I love being a teacher, and I cherish all of my students. I feel honored to have the opportunity to instruct a group of young people, even if they tell me something “sucks balls.” Or when they say “fucked up.” Or when they send me really shitty emails. And yes, I still cherish my job when a student inadvertently plays a gay porn in the middle of class.
As I’ve said before , one of the hurdles in my job is trying to teach my students to avoid vague and meaningless writing. Things like, “Some people agree with me, and some people don’t, but….” Well, that’s just stupid. Of course some people agree with you and some disagree. If everyone agreed with you then there wouldn’t be any need to write an argumentative essay, now would there?
I want my students to make sure that every word they write has a purpose, and they aren’t padding their prose just to make the paper longer or to sound smarter. As any politician knows, euphemisms are the hallmark of all vague writing. No one can explain euphemisms better than the venerable George Carlin. Georgie, take it away:
I bow before you Carlin Sensei.