proceedure for daily quizzes. I swear that the people in my class think that in order for an answer to be correct, it has to be word-for-word from the book. I kid you not. I offer this example as evidence:

The other day, one of our quiz questions requested that we name and define an organizational scheme for written documents. I wrote down: "Sequential organization--arranging information in order of steps or time." The girl who was grading my quiz turned to me and said, "I'm not sure this is correct. I mean, this is the right definition, but in the book it calls it 'chronological' organization." I just looked at her for about 30 seconds while I debated internally about whether she was serious or not. Really? I mean, really? Was it such a big difference that it required a conference? Eventually she said, "Well, I'll give you half a point, okay?" I just turned away. I have, in fact, seen it called sequential or chronological organization. This is something we talk about extensively in my editing classes.

Now, what I want to know is do these people really believe that such small details mean so much? Are there not more important things to worry about? Whether or not it is ethical for our troops to be in Iraq, for instance? Possibly whether Obama will be a good leader or not? The state of the economy? Starving orphans who have been made to fight in bloody civil wars in Africa? Of course not. Forgive me for my joking. Whether the correct term is "chronological" or "sequential" is a much more important issue.

Speaking of obsessive compulsives and issues, I'd like to introduce you to my new friend in technical writing: the Irrelevant Brazilian. Now, I promise I am not being racist. Not all Brazilians are irrelevant. And, actually, his being Brazilian only relates to the issue in that his nationality is the only thing I know about him because that is all he talks about, in all his long comments, regardless of the topic of the class. How to write instructions? He comments about being Brazilian. Putting cats to sleep (actually came up in class)? Let's talk about him being Brazilian. The appropriate way to poach lions in Africa? Being Brazilian comes up in some way.

I am not wrong. Or kidding.

Every comment the Irrelevant Brazilian makes is both irrelevant and about Brazil. Or his family in Brazil. And, I get it, when you're that far away, certainly they and your home country would be on your mind frequently. But just because you think about something does not mean that it warrants a comment in class.

In my "Bible as Literature" class, the irrelevant commenter is not Brazilian, nor does he make comments about Brazil. Instead, he keeps his comments to things related to the bible, but he seems to be confused about what kind of class it is. And while there are certainly a lot of religion classes at BYU, "The Bible as Literature" is not one of them. Because of this, his comments come off not so much as irrelevant as they do know-it-all and sometimes holier-than-thou. Which is, in some ways, more annoying.

You may be thinking that this is the only connection these two people share (besides their gender), but you would be oh so wrong. In fact, they each have another thing in common: they are both in groups for projects with me. Like I said: the short straw.